Heads Up Online Poker Websites 2018

We could not even begin to tell you how many times one of our readers messaged us and asked for sensible methods on how to close out the last few final players in big poker tournaments. It seems like for a lot of you, the tournament will cruise on by just fine while players make stupid bets and eliminate themselves one by one, all the while you’ll sit back and steadily build up enough of a chip lead to make a run for the final table. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t…but in either case, those last few players are super tough to eliminate.

The key to winning any tournament is practising at heads up poker; because even though there may be five or six people still alive around you, chances are that most of them are folding whenever you wager outside of the blinds. In fact, we’ve seen big chip leaders move all-in forty or fifty times over the course of the tournament and then suddenly become ultra-conservative when there’s only three or four players left; a move that often knocks them right out of contention if they become overly careful. This article will help you correct some of those mistakes and lead you to some very good heads up poker sites where you can sharpen your skills even further.

Understanding Heads Up Play

No matter what your general betting strategy is when playing at a table full of players, those same rules no longer apply when you’re down to just yourself and another opponent. You’ll either be in the best or the worst starting position on every single hand, and likewise you will also be forced to place a wager of at least half the table’s blind. Suddenly those Q/7 offsuit hands that you’d normally toss aside without second thought are starting to become pretty darn attractive, and by all means you should definitely be playing them.

At a full table of players, the average winning hand in Texas Hold’em is two pair with jacks as the higher duo, while the average winning hand in heads up poker is a middle pair (6/7/8’s). That means that you should be playing many more hands than you normally would and forcing your opponent to make tougher decisions. This does not necessarily mean that you should become ultra aggressive and trap yourself behind an opponent’s big pocket pair, but frequent moderate raises with a semi-high starting hand will make you much more difficult to read.

Mastering Heads Up: The Basics

The only way to improve your tournament play is to put yourself in those types of final table positions more often, and the easiest way to do that it to find some online casinos that offer heads up play. We have a few of our favorites that we’ll tell you about below-

Sportsbook Poker

Sportsbook Poker is a great place to practice heads up play for a number of different reasons. Although many consider this type of table a “high roller” type of scenario, Sportsbook Poker actually has dozens of no limit Hold’em tables with mere 1¢/2¢ antes all the way up to $100/$200. This means that you can get a feel for many different kinds of players without losing a fortune; which is good since most of them will probably be a lot better than you in heads up play.

Another big benefit about playing at Sportsbook Poker is that they have millions of weekly customers, meaning that you will be exposed to a wide variety of play styles. Many of us are quick to say that we hate playing against a person that raises every single hand or the person who never calls anything, and at Sportsbook you can work out your own strategies for defeating each of them.

Players Only

Players Only is another one of the best HU online poker rooms on the net because it is one of the most popular tournament websites around. Besides having heads up tables inside their main table rooms, they also feature several special heads up tournaments each week that places everyone at two person tables in an elimination format. If you eliminate the first player you’ll advance to another table and start all over again, all the way until there are only two of you left. Even if you lose before the final table, it is excellent experience for players of all skill levels.

Players Only also has several regular tournaments starting very few minutes, so its not like you’re stuck having to switch clients whenever you’re ready for a feature tourney that pays out big money to the final players.

Ultimate Bet

Some would argue that Ultimate Bet belongs first on our list while others would insist that it shouldn’t be here at all. The reason for those diverse opinions is that hundreds of professional poker players spend time on UB betting against each other; often in heads up play for substantial amounts of money. All of that free publicity sort of created a ripple effect, however, and you never know if the guy sitting across from you is a complete idiot or a WSOP bracelet wearer.

Of course, if you’re looking to improve your heads up play quickly, there’s no better way than to sit down at UB’s tables and take on anyone who shows up. One of the biggest fundamental keys to playing poker in any type of scenario is to adjust to your table and figure out your opponent’s weaknesses, and Ultimate Bet will certainly grant you that opportunity.

Related Entries