Daniel Negreanu is a popular professional player, known for his tournament records and high stakes games. He made millions of dollars over the years and he considers that a heads up game is closer to chess than it is to poker.
In this type of game, you need to find a strategy to beat the individual player that’s at the table with you. You need to constantly be aware of your moves, of his moves and the way he perceives you.
Daniel Negreanu’s heads up poker strategy involves the use of position, post flop play control, and also changing your style on a regular basis in order to avoid letting your opponents read you.
He is aware that in heads up poker the strength of your hand depends more on hitting the flop than the cards you have before it. Even with weak cards, he is happy to see a flop, then relying on post flop skills and reads on the opponent.
If Daniel is in the dealer position, he will usually raise. Acting after the opponent, will allow him to better understand where the other player stands. So he takes advantage of his position whenever he can. When out of position, he might also call raises, depending on the hand and the opponent. He gains extra security by avoiding the play of easily dominated hands (when out of position).
In tournaments, Daniel Negreanu uses the “small-ball” approach a lot. This means that he keeps the starting pot small in the first betting rounds, and then uses his skills to assess his position compared to his opponents.
When in the dealer button position, it is easier for him to control the size of the pot (for example by calling rather than re-raising on the flop). If he plays multiple small pots in a heads up game, he can then use his post flop skills.
As mentioned before, Daniel considers that it is very important to not give your opponent reads on your hand. So occasionally he changes his style of playing, just enough to confuse the opponent.
He thinks that a heads up game is more about trying to view things from the perspective of the other player, and to find out how he sees the hand that you have. So you must understand how he acts based on what he thinks about your hand.
Another main aspect in the heads up poker strategy of Daniel Negreanu is to get the most out of a hand when you think that you are ahead. This is known as “value betting” and it’s a post flop and pot control strategy.
After you estimated your hand and those of your opponent, you need to think of the maximum amount of chips that you can get from the other player. The idea is to win as much as possible when ahead, and to lose as less as possible when behind.
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