Heads-up Holden Training

So yesterday, I decided to work on my "match fitness" for the upcoming $150 added Heads up Tourney at Celeb, that CheckRayz is promoting. So, having bonus dollars to work off, I went to Absolute Poker to play some heads up holdem.

I dropped my first two matches, first one losing boat vs. flush. This wasn't much of a match at all. Of course, I didn't see the boat as a possibility on the board (read: first thing in the morning). Second match was a little better, but not much, as my JJ got donked in favor of the four board card straight (he head A-9off, I pushed preflop, he pushed back into me, ended up all-in preflop).

I decided to play a bit higher stakes, and had things to do. So after putting Daddy's lil Angels to bed, I fired that bad boy up and went to work, of course this was after playing the Shark Event.

I owned my opposition, only passing chips his way in two hands, and the pots he won were very small in nature. I nailed the figure four in classic Ric Flair fashion, letting him push my KK around with his 7-7 preflop and flop. Turn comes, he bets, I go for the thumb in the eye, raising him to all-in, he calls... chop, chop, suplex, knee, figure four, "whoooo!"

Determined, he asks for (and receives) a rematch. He wins the return match, flushing out my set of Jacks. We go again, classic back and forth battle. Blinds continue to raise and the higher they go, the more of an advantage "the champ" is at. This time, I nail the "figure four" with a boat to his bluff.

Next match (same opponent), this time he's finished off with "television time remaining," falling victim to my top pair, open end straight draw vs. his middle pair, garbage kicker.

OK, OK, fine, one more match... this time, its a loser leave town match... (feels like Flair-Rhodes feud of old). Once again, he starts the match out aggressively, as the blinds rise, so does my advantage. The champ "takes him to school" with (ironically) a set of fours he never saw coming.

One thing I noticed was that whenever the blinds went to 50/75, I clearly outplayed him preflop. My mindset was that for $25 tourney dollars, there were few cards that did not offer the odds to call. Consequently, I ended up rayzin up more often than not. This worked for me about 4 out of five times, giving me the pot either pre-flop, or on the continuation bet.

Furthermore, I didn't like the idea of allowing him the luxery to call me, completing the blinds for only $25T (5:1). So, of course, he completes the blinds, and I raise them 3 out of four times, regardless of my cards. Eventually, he was "beat down" and would fold if he didn't have what he believed to be a solid starting hand (hell, for 5:1, I'll see a flop with 2-7offsuit heads up).

I'm really looking forward to the heads up tourney today at Celeb (as I think you can tell). CheckRayz gear to anyone who enters the tourney today - need an email with shipping info sent to me here. Good luck and see you all on the virtual felt.

Mike



Poker Strategy