Online Poker Heads Up Cash

Heads-up poker teaches you to always raise with those Aces, Kings, Face/kicker, mid-high suited connectors and pocket pairs because they'll reap long term value. It makes you accustomed to raising for value and playing out on a flop whether or not the cards hit or not. Play Heads Up Poker Against Friends. Most online poker players tend to shy away from playing heads up poker because it’s a lot more difficult then playing a full ring table game with 9-10 players at the table. Heads up poker is geared towards the type of players that enjoy mixing up the action with a lot of aggressive betting and bluffing.

Do you use a Heads Up Display (HUD) while you are playing online poker? What statistics does it relay to you? More importantly, do you know what this information means and how to interpret it? By the time you have finished reading this article you will.

What is a HUD?

A Heads Up Display or “HUD” is a tool online poker players use to help them make decisions at the virtual felt. In times gone by, you had to purchase a HUD separately, but nowadays one comes packaged with the two major poker tracking software suites PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager.

Long story short, the tracking software reads the hand history files saved on your computer and creates various statistics based on the information in them. This information is then displayed on your screen, in real time, as you play.

While the use of HUDs has caused plenty of debate over the years, they are within the terms and conditions of most online poker sites.

What HUD Stats Should I Use?

There are literally hundreds of different statistics available to you once you purchase some tracking software, allowing you to analyze your opponents in minute detail if you wish. However, while you are playing you don’t want your screen completely covered in numbers because too much information can be overkill.

I’ve used a HUD for several years. I have tried a set-up in which I have dozens of statistics showing, and I’ve tried an opposite approach, too, by displaying only a few. Below are the statistics that I have included in my current set-up which I use when playing 6-max. cash games and all multi-table tournaments.

VP$IP

“VP$IP” (standing for Voluntarily Put money In Pot) should be the first statistic on any HUD because it shows at a glance how active a player is by the frequency he or she is putting chips in the middle voluntarily (that is, not when bets have to be made such as when in the blinds). With this statistic you can quickly get a grip on how tight or loose a player is, possibly as quickly as within 40-50 hands.

PFR

“PFR” stands for Preflop Raise and, as you would imagine, indicates how often a player raises before the flop. Coupled with VP$IP, the PFR helps you to deduce if a player is tight-aggressive, tight-passive, loose-aggressive, or loose-passive before the flop.

Agg

The “Agg” or aggression statistic displays how often a player bets or raises after the flop in relation to checking. The higher this number is, the more aggressive a player is. An Agg of 1 or less is very passive, so if a player with an Agg this low begins betting you better have a good hand with which to continue!

3Bet

Again, “3bet” is self-explanatory — it shows how often a player three-bets (that is, reraises an opening raise) preflop.

Fold to 3Bet

If a player is raising a lot preflop and has a high “Fold to 3bet” frequency, feel free to three-bet that player with a wide range of hands. You’re going to win the pot right there and then often enough to make it profitable even when the player does call or four-bet you.

Cbet Flop

Some players habitually fire a continuation bet on the flop without a second thought. You can find out quickly who these players with the “Cbet Flop” statistic. If they are betting every flop, you can float the flop and see if they take another stab on the turn. If they shut down thereafter, you may have a chance to steal the pot on the turn or river.

Fold to Flop Cbet

“Fold to Flop Cbet” represents the other side of the previous statistic. If a player is calling every single flop continuation bet, you could do worse than to restrict yourself to making a c-bets with a strong range.

Turn Cbet

The “Turn Cbet” stat is similar to the one tracking flop continuation bets, but is instead focused on the turn. Here you can see how often a player fires two barrels once he or she has raised preflop.

Fold to Turn Cbet

Like the “Fold to Flop Cbet,” knowing a player’s “Fold to Turn Cbet” frequency can also give you the chance to steal a pot. Some players like to call a lot of continuation bets on the flop, but then give up to another bet on the turn. If you come across one of these players, then you should be stabbing at a lot of turns even if fourth street doesn’t improve your hand.

Attempt to Steal LP

Couple the “Attempt to Steal LP” statistic with “VP$IP” and “PFR” and you’ll soon have an accurate read on whether or not someone loves to attempt to steal the blinds from the cutoff or the button (i.e., late position).

Attempt to Steal SB

“Attempt to Steal SB” is like the statistic above except refers to steal attempts when the action folds all of the way around to the player in the small blind.

Fold to LP Steal

“Fold to LP Steal” refers to how players respond from the blinds against late-position steal attempts. If one of the players in the blinds hardly ever folds to a late position raise, then try not to steal too widely, or perhaps raise larger than usual when you have a legitimate hand. Like most statistics, combine them with others listed here.

For example, a player who has a high “VP$IP,” a low “PFR,” a low “Fold to LP Steal,” and a high “Fold to Flop Cbet” can still be stolen from a lot because those stats suggest the player is playing fit-or-fold poker, giving up a lot when not holding big hands or hitting flops hard.

Fold to SB Steal

Finally, “Fold to SB Steal” refers to players who give up their big blinds when the small blind opens with a raise. This scenario comes up often enough to make it well worth knowing players’ tendencies when it occurs.

What Are the Disadvantages of Using a HUD?

You may have gotten this far into the article and thought that HUDs sound amazing, and I think they are. They allow you to play more tables at once and to make more accurate decisions as you play. Yet there are some disadvantages to consider, too.

The first is that you can sometimes start playing on autopilot when using a HUD. You almost start playing “by the numbers” and not actually playing poker as such, which can sometimes take a lot of the fun out of the game.

Also, you can become overly reliant on the HUD. Like any other program, a HUD can stop working when your computer updates a file or if a poker site updates their software. PokerTracker and Hold’em Manager are normally very good at releasing a patch shortly after these downtimes, but you could still be without a HUD for a few days until such a patch is released.

Another thing to consider is that online poker sites may not allow HUDs forever. Many are switching their focus to recreational players and are attempting to protect these fun-loving customers from being gobbled up by those who are more serious. If you’re used to playing with the aid of a HUD and your favorite poker site does decide to ban HUDs, you’ll be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Lastly, you can’t really use a HUD in the live environment! This sounds obvious, but when you step into the live arena you’re going to have to stand on your own two feet and work out for yourself opponents’ “VP$IP” and other tendencies.

HUDs are powerful tools if used correctly, but are no substitute for actual reads. Remember this, too. The only thing worse than having no information is having incorrect information. Learn how quickly each statistic becomes truly representative and worth acting upon, and don’t fall into the trap of thinking someone is too tight, too loose, or too aggressive until you have a significant sample size from which to work.

Online Poker Heads Up Cash No Deposit

Good luck at the tables.

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The popularity of heads up poker has grown immensely, largely due to the rise of online poker. Prior to online poker sites, there were very few heads up games because casinos couldn't afford to pay a dealer and use floor space for a table which was only raking from two players. However, online poker sites don't have that sort of overhead, so they can offer hundreds of heads up tables in cash game, sit and go, and even MTT variations. Because Five Card Draw Poker Sites have become so popular, we have ranked and reviewed the best Heads Up Poker Sites:

Reviewing the Best Heads-Up Online Poker Rooms

888 Poker is another fine option for online heads up poker, as they offer many of the same features available at Ignition Poker. Heads up players can play NL Hold'em heads up games ranging in stakes from $0.01/$0.02 to $50/$100, although most of the player traffic is located more towards the microstakes end of the spectrum.

There are also plenty of sit and gos and tournaments offered in the heads up fashion. Players can even use their frequent player points to buy into heads up sit and gos with real money prizes!

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Bet Online Poker is the perfect fit if you're looking for an easy to beat poker room with heads up poker games. This US-friendly poker site is loaded with fish (thanks to the adjoining sports book) and runs heads up games in Texas Hold'em and Omaha. During this review, we found most of the heads up games to be quite active up to the $10/$20 tables. The poker room uses proprietary software, is lightening fast and is the only poker room offering players a cash bonus valued at 25% of your deposits.

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Party Poker offers heads-up cash games, in addition to heads up SNGs and tournaments. The heads up sit and gos include traditional 1 vs. 1 matches, four player shootouts (the tournament breaks the four players into pairs, and the winners of the first matches play for the entire prize pool), eight player shootouts (same format but with another round), and sixty-four player bracket tournaments. You can also play turbo heads up SNGs, if that's your thing.

Party Poker also offers heads up multi table tournaments. These tournaments are set up as brackets, where all the players who advance past the first match continue playing matches until only one player remains. As you can see, PartyPoker.com offers tons of heads up action.

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Bwin Poker is a great choice for heads up poker. There are so many options for a heads up player, it is almost dizzying. First, there are hundreds of heads up NL Hold'em cash games, offered in normal and deep stack variations. The stakes start at $0.25/$0.50 and go up to $100/$200. They run loads of sit n go tournaments in a variety of stakes and players will receive up to $500 with their first deposit. This poker room does not accept USA players, but they are open to Canadian and European players.

Live Poker Cash Games

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Heads Up Poker Online

Heads up poker is quite different from normal 9- or 10-handed poker. First of all, you are in the blinds every single hand, so the normal strategy of waiting for good hands will ensure that your chip stack is blinded away. Instead of waiting for premium hands, you have to make plays with less than stellar hands. The reason this strategy is successful is because there is only one opponent at the table, so odds are he doesn't have much either. To learn more, make sure to check out our Heads Up Poker strategy.

Online Heads Up Sit and Gos/Multi Table Tournaments

Best Cash Online Poker Sites

The reason we really like the Five Card Draw Poker Sites on this page is because they not only offer heads up cash games, but also offer heads up sit and gos and multi table tournaments. This is something that you will almost never find at a live casino, save for a few major events throughout the year.

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