If you play tournament poker, your success ultimately depends on how well you adjust when you get to heads-up.
Many players don't relish going one-on-one. Even Doyle Brunson, the game's living legend and 10-time World Series bracelet winner, said recently he "never really liked" heads-up poker. But he quickly noted that a player "should be able to handle all situations."
When a tournament is down to just two players, the one with heads-up experience who adjusts the best usually wins.
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson credits online poker experience going back to 1989 with "really honing my heads-up game." After runner-up showings at the first two National Heads-up Poker Championship events in 2005-06 and winning the 2008 title two weekends ago, nobody can argue his point.
"I used to play online all the time, and one of the things I used to do was play heads-up," Ferguson said in an interview with LuckyDog Poker after the 2006 NHPC. "You can play a lot of heads-up poker online, which you can't in a brick-and-mortar casino," said the 2000 World Series champion with five WSOP bracelets and nearly $7 million in career tournament winnings.
Ferguson told The Associated Press in 2006: "I would have absolutely loved to win this. It's a very, very important championship, in my opinion. But you can't do it every year. I'm really proud of finishing second two years in a row. That's way harder than winning once."
How impressive is it, then, to have one first and two seconds in the event's first four years? Quite!
His NHPC record now is an unprecedented 16-3, including victories over Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Gus Hansen, T.J. Cloutier, Chip Reese, Freddy Deeb, Huck Seed and this year's runner-up, Andy Bloch. His only losses have been in the finals to Phil Hellmuth in 2005, Ted Forrest in 2006, plus a first-round loss to Scott Fischman in 2007.
To win the 64-player bracket-style event featuring the game's elite, a player must defeat six consecutive opponents. The first five matches are single-elimination -- the final is a best-two-of-three competition.
So, what's the secret to winning at heads-up?
Let's start with the dramatic change in hand-selection requirements. You should raise pre-flop with any pair, any hand containing a face card and sometimes even medium connectors such as 9-8 or 10-9. If your hand is suited, fine, but that's not a big factor in whether you come out firing.
Aggression is your best weapon, at least up to the point where your opponent plays back at you with what figures to be a strong hand. When that happens, if you think you're behind, save your chips for the next hand. You also should sometimes fold pre-flop when you have total rags.
I like to mix things up with pre-flop raises that are double, triple and quadruple the big blind holding all three types of playable hands -- marginal, good and strong. Heads-up play, especially online, is fast and repetitive. You'll keep your opponent guessing if you don't fall into a predictable betting pattern.
I sometimes also like to "limp" from the small blind with both strong and weak hands because I'm "in position" -- acting second after the flop. If my opponent checks the flop, I'll usually bet. If he then raises and my hand is weak, I'll just fold. But if my hand is strong, then I've trapped him and can either re-raise or call depending on which strategy is likely to win the most chips.
Chip-stack size plays a huge role heads-up. If the two of you have nearly equal stacks, then use the pressure tactics above to gain a chip advantage.
When you're well ahead in chips, your mission is to keep the pressure on but avoid recklessly doubling-up your opponent. Meanwhile, if you're really short on chips, you've got to gamble. Look for a chance to double-up by pushing all-in with any pair or any hand with an ace.
You can learn from the pros themselves when NBC airs the 2008 NHPC over seven consecutive Sundays, starting April 13.
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