Some players call Heads Up Poker the “purest form” of poker, reveling in the one-on-one nature of the competition. Heads up games are cash or tourney situations where only two players are involved during the game. This is different than when two players “get heads up” in a hand, and requires a different outlook. In heads up situations it is often the very aggressive player that wins over the long run, but not always.

First lets take a look at the different kinds of heads up play. In a normal, full table poker game twenty hole cards are dealt out pre flop. You may bet heavy with your hand and only get one caller- you are now heads up with that other player. However, if you are relying on catching a card to win, remember all those other cards out there that are dead to you.

This is where the big difference comes in. In a heads up game, where only two players are involved the entire time, only four cards are being dealt in the beginning. This means that few cards are dead to you, and the odds of your opponent having you dominated are much, much smaller.

The upshot of this is that you can play a much wider range of cards more aggressively than you can in other forms of poker. There are a few “hard and fast rules” (in quotes because there are almost never hard and fast rules in poker) that apply in heads up matches.

Winning players almost always raise on the button, with a pocket pair pre flop, raise with kings and aces (and a rag card) and re-raise with kings and aces (paired). These rules are going to keep your opponent guessing, build pots that will profit you when you win them, and in general keep the pressure on.

The only other major rule in heads up poker is this—pay attention to what your opponent is doing. If you are ten or twenty hands into a heads up match and you don’t know yet if your opponent always raises with an ace and always folds when you push on flops that don’t have an ace, then you are not paying enough attention. In heads up play you have a great opportunity to watch your opponent, pay attention to what he does and when he acts, and use that information to win.