Heads Up Cash Game
Product Description The Heads-Up HUD will have minor changes for it to be allowed for use on PokerStars and Full Tilt under their new (October 2015) Third Party Tools and Services Policy. Action Tree Elements – Statistics are organized in an action sequence structure – providing a top down view of your opponent’s game plan. Although you might pay more in rake in a heads up cash game than you would in a SNG, you still stand to make more in a cash game than a SNG at any given time. In a SNG, you can only win the other player's buy-in whereas in a cash game you can win your opponent's buy-in and then win it again if they choose to reload - with no further investment on your part. The PokerStars makeover continues. This week, many players on the world’s largest online poker site have received e-mails telling them that their regular heads-up cash game tables will disappear.
Compares Heads-Up Poker Cash Games and Heads-Up SNGs
Heads-up poker is becoming very popular, with 2 forms of HU games available many players ask whether they should be playing SNGS or Cash Heads-Up games. We will note the key differences below to allow you to make your own decision. We will will also link to some key Heads-up Poker Strategy articles as we go through the cash / SNG comparison to help players at all levels to improve their game.
Heads-up Cash Games vs SNGs #1 – Fixed Price or Reload
Heads-up cash games have the advantage that you can reload your chips when ever you wish – topping up to whatever the table maximum is. There are many reasons to do this, not least if your opponent ‘gets lucky’ in a hand but is obviously weak – you would like to have the maximum amount of chips to win as your skill edge allows.
Heads-up SNGs have advantages here too. The fixed price will enable players to exercise effective SNG Bankroll Management skills easily, it also enables ‘deep stacked’ play at a fixed price – potentially allowing a deeper chip stack to give your poker skills time to show.
Heads-up Cash Games vs SNGs #2 – Rake And Tournament Fees
With heads-up cash games the rake is often smaller than in full ring games, however, over time the small 25c here, $1 there can add up to a considerable sum. This is especially pronounced if you play a lot of pots in the $2 to $9 range (the rake is smaller as a percentage if more and many pots below will not see a flop, thus no rake).
Heads-up SNGs have a fixed fee – usually 5% of the buy-in amount for each player (less as you move up levels). While a direct comparison would depend on the rake regimes of specific poker sites the SNGs have the advantage of knowing in advance what your payout to the site will be.
Heads-up Cash Games vs SNGs #3 – Table Time
Once you have started a heads-up SNG you are there for the duration. If you sit out then you just blind away your stack and your opponent takes the prize money. In HU Cash games you choose when you join and leave, whether this be several hours or just a short session.
Of course the reverse is also true. If it becomes too obvious in a cash game that you are way better than your opponent then he might leave. With a SNG at least you can take the amount of his buy-in before this happens.
Heads-up Cash Games vs SNGs #4 – Blind / Stack Ratios
In cash games the blinds always stay the same. In fact if there are several big pots and re-buys the proportion of stacks to blinds may be very small – giving the advantage to deep stack poker specialists. Conversely, an opponent may buy-in for the minimum in a heads-up cash game – making the effective stacks only 20bbs.
Things are different in HU SNGs, the blinds start off small and grow at a pre-determined rate. Here we have a significant difference between turbo HU SNGS and standard HU SNGs. With the standard (10 or 15 minute levels) the blind increases actually have little chance to have an effect in most matches – the game being over before they become too significant a portion of your stack. With the turbo (5 minute or less) blind versions then it will have an effect – meaning players of these games need to know how to manage 15 big blind stacks as well as 50 to 100 bb stacks.
So there are pros and cons to each style, and ultimately it is down to the individual player to decide. One word of caution – actually in the form of a question… which sites have the largest number of HU Poker professionals (including lower limit grinders) as a proportion of their players? Well, it’s the largest ones, where virtually every online poker pro plays.
Our growing guide to the best sites for HU Poker SNGs will give some profitable suggestions – for worldwide as well as US players.
Planet Mark Recommends: Players looking for the best selection of heads-up poker matches online at a site where they can move up the buy-in levels as their bankroll grows should check out Titan Poker, on the top tier of the huge iPoker Network. This site benefits from a lot of amateur players crossing over from the sportsbook brands which share the games - making the heads-up (and other!) tables noticably softer than elsewhere. SNG Planet readers will get an additional $20 in cash on top of your 200% welcome bonus with bonus code SNGPLANET, this will be paid into your player account within 48 hours, usually sooner. Check out the soft heads up games at www.titanpoker.com for yourself now!
Heads up cash games are perhaps the most double sided game in all of online poker. On one hand, good players are able to make an absolute killing in heads up play. On the other hand, however, a weak player will deplete their bankroll rather quickly if heads up cash is their game of choice. There are some players who are closer to break even rather than big winners or big losers, but this group is certainly an exception to the rule.
Heads up cash games are very vicious, especially when you move out of the micro stakes levels. Many of the best players in the world focus almost exclusively on heads up online action, and it is because they know it is where they have the biggest edge. There are many inherent qualities that a winning heads up player must both have and not have. If you aren’t cut out to play heads up, you shouldn’t try too hard to force yourself into that mindset. Heads up poker is largely a game where you either have it or you don’t, and much of that stems from the mental aspect. Skill sets, tools, and your overall strategy can be modified, but your mental approach to the game is often times difficult to adjust.
Competition
As mentioned before, the competition in heads up games is bar none. With that said, you will also be playing in some of the easiest games that you could ever hope for. The reason for this should be completely obvious. While most heads up specialists are incredibly skilled at what they do, some heads up players are nothing more than total action junkies. Needless to say, your goal as a heads up player should be to get as little action as possible with the specialists but as much action as possible with the gamblers.
In the world of heads up poker, players who sit around and wait for “fish” only are known as bum hunters. These players are called bum hunters because they are said to only play the bums in heads up games, and are too afraid or scared to play anyone with actual skill. If you sit down at a handful of heads up tables, the odds are that you will get a number of players who leave the game before you actually find someone who is willing to play. This is why many poker room lobbies have so many tables that are occupied with the same handful of players sitting at a number of different tables. Many of these bum hunters won’t end up playing more than a few hours per day at the absolute maximum. If you are able to get action from a bum hunter, you should probably take advantage of it. Players who stick to bum hunting and bum hunting alone tend to do it because they don’t feel like they have a real edge over a decent player. If a known bum hunter is quick to accept you as competition, however, you should probably start to rethink your game.
There is nothing technically wrong with bum hunting, and the reality is that most online players don’t have a real issue with it. It is hard to call bum hunting table selection, but there is no doubt that any good heads up player will carefully pick out who they are playing against. Once you start to get a bit of experience under your belt, you are going to run into the same opponents over and over again. Eventually you will figure out who you have an edge on, who beats you on a consistent basis, and who doesn’t want to play you. It is those names which you don’t recognize that will offer the greatest potential for profit. Always shop around for the best table before hopping into the action. There is no point in playing a winning regular if a massive fish is just waiting for you to challenge them at another table. Game and table selection is something that you should concentrate on each and every time that you play.
The real competition is found once you hit the upper echelon of the micro stakes and the lower limits of the small stakes. Players at 50NL and 100NL can make quite a bit of money simply through effective game selection and a somewhat basic strategy that can be applied over and over again. Once you enter the $1/$2 games and higher, though, you are going to run into some very, very tough opponents. If you don’t have a sizable sample size to prove that you are a winner in smaller games, don’t even waste your time trying to beat these players. Yes, there are the occasional whales who come by and dump their money in higher limit games, but they are much more elusive than the donators in the micro stakes.
Variance
Variance is the biggest and most defined difference between heads up and 6-max or full ring games. In a heads up battle, even the worst player in the world can take you for a number of buy-ins if they are able to go on a quick little run. Aside from this, the extreme variance in heads up poker is also the main reason that so many players tilt. One of the primary and initial points in this article was that emotional control is a major player in the success of heads up regulars. The swings, both up and down, are nothing like you will experience in any other form of poker. The benefit of this, though, is that you will profit greatly in the end from all of your positive swings.
Heads Up Card Game Rules
Variance in heads up games can include regular 10 and even 20 buy-in swings. And no, these aren’t swings that happen over days or weeks, but in as little as one individual session. As a result, any serious heads up player will need to carry 100 or more buy-ins at all times. The variance is such that a few crippling sessions could be enough to wipe out an entire bankroll with relative ease.
Cash Game Heads Up Bankroll
Small micro stakes games allow for the biggest one on one edge in heads up poker. You can make pre-flop and post-flop plays that you won’t get away with in higher limit games. Players in the micro stakes tend to get beaten by things as elementary as extreme aggression. A lot of people are sitting in these games with scared money, or they might just not have a clue as to what they are doing in the first place. For a 6-max or full ring player, the idea of 4 betting with AJ or ATss is just ridiculous. In a heads up game, though, this is incredibly standard. You need to have both the bankroll and the guts to make plays that would rack the nerves of a regular casual player. When your plays don’t work, or you get a bit unlucky, tilt is going to be your number one enemy. If you decide that you think you have what it takes to beat heads up cash games, enter with caution, be patient, and always maintain a willingness to get better and improve your game.