Lesson 9: Heads-Up Play

Congratulations, again! One more player has been knocked out and now you are heads up. In the $10 example I gave in the previous lesson, you are now guaranteed a profit of $16. However, the profit for 1st place is more than twice the amount for 2nd. This is what makes the heads-up portion of sit ‘n go poker so important, and profitable!. In this lesson I will provide a basic strategy for heads-up play. First I will cover three concepts:
  • Small-ball poker
  • All about ICM
  • Most flops miss
Then I will go into some details regarding how you should play from the big blind and from the small blind.

Small-Ball Poker

You have seen players like Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen play many hands and see a lot of flops. It is near impossible to put them on a hand because they could be playing any two cards. If they miss the flop or the situation is unfavorable for them, they let the hand go quickly, or at a minimum keep the pot small. However, if they hit, watch out… they will take your stack!

That is what small-ball poker is all about. In a heads-up situation, you want to see as many flops as you can, and you want to see them cheaply. Cards that you would easily muck pre-flop in early sit ‘n go play become solid starting hands in heads-up play. Small-ball is about keeping the pot small and about picking away at your opponent’s stack a little bit at a time. Some players turn into push-bots once they get heads up. That is OK for some, primarily people who lack post-flop skill. However, the winning strategy is to play many small pots and slowly build your chip stack.