Does anyone know of any good articles on how to playing heads up at the end of tournaments? There is so much good reading material on other aspects of hold 'em play generally, and tournament play in particular, but I can't find anything written that I can study to help with this aspect of the game.

Alternatively, does anyone have general guidelines that they follow? I've read posts in another forum where players advocate playing any pocket pair, any ace, and any two cards totaling 17 or more. However, those posts really only address what hands are minimally playable. Is anyone else interested in discussions about strategies for raising, play on the later streets, and the significance of stack sizes? Maybe we can break these out for separate threads and compare notes about we handle them.

At this point, you've played with this person for the whole final table so you should have a good idea of the kind of player he is. The first thing you need to decide is if you are better than him or not. If so, how is he playing? Does he liked to call your raises and see every flop? Has he shown down lots of bluffs? Basically, you should be able to read him, exploit his tendancies and bust him. So avoid putting in lots of chips where you aren't ahead mathematically. You can outplay him later. On the other hand, players that are better than you are a lot tougher (duh). When I'm heads up against someone better than me I try to play aggresive preflop with medium hands so I can steal some blinds and avoid flops where I can be outplayed. If I have like 86s I'll make a solid raise hoping to take the blinds. If I get called I have a decent shot to hit a nice flop and if there is an A of K I can often steal it. Just remember that a pair is gonna win most of the time, even low pair. Top pair is very good and two pair (assuming no straigh or flush possibility) is a good as a straight or flush in larger games. I also slow play a lot more HU because people bluff more allowing me to trap and there is less of a chance of getting sucked out on. Against 4 players my TPTK can get cracked a lot easier than against 1. I consider HU one of my strenghts. I always concentrate better when its only one person I have to worry about. Its harder for me to focus when there are 9 opponants. The read is key, pick up those betting patterns. The only time I've been HU at the end of a tournament recently I lost. The guy who beat me is probably the best player in our group, I think I'm 3rd. So hes better than me and I need to play it tight to avoid getting outplayed. I was short stacked heading into 4 way action and the other guys were raising like mad every hand so I hardly played. I just wort of waited and fell into HU. I lost on this hand but I think I played it as well as possible. I had $50,000 in chips, he had $160,000. Blinds at 2k/4k. I pick up AA on the button and raised it to $8k and got called. When I have AA I want him to be in there with me. I will risk losing all my chips on a slow play when I'm short stacked. Its worth the risk for a chance to double up. Flop of J86rb, the other guy checks and I bet $15k. Hes raised me all in a couple times when I tried to steal a raggity flop so I'm hoping he does it again here. It works as he raises me another 15k and I hollywood a little and then go all in and he calls. He shows J2os and catches a 3rd J on the river. So I got it in with the best of it, well played I think. Comments welcome. I played it like that because I thought it was the best way to get all of my chips in there based on the way he was playing. It was certainly possible that he had j8, j6 or 86 or even pocket 6's. Or any straight draw like 9,10 or 97. But at this point I want to double up. Playing the player is so much more important in HU.

As far as chip stacks go, It SUCKS to be short. A good player with a large stack is gonna put you to the test any chance he gets, thats why I play it fast perflop and slow post flop.

Thanks, bosox and bonchkid.

Bosox... I appreciate your advice. I like to try to use an aggressive player's tendencies against him at this stage of the game, but I often get stack-challenged waiting for the hand where I'm pretty sure that I have that mathematical edge.

I feel like at this stage of the game that I lose my bearings. When there more players at the table, if I come in for a significant raise with a hand like AJ, and draw one or two callers, if the flop comes down 7 high, I generally feel confident that anyone remaining in the hand is not playing little cards. Even though the flop misses me, I will still bet that flop and often take the pot down because even players with a top pair will think I'm playing a bigger pair. If I encounter resistance, then it's very likely I've run into a set or someone with an overpair. In other words, the standards for how people play hands at this stage of the game offers a lot of guidance for how to read the betting action.

But once it gets down to heads up, players' hand standards change dramatically. All of a sudden they start playing any painted card or any two suited cards. So now, let's say that I have AJ again. I raise come in for a raise and get called. The flop comes down 8 5 2. If I bet and get raised, or if I'm in position and my opponent leads into me, I have tremendous trouble judging whether to call those bets. Similarly, if I have K7 on the button and call, and then the flop comes down 9 7 4, I feel like I face the same dilemma about how to judge aggressive bets. Given the way players loosen up at this stage of the game, my opponent could have anything from T9, to A4, to KJ.

So, I guess what I'm asking in the first instance is how do you put people on hands at this point in the game? And if you can't do that reliably, how strong a hand do you need to mix it up with an aggressive opponent?

Sorry Shade.... didn't mean to leave you out. I guess I was typing out one of my questions at bonchkid's suggestion while you were replying. I appreciate your thoughts, too.

Originally Posted by mxp2004

So now, let's say that I have AJ again. I raise come in for a raise and get called. The flop comes down 8 5 2. If I bet and get raised, or if I'm in position and my opponent leads into me, I have tremendous trouble judging whether to call those bets.

Thats a tough spot. If you always bet on a flop after you raise preflop, a good player will pick up on that and when the flop comes rags he will raise you. I would probably give that up but it really depends on the situation.

Originally Posted by mxp2004

Similarly, if I have K7 on the button and call, and then the flop comes down 9 7 4, I feel like I face the same dilemma about how to judge aggressive bets. Given the way players loosen up at this stage of the game, my opponent could have anything from T9, to A4, to KJ.

Thats true he could, but mid pair K kicker will win more often than it loses so you are probably ahead. Again its back to reading them to know what they likely hold.

Originally Posted by mxp2004

So, I guess what I'm asking in the first instance is how do you put people on hands at this point in the game? And if you can't do that reliably, how strong a hand do you need to mix it up with an aggressive opponent?

You put them on hands by remembering how they bet in previous situations. As Shade said, paying for infomation HU is ok. You need to know how they play and recognize it when the same situation comes up again. There is a finite number of possible situations in poker so they are bound to repeat themselves eventually. Just because someone played something against you a particular way once, doesn't mean they'll do it the same again, but its more likely that they will dosomething similar.

How strong a hand you need depends on your chip stack. If you are short stacked and they have been raising a lot, I'd re-raise all in with any A or K, any pocket pair, any Q 7 or better (any Q suited, JT, J9, T9s. You really want to be ahead in the hand going all in with 56s isn't a good idea. If you are short stacked you gotta go all in and hope to get a little lucky. Even if you are a 52% favorite, you still need to get a little lucky. If you are chip leader and the blinds are small and the other guy keeps raising I'd call with all those hands except for the low Q's and the T9. If they're pushing every hand you want to call ASAP so they don't get a lot of your chips from the blinds. If you are more than 3-1 leader you can double them and still be ahead.