[Texas72]

From PokerNews.com -

Lee Jones announced a newly completed theoretical poker process called, "An Equilibrium Heads Up-Strategy for No Limit," developed by James Kittock, of Mission College, California and Jones. The mathematically-based theory uses a "power number" assigned to each card. The number gets added and multiplied to get a "power index" and a ranking.

Depending on the power number, two players heads up in a tournament can easily decide to push or call a push. "There is no maybe in this system - it is proven mathematically and will work," he said. "If you play this strategy, your opponent must play the equivalent strategy, or his EV will go down."

Jones and Kittock will soon publish their findings. Though at first complicated on paper, Jones' explanation had many players eager to test it in their own tournaments.

This sounds really interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the strategy. I generally do pretty well in HU play, but this sounds foolproof.

[UofTNick]

Wow. Sounds interesting.

I'm a little skeptical though. How can it ALWAYS work? That seems impossible to me.

This, to me, seems more like one of those blackjack 'crib' cards. Where it tells you what the 'percentage play' is for each hand. You will win most of the time - but not always. There are always going to be exceptions to the rule - or at least that's what i thought.....

I guess i'll have to wait and see. I would definitely like to read up on this (being an engineer and all - the math appeals to me)

[JasonKirk]

The best primer for heads-up play that I've ever seen is the end of Harrington on Hold'em Volume II. Action Dan dissects the entire heads-up match btween Phil Ivey and John D'Agostino at Turning Stone last year, and it's more insightful than almost anything else poker-related that I've ever read.

The Jones/Kittock heads-up "system" sounds similar to the Sklasnky tournament "system," which tells you simply to push all-in with certain hands no matter where you are in a tournament. Mathematically it may be correct, but I'd want to see it in action before I would subscribe to it.

[Arjonius]

I'm certainly interested, but can't help being at least a little skeptical. Intuitively, there doesn't seem to be a way for any mathematical system to take suckouts into account, either for or against you. It also seems like the betting has to factor in somehow. But I'm no mathematician, so I'm keeping my mind as open as possible until I know more.

[AGreen]

Headsup I admit I'm not as strong of a player as I usually am. I would describe myself as a tight player regularly, so adjusting to headsup play is kind of annoying. Hand values increase so greatly that it's hard to keep track.
A good friend of mine is absolutely obsessed with headsup sag's, playing in $100 buyin ones. His secret to success is to be an absolute pain. Raise and bet everything. After the flop he is pretty disciplined, so he doesn't just push with q high. However, after watching him a few times I saw that he can trap his opponent perfectly. He makes one of his regular raises and gets a reraise out of the other guy. He plays the hand like he always does and ends up getting all of the other guy's money in the pot. He has the bankroll to carry through rough spots (It is headsup, draws look good and hit often).


I have no faith in headsup play in which both players go in expecting headsup. MTT are different, headsup at the point is fine for me because I'm coming in at least second.

[beriac]

I do believe that there is an optimal way to play in any given Heads Up match, but I don't think that it's the same strategy against every player. IE, imagine one heads up match against a really tight player and another against a really loose player. I just have a hard time imagining that the exact same strategy, with no modification, would yield the best results against both opponents. I have always been of the school of thought that the best strategy is generally a dynamic one, and the best players are the ones who read their opponent the best and fit their play to him/her.

That said, I would also love to see that process and try to evaluate whether there's anything to it...

[Hrobakca]

I could use a little help with my Heads-up game i do pretty well till then and i usually bomb it. Any advice let me know

Chris

[track1697]

Titan and CD Poker both have $1 Heads up SNG. Its a good way to practice heads up cheaply and if your any good you can also make a couple of bucks.

[Yearbookpoker]

My heads up strategy consists on playing aggressive, more aggressive, and even more aggressive. The only thing is lately I have been doing poorly in my heads up situations. Overall though I consider myself pretty good heads up because I win about 65% of my heads up scenarios.

One huge thing about heads up is that even more luck is involved. In the situation you play A hands and average hand like their bigger and better. Which against one other player they are, but if you pick up a good hand like 10's or something and raise then get pushed all in. You could get bad luck and be up against J's or something. Or A-Q up against A-K. I would have to say heads up play is about 5% more luck than regular 9 people table play. Just my opinion though.

[BSgutshot]

Originally Posted by Yearbookpoker

My heads up strategy consists on playing aggressive, more aggressive, and even more aggressive. The only thing is lately I have been doing poorly in my heads up situations. Overall though I consider myself pretty good heads up because I win about 65% of my heads up scenarios.

One huge thing about heads up is that even more luck is involved. In the situation you play A hands and average hand like their bigger and better. Which against one other player they are, but if you pick up a good hand like 10's or something and raise then get pushed all in. You could get bad luck and be up against J's or something. Or A-Q up against A-K. I would have to say heads up play is about 5% more luck than regular 9 people table play. Just my opinion though.

It worked for you yesterday, lol.

I got lucky and caught some good cards against you, though. I'm usually not that great heads up because I like to play a little more conservative.
This is a problem heads up and I usually get agressive at the wrong time. When I play agressively, I usually win.