heads up advice needed

[ACE2M]

Tommyk1.

I'm the one ranting at the idiot who just called and hit his gutshot.

I haven't been playing to much recently on will hill, i have discovered the party poker sng pay days.

[4dam]

no iam a live player who has a v.good final table apperance for this year alone i have made it on average 5 out of 7 times and when i get to the final table  can play both a big stack and a small stack well.

but my problem is i get heads up even with a big chip lead and come second more then i should.

for this year i have been heads up 22 times, 14 times a 50% chip lead or more, and only won 3 times simple maths say i am not playing heads up at all well.

the problem is now iam still aggresive but playing nervous and paying players off when they get a hand.

thats why i needs advice.

[londonpokergirl]

If you're playing a live tourney and have more chips, then offer the player a deal in your favour,  maybe easier in the short term until you feel more confident, then you're guaranteed 1st place and don'thave to play the heads up part of it

Heads up online you do get play in tournaments, just that a lot of people tend to want to not play flops and stick their chips in before it gets to that stage.   I'm the one who will wait and make the other person play heads up then turn the situation around and take them down.

[AdamM]

You have to have the ability to adapt your HU game to your opponent. I think the tempo of a HU match is often decided in the first 4 or 5 hands. both player try to take the initiative and be the aggressor and one will usually have to back down. if that happens the one who backed off has to play a check raise / trapping style. when two players refuse to back off and both insist on being the aggressor it's gonna be a short match. I remember watching Devil Fish and Don O'Dea Hu a couple of years ago hand for hand on TV. Devilfish was alwayd gonna be the aggressor but O'Dea had the chips to weather the storm and made devilfish pay in the big hands so it was 10 small steps forward, 1 giant leap back.

Just mentally accept 2nd prize and experiment. try letting your opponent take the lead and other times try insisting on being the most aggressive, regardless of hands.

[4dam]

thanks all 4 yr advice not helped much just to let u know last night i got heads up again at my local card room and took a deal of 50/50 saved a lot of bother and stress i dont like doing this as i feel i need to improve this part of my game as it feels like it is one of my only weak parts of my game.

[RyG]

I think you need to adjust your style to the type of player you are playing..

I regularly play $10 and $20 headsup matches on betfred.. won a couple of freerolls so thought id use the cash to experiment with this side of the game..

I first i was usually losing but now usually win probably 75% of the time which iim pretty happy with..

Generally i like to try and grind my opponent down rather than play big pots, i always like to start off aggressive, but if im up agst someone i perceive to be trying to play similar then i like to try and trap them.... key is like for all tournaments to vary your play and keep your opponents guessing..