I am having trouble finding resources on heads-up Stud and Stud8, if anyone can offer advice on this in particular, could you please post it here, thanks.

I'll get it started, probably badly.

Stud: Raise any Ace obviously, and almost any face libearlly depending on how low villains bring in is. Play any pair from third, raising after the bringin, or fourth depending on villain/switching it up etc. From there just learn to hand read at this game like you do in razz. Getting value on 7th is pretty important, is villain going to call you with one pair? Raise with two?

Stud H/L: Complete most aces, complete every ace if opponent is showing 9-K. All 3 card lows are playable, best are obviously the ones with straight/flush possibilites. I reraise these on third, but tend to call with hands like 823 862 etc. Still completing every pair. I think most difficult aspect of Stud H/L Hu is knowing when to get value out of your pairs when opponent is showing possible lows. River betting is tricky too, as deciding to check or bet 2 pair hands gets tricky based on villains board/tendencies.

I hope this is helpful, but I'm probably rambling.

I actually play a lot of heads up stud 8 (i used to open games at a casino, and i'm used to opening games online), so i have a pretty good amount of experience.

I pretty much open/defend with any pair, any low, any 3 suited with 2 lows, and open with 3 high suited. As long as it's not garbage (J5)K (A2)9, stuff like that, and it's either going high, low, or both, i'll probably play it. I've found that high pairs are extremely strong in heads-up stud8, so i play most of them, unlike in full ring.

I'm actually pretty tight with my aces, and to start a heads-up match i'll muck almost all of them unless they're actually a playable hand. Personally, I just like to develop a tigher image with aces and then go the opposite way as a match progresses. Sometimes, though, i'll do the opposite of that and steal/raise all aces until they start playing back at me, which gives me a lot of action on later aces.

After i've established my baseline strategy, i pretty much just adjust to whatever the other guy is doing. Overall i do pretty much play the hand i'm representing, but if the guy is letting me steal a lot, or is tight on 4th street, i'll start playing more and more garbage as i'm stealing, especially with aces. Occasionally i'll continue to represent but still get called down, and in those instances i'm pretty quick to just turn on the brakes. But if i keep improving, i try to just keep the pressure on, because when i show down a winning garbage hand, it tends to really distort my image and also it puts a lot of people on tilt.

I guess like FR, 4th and 5th street are pretty much where you decide what you're gonna do with the hand. I take extra note of 4th street, because i've found that there's only 2 types of villains. Those that will start low, brick, and fold, and those that don't fold. Against those that do fold, i'm more willing to try and steal 3rd, and then cbet 4th once they brick. Against those that love to play to 5th no matter what, i almost never steal.

Also, I think heads-up has a pretty heavy emphasis on really what you're showing down, because stud8 is so unlike holdem where you can't really bluff nearly as much, that you have to develop your image by actually getting to the end of the hand with what you'd like them to see. I guess really it's pretty much what an experienced poker player would know: once they think you're going one way, go the opposite.


Additionally, I agree with Hi? that one of the tougher parts of HU is playing pairs when your opponent is showing a low. Generally i just find it opponent dependent, and if i know the villain is incapable of playing garbage, i'm much more apt to lay down a high pair by 5th street (if i think i'm getting free-rolled to a possible scoop, that is). But if they're the kind that like to play all kinds of wacky stuff and represent a bunch of things, i try not to fold high pairs unless the board becomes really scary, like 3 suited low connectors. At first i had a tough time trying to find value in those spots, but once i started reading my opponent's styles more clearly and categorizing them properly, playing, it became a lot easier. This actually helped me learn to value bet far more accurately in full-ring games.

I mean, each player pretty much likes to do the same thing with the same hand on every street. Some like to bet 1 pair on the river, some check, some bet trips into a sea of low cards, others wait it out. The tougher players I've found will go for more check-raises, and just check certain streets to lead you around, and it definitely isn't easy playing against someone with a full bag of tricks. Still, it really just takes some attention to what the street-by-street tendencies are, and in the end once you've figured out someone's default play, you can make some pretty good decisions.

JMO!

Thanks for the advice, I'm trying to get the hand of these games as the fields are very soft.

Do you mean you are you raising the complete with any pair? I'm not sure what you mean here exactly.

I am finding Stud8 much more tricky, it feels like a big guessing game.

Depending on the player, we can essentially classify them as aggressive or coservative, at least just starting out. If we have a pair of 4's, it's a lot easier to rr and see where we are at. A conservative player will just call, and probably fold 4th. An aggro player might RR you with air, and continue betting relentlessly. So finding out what that player's tendencies are alters how you play your pairs.

Out of the Horse mix, I'd have to stay Stud is def. the most butchered game.

Good advice from Kisada - except for completing aces liberally !

I add in hands like (xx)K with wheel cards if opponent is tight on 4th.

If you're playing HU SNGs, one thing I find useful is to spew chips like a monkey in the first level when the chips are almost worthless, i.e. try just betting every street and seeing how easily you can make them fold, and see what they will call down with (and similarly try calling them down really light when they are the aggressor). There are certain tendancies which a lot of players have, like auto seeing 5th with almost anything but will fold to bet on 5th unless they have a pair or 4 to a low, or some will actually fold a LOT on 3rd and rarely peel 4th like they're playing full ring. And then there's people who auto bet every street when they have an ace in the door. It's very useful to figure this stuff out when it doesn't cost much, then exploit it when the limits go up.