There is no playbook for heads up poker, no matter what game. I've written some basic strategy on 7 card stud heads up poker, but there is so much more to it than that article, even though it is a long one and IMO has some good info for low limit heads up play.
Tonight I ran across a situation that I wanted to share because I think it really delves into how a heads up player needs to think, in order to see success.
I was playing greenmeans at the 1/2 7cs HU tables. He really didn't show a lot of weaknesses. He completed my bringin with Ace and King doorcards (in truth, he probably completed with any ace or king, even hidden). He bet his scary boards. He didn't get way out of line with weak hands. He didn't fold to a single bet on the river when the pot was large (not really much point in trying to bluff a missed draw against him). Blah blah blah... you get the picture.
After ~250 hands, I was +26.05 in less than an hour against him. That's a 5.2 BB/100 hands clip. I know, short term luck, yada yada, but I really think I would have cleaned him out had we played longer. The reason is that I picked up on a couple of exploitable patterns.
His first pattern was varying his forced bringin based on his hand strength. I'm not going to get into why this is generally a bad idea heads up. Just trust me... it is.
The most interesting pattern I found is a little deeper. As I noted earlier, he always completed with an ace or king doorcard. Obviously, he doesn't always have aces or kings. Early on, when I was dealt a small pair and he completed my bringin with an ace or king, I would limp raise him. If he just had the ace or king high, he would call. Then he'd call my bet on 4th and fold on 5th.
Ok....pretty boring right? But look how it can be exploited!!! Once I had established this as a pattern I could rely on, I could win 3 small bets almost EVERY time he was dealt an ace or king doorcard. It didn't matter if I had 444 or 462 rainbow. My 3 cards didn't matter. Here were the possibilities:
I bringin the half bet, he completes with an ace or king doorcard, I raise:
1. If he has nothing, he calls the raise (2 bets on 3rd). He calls 4th hoping to get some kind of value by 5th (another small bet). He folds on 5th with ace or king high. I win 3 small bets, regardless of my own holding.
2. He really has aces or kings and 3 bets. I fold. I lose 2 bets.
3. He calls my raise with ace or king high, then calls on 4th and 5th (meaning he's either picked up a draw, another pair, etc.) and I slow down and he wins showdown.
4. He calls my raise with ace or king high, then calls on 4th and 5th (again, meaning he has something, but not quite aces or kings), but I draw well myself and I win at showdown.
For simplicity sake, let's just say #3 and #4 will be roughly equal, that leaves us with figuring out the value of my losing 2 bets when he has the aces or kings he is representing vs. my winning 3 bets when he does not.
The odds against being dealt exactly AA or exactly KK are roughly 76:1 (according to my crappy math skills). That means if I did this EVERY time and he followed the same pattern every time, then I would win 76 x 3 bets that he had nothing for every 1 x 2 bets that I lost when he 3bet with real aces or kings.
You don't have to be a math geek to see the value there.
Gold mine right? Well...not really. This gent, as I noted was pretty decent. If a player is solid and you have to dig this deep to find exploitable patterns, you might be better off waiting on someone who will make more mistakes. I suspect that it wouldn't take many of these scenarios to occur before he would change up how he was playing to compensate. (What if he notices that I fold immediately when he 3 bets with his aces or kings? Now he can 3 bet even if all he has is ace or king high, I fold and now he's taking advantage of my pattern!)
What's my point? The key to heads up poker is identifying your opponents patterns. IMO, this goes for every poker game, not just 7c stud. Once you have established a pattern, it's just a matter of exploiting it and rake in the chips.
How about your own patterns? Pay attention to your own play, and try to avoid pattern ruts that you fall into. Better yet, establish an obvious pattern, when he picks up on it, exploit that. Here's an example. I complete with a lot of hands heads up. If I have nothing and he calls my completed bet on 3rd, I'll check and fold 4th. The next time I'm actually dealt my pair, say, JxJ, I'll complete his bringin, check 4th and then check raise him when he bets. Or maybe I'll wait 'till 5th for the check raise. Either way, it wins me some extra bets and confuses him as he can no longer count on the pattern he thought he'd picked up.
See how it works? Play fast and aggressive. Pick up their patterns. Setup false patterns/traps. Get 'em confused, and then tilted. Once they're tilted, they might as well mail you a check for their remaining balance.
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