1. PokerVIP
  2. Strategy Articles
  3. Heads Up No Limit Hold'em
  4. Heads Up Button Opening Ranges
Heads Up No Limit Hold'em

Heads Up Button Opening Ranges

20,077 Views on 29/10/13

Heads-Up Button Opening Strategy

Article image

Heads up poker requires us to play many hands. We need to be stealing the blinds more often from our opponent than in any other form of poker, and this means raising often from the small blind (Which is also the button in Heads-Up play).

Here's some pointers for opening from the button Heads-Up and why we should do it:

  • Against an unknown opponent we should be opening 100% of the hands we have in position (on the button). We can double the blinds to achieve this or 2.25x when opening. We can keep it so small as we do it so frequently.
  • On the button holding a hand like 103 seems like a fold, but we should open this hand heads-up. This is because our opponent in the Big Blind is juhst as likely to have a none-playable hand. From our opponents point of view, he'll be folding some hands which could be considered playable since he doesn't want to play often out of position. We can win another pot pre-flop simply by putting consistent pressure on our opponent when we're on the button. 
  • Always remember both players post blinds before seeing their hole cards. You're simply less likely to run in to a big hand heads-up. This is another reason we need to frequently steal our opponents big blind.
  • We need to get value for our hands and stay balanced - This means opening AA in exactly the same fashion as we would with 72o. It's important to use the same bet-sizing pre-flop so that our opponent cannot read our hand.
  • Never limp the button until we have to. Opening the same size constantly will make us the most money.
  • We can adjust our button opening range if our opponent begins to play back and adjust to our strategy - But the default should always be 100% opening.

Author

Chris Edwards

Chris Edwards, Heads-Up cash game coach at PokerVIP.com Chris Edwards (AKA Floppynuts09) is a heads-up cash game specialist, playing anywhere from 50nl to 400nl. He started his poker career in 2009, where he occasionally played both live a ... Read More

Advertisement

YouTube logo
PokerVIP Chip

PokerVIP

22.3K Subscribers

Subscribe