Unlike the usual styles of poker heads up & short handed poker is different. Similar to money tables there is more of a desire to view an increased amount of hands and play more forceful. By the finish of the majority of the lengthy free poker tournaments I have competed in, the opposing player just seems to stop trying. I begin forcefully with any Q+ or decent low blind cards such as J7 off suit. Even though these cards can be a waste of cash- they're quite often the best preflop hand.
Remember that you have to be prepared in heads up & short hand to be ready to gamble almost everything that hits on the flop & even occasionally if nothing hits.
A high is usually the top cards on the flop. Continue making the opposition guess whilst you keep a sight on their normal gambling range. When they change their habits its okay to put 1 or 2 down every so often.
Sometimes your opposition will respond to this and increase their gambling to try and come back with bigger bets- my best tip would be to let them, give them a chance to see if they can catch the uncomfortable high & low bets as you did. The roles may switch a few times with the other players before you get your way and they eventually collapse.
Heads up is also a place where you will see a lot of bad beats. Most often this is because both players are seeing a wide range of hands and neither can really put one another on any set hand pre-flop. Just don't put all your eggs in one basket unless that basket has steel re-enforcement. Although hands like AX or K9 are very good at this stage of the tournament they are nothing to be going wild over. They are still a good 30% with just about any hand.
Good luck in all of your poker and free poker.
Laura works for free poker games website www.NoPayPoker.com a totally free poker games website where you can play Texas Hold'em poker tournaments with hundreds of poker players worldwide. Free to join, free to play and you can still win real cash, because all prizes are advertiser funded. The site is US player legal and all of the games are rake free. NoPayPoker has made it possible to play some fun poker, genuinely risk free yet still win real cash!
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