Winning at heads-up, no-limit poker: Basic strategies Part 1 of 3

Competition is a complex enterprise. And those complexities are magnified significantly when we are playing on a team, competing together to beat an opponent. Baseball, football, hockey and other games require us to formulate strategies with our teammates in order to win. We win as a team, and we lose as a team. In these games, it’s rare we get to face off against an opponent one on one, mono y mono.There are, though, exceptions—situations (such as penalty shots) when it’s just us against one other person; a brief, intense face-off that often determines the outcome of the game. It’s instances like these where we either push ourselves to excel, or falter, intimidated lacking confidence. But if we push ourselves to both play our best and manipulate our opponent, forcing them to play the way want them to, any opponent—even if they are “better” than us—can be beaten.

Heads-up, no-limit poker follows the same principle. Any opponent can be beaten, as long as you employ standard strategies, develop an understanding of your opponent’s game and know when to switch gears so that you can exploit both his or her weaknesses and strengths. In this three-part article, I’m going to give you some basic heads-up, no-limit poker strategies, advanced strategies and show you how any style of player, when manipulated, can be beaten.

Read More?