The more I play heads up sit and go’s I realize what a true advantage that being the aggressor really is. Don’t get me wrong, blind aggression with no understanding of when to reign it in will ultimately felt you, but learning and forcing yourself to be aggressive when playing shorthanded will only improve your game. There’s a reason why the top money winners and best players in the world are hyper aggressive shorthanded players. Just think about it, who would you rather play against at the poker table- a player constantly putting you to the test and forcing you to make difficult decisions for all the chips, or a passive player who only plays the nuts, folds to almost any raise, and strictly bets with a made hand? It’s a no brainer.

Yesterday, I was giving Lurch advice while he was playing an $88 sit and go trying to get him to open his game up and make a few aggressive plays that are against his nature. Small, calculated moves that I thought would make him be a tougher player to play against. He was consistently raising pre-flop, continuation betting more frequently, re-raising when he sensed weakness, and shoving with the best of it. This style is much different that how he is used to playing. Lurch has a tendency to just play his cards, wait for premium hands, and fold his marginal hands to aggressive players. This style works well for him well in the 9-man sit and gos, where just cashing is the goal, but a 1 on 1 winner-take-all tournament requires a different style of play.

We started off the match picking up chips and and controlling the tempo, raising 90% of our hands pre-flop, while our opponent was folding to these raises and often times folding his button which is definitely not the way to play. We then made one mistake on a K, 2, 4, 9 rainbow board. We flat called on the flop out of position with 6-4 off with the intentions of check raising on the turn. The 9 fell, our opponent made a small-ish turn bet and we put in a check raise, feeling like we could pick up a decent pot (representing a K) and have our opponent crippled. Well, it didn’t work and he instashoved on us and we found ourselves with half the chips of our opponent.

We didn’t let his chip lead take away from our goal of staying aggressive and picking up chips whenever possible. We continued applying pressure and 15 hands later we found ourselves with a slight chip lead. All this while not risking too much, just grinding away with controlled aggression. We could sense that our opponent was getting frustrated and we were waiting for him to take a stand to our aggression and make a big mistake. Sure enough, with the blinds 30-60 and a 1750-1250 chip lead we were dealt QQ on the button. We min-raised preflop and our opponent moved all in over the top with 55. The board was kind to us and we walked away a winner.

His shove wasn’t the worst ever, but I really think he only made that play because of our constant aggression throughout the match. If we played a more passive style throughout the match, maybe he just 3-bets us with the fives, we move all-in, and he lays down the hand to fight another day?? I believe our play forced him into a tough spot and ultimately making a bad decision.

The tips I was giving Lurch:

1. Be the aggressor from the first hand

2. Take control of the match

3. Pick up free chips whenever possible

4. Force your opponent into making bad decisions

5. Turn up the aggression when the blinds get high (you will be surprised how many players will let themselves get shortstacked by not playing back at you)

6. Get it in with the best of it and hope it holds up!

**** By no means am I an expert- these are just my general thoughts on heads up play.  Feel free to comment or criticize my thought process.  Thanks for reading.****