Many people associate heads up poker with two players playing against each other with both players using actual heads up strategy. While this is often the case, heads up poker can occur in any situation where poker is played. If you are playing in a full ten handed ring game and it has been folded around to you and you raise from the button and only the big blind calls you then this is a heads up situation.

I feel though that we need to define the differences between heads up poker and heads up situations in cash games or tournaments. A heads up cash game is totally different and it will be critical to your success to know everything that you possibly can about your opponent. Every single hand that you play and every action that you take will be against the same player so you will be able to get to know them very well in a fraction of the time that you would in a full ring game or even a six max game.

Of course the same can be said of them as they will also have been watching you very closely as well. The slightest piece of information will enable you to gain an edge over them and information is power in heads up poker. In ring games however the dynamic shifts. In a heads up cash game then heads up strategy is vastly different as you will be forced to play a very large percentage of your hands out of necessity.

You will be posting blinds every single hand of play and aggression and aggressive play will be the order of the day. You will need to raise more, bluff raise more, fire multi-barrel bluffs more and call down more with some very weak holdings. Even moderate levels of aggression are of little use in heads up poker if you are up against a very aggressive opponent.

Being forced to place blinds every single hand has a strong affect but this is almost eliminated in ring game play. In a ten handed ring game then there is little need to get involved with weak hands in the blinds or to attack the big blind with a weak hand.

You are only placing blinds two hands out of every ten in a ten handed game and if there are bad players on your table then you can fold a very high percentage of your hands and still make a good profit.

Being forced to place blinds every single hand has a strong affect but this is almost eliminated in ring game play. In a ten handed ring game then there is little need to get involved with weak hands in the blinds or to attack the big blind with a weak hand. You are only placing blinds two hands out of every ten in a ten handed game and if there are bad players on your table then you can fold a very high percentage of your hands and still make a good profit.

It is a fact that the overwhelming majority of poker players are unsuited to heads up poker. In part this is to do with a players overall attitude to risk. It is seldom spoken about but millions of risk adverse people actually play poker. The game is so fascinating as a topic to study and learn that people of all backgrounds are seduced into trying their hand at playing poker.

This is despite the fact that in many cases, these people are incredibly risk averse. It is for this reason why the overwhelming number of people will never make it to high-stakes levels either live or online by slowly grinding through the levels.

You may be able to change your skill level but changing your overall personality is something that is more difficult. Learning heads up strategy in my opinion is worthwhile for the simple reason being that it will help you to play better in ring games and for no other reason. If you want to win a poker tournament then you will have to master heads up poker. Likewise if you want to win an SNG, you will have to master heads up poker.

If you really want to increase your bottom line in cash games then learning heads up play will be essential. Tapping into your opponent’s style and their betting patterns really is a licence to print money in heads up play but on the flip side, it is also a licence to lose money if your opponent taps into your style and you fail to adjust in time.

Let us look at an example, without realising it whenever you raise pre-flop then you always continuation bet the flop. If this bet gets called then you also fire again on the turn with 100% of your range. This may seem like strong aggressive play and it would certainly be successful against weak tight playing rocks. But you don’t tend to get those types of opponents in heads up poker games.

If your play is so predictable that you are blindly making aggressive plays then your stronger opponents are going to pick you off! You will find yourself getting called down with some very light hands and also getting check-raised by the big blind either on the flop or the turn.

This will continue to happen until you eventually adjust and correct the problem. The thing is though that this may end up costing you numerous buy-ins. Also what you have to remember is that heads up hands come around lightening fast in online play and when your opponent is hitting flops and winning your money then tilt can be a serious problem for many people.

In my time as a poker player I have known many players who stayed well clear of ever playing heads up poker. There is nothing wrong with this but learning to play heads up will help you in playing short handed poker and learning to play short handed poker will help you if you are a full-ring player. I have known numerous poker players who have left the table in a full-ring game if the player numbers fell below seven players.

As I have already said, there is nothing wrong in always making sure that you only ever play in the poker environment in which you are the most comfortable. But the fact remains that the biggest profits in poker tend not to be in full-ring situations but in heads up poker and knowing heads up strategy would quantum leap your chances of making more money.

This article was written by a professional online poker player, poker theorist and writer for eight years. Prior to that he was a blackjack player and has written three books on poker and casino games. He is a regular writer for Poker Strategy, if you found this useful then have a look at http://www.pokerstrategy.co.uk/ to view more of his articles.