Heads Up Cash Games (online)

Played a good 2hrs or so of heads up cash games facing 3 opponents today , only small limits (0.25p - 0.50p Blinds) with me sitting in there each time with around 40 pounds.
First guy i faced i won his 15.00 quid- 2nd guy I lost around 9.00 quid to....and final guy i won 74.00 pounds off.

My heads up strategy doesn't differ too much on who I play, I will often raise from the button with suited connectors or a hi card to around 1.5-1.9o varying on how I feel at the time. The reason I do these raises for 4 reasons -
1) Increases size of pot that I can win.
2) Suited connectors add for deception an my hi card is likely to be ahead.
3) Position.
4) I can take it down right there.

The first guy I played I just grinded him down, but I knew he liked to bet out river with nothing so I was happy to check 2nd pair or Ace hi and call him down when he bluffed off his money on the river.
The 2nd guy I played was good, he would raise the button often and wasn't afraid to play out big pots , I lost to him when I re raised him all in with my 55 after getting him down and he called with Ac2c and turned a flush.
The final guy was a london based player, I had played with him for just over an hour and was constantly changing gears which confused him I think , 10 mins Id go without raising pre flop and acting passive then I'd go 20 with constant agression. After an hour and 15 mins he and I decided to leave, it was getting late and he thought I had a "curse over him" , after all he rebought 3 times and he said he was having a good night of it till I came along :).

Heres a few hands I will share with you while playing the final guy -

----HAND 42------
Game #1086117993: Hold'em NL (£0.25/£0.50) - 2005/10/18 - 05:03:38 (GMT)
Table "London477" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: Neab (£107.58 in chips)
Seat 2: mwcheval (£43.47 in chips)
Neab: posts small blind £0.25
mwcheval: posts big blind £0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Neab [Kh 9d]
Neab: raises to £1.50
mwcheval: calls £1
----- FLOP ----- [Ah Jd 7s]
mwcheval: checks
Neab: checks
----- TURN ----- [Ah Jd 7s][5s]
mwcheval: bets £0.50
Neab: calls £0.50
----- RIVER ----- [Ah Jd 7s 5s][Jc]
mwcheval: bets £1.50
Neab: raises to £6.50
mwcheval: folds
Returned uncalled bets £5 to Neab
Neab: doesn't show hand
Neab collected £6.75 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £7 Main pot £6.75 Rake £0.25
Board [Ah Jd 7s 5s Jc]
Seat 1: Neab (small blind) collected £6.75
Seat 2: mwcheval (big blind) folded on the River

Lets go over how I played the hand, I raise to 1.50 pre flop from the button with K9os, not a band hand heads up- I much prefer to raise with it then limp in this case.Flop falls AJx rainbow - He hasn't check raised me once in this session , I know he would check a 7 here but an Ace or a Jack and he would be In my opinion. So I check behind him confident I have the winning hand.
Turn drops -5s, he fires out 0.50p , a very weak bet into a pot of around 3.00 , I could re raise and he would pass a 5 but I am not sure he has a 5, personally I think he has 46,68, or a flush draw. Basically a drawing hand, he isn't agressive enough to bet out the 5 here especially with the ace on the flop. I decided to just call and hope that scare card doesn't fall on the river. Fortunately it doesn't and a Jack comes off. He is first to act and decides to fire out 1.50 figuring he missed his draw and may be able to steal the pot off me. Some may argue he could have hit the J here, but i didnt beleive it , if he thought his J was good on the turn why not raise more say1.50 or 2.00 pounds? At best he is holding a 7 here, personally I think he has nothing - but to be on the safe side I raise it up to 6.50 to ensure he wont overcall with a 5 and it would be a very tough call with a 7. He quickly passes and I scoop up a 6.75 pot. You notice how position and a solid read on a guy helps when playing heads up? I would no way of won that pot had I just called pre flop and there is very little to suggest he would be tempted to bluff out on the river or the turn had I not made the pot all the bigger, and position gave me a significant edge on this hand especially on the river.

Here is an interesting hand-

Game #1086065733: Hold'em NL (£0.25/£0.50) - 2005/10/18 - 04:42:46 (GMT)
Table "London477" Seat 1 is the button.
Seat 1: Neab (£95.80 in chips)
Seat 2: mwcheval (£37.95 in chips)
Neab: posts small blind £0.25
mwcheval: posts big blind £0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Neab [Ks 3c]
Neab: calls £0.25
mwcheval: checks
----- FLOP ----- [7c 9d Kh]
mwcheval: bets £1
Neab: raises to £2.50
mwcheval: calls £1.50
----- TURN ----- [7c 9d Kh][5c]
mwcheval: checks
Neab: checks
----- RIVER ----- [7c 9d Kh 5c][Kd]
mwcheval: bets £2
Neab: calls £2
----- SHOW DOWN -----
mwcheval: shows [Ah 8h] (A Pair of Kings, Ace high)
Neab: shows [Ks 3c] (Three of a kind, Kings, Nine high)
Neab collected £9.50 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £10 Main pot £9.50 Rake £0.50
Board [7c 9d Kh 5c Kd]
Seat 1: Neab (small blind) showed [Ks 3c] and won (£9.50) with Three of a kind, Kings, Nine high
Seat 2: mwcheval (big blind) lost

Ok, Lets take a look - I limp from the button with k3os, no raise this time. I will find out in a second the strength of Mwchevals hand, he checks. Flop falls K 9 7 , and he fires out a pot bet - I got to re raise to see where I am and do by raising up to 2.50, which is 1.50 more to him (good odds if he is drawing). Turn falls 5, which I hate since I know if he was drawing to that straight hes just made it. So i check behind him , hoping to get a cheap showdown. When the river falls another K....Interesting, he fires out 2.00 into the pot of around 7.50, givin me 4-1 or so on my money, question is whether to call or re raise. I think most would re raise here in a heads up situation but I chose not to and heres why-
1- If he was straight drawing hes likely to have hit it on the turn thus I am behind and if I re raise and comes over the top what do I do??
2- If he is bluffing, I am not winning anymore money off him unless he does actually have better.
3- Some would argue he hit the 9 or 7 on flop, saw me check the turn, and thought his hand was good. I dont agree, If he had called the re raise on the flop, hes hoping to check it down- betting the river doesn't do himself any favors hes only getting called by a better hand or he is getting re raised by me holding the K.

Turns out he held Ah8h, he probably thought he could steal it on the flop - got re raised and thought maybe he could improve on a later street either backdoor straight or backdoor flush (neither too impressive imo ) especially out of position but hey maybe I got him on tilt? Either way, I liked the way I played this hand and just thought I'd share the way I play a few hands in heads up situations and the reasons for doing so.
I'd appreciate any criticism or questions you'd like to ask just post under comments.