Playing the Button in Heads-Up Poker Tournaments

Most poker players know quite a bit about what hands they should and shouldn’t play in both six-max and full table tournaments. They also know that being on a table with 6-10 players gives you the luxury of waiting for the good cards to come without worrying about being blinded out. However, heads-up poker tournaments are an entirely different ballgame.

In heads-up tournaments, you’re forced to play much riskier hands in an effort to avoid being bullied by your opponent. And the blinds come around every single hand so there’s no hiding behind other players until you get the nuts. What’s more is that you’ll be dealing with a lot of luck in heads-up tournament play as well.

If you don’t agree, then consider these stats: having two hole cards or a single ace assure you of winning around 70% of the time, even when behind you’ll have around a 40% chance of winning (on average), and dominated hands still win about 30% of the time. So even when you have A-J going against A-3, you’re only 70% sure you can win.

Getting to the button tips, your primary advantage is position. In the big blind, you are out of position after the flop so the button is obviously the best spot, even though the button acts first before the flop. As the button, you should call nearly every time since you will be getting pot odds; you’re only contributing one-fourth of the pot, and you will rarely be a 3/1 underdog in any hand.

Of course, if you are only shown to be a tight player, the big blind can raise you and knock you out of the hand. So it’s important to mix up your play with both calls and raises in an effort to confuse your opponent. Obviously the match won’t end until both players get solid hands and decide to go all-in, but using some of the tips for playing the button in heads-up tourneys will help you get a chip advantage before this happens.

Source: http://www.carbonpoker.com/blog/