Part: Part Twelve - Heads-Up
Raise, don't limp
Pre-flop
Heads-up, on the button with Q♦7♣.
Heads-up button with Q♦7♣. Best?
WhyThe big blind is the only player who can stop you, so every hand he folds is uncontested money, and Q-7 offsuit flops enough and dominates enough of his junk to open profitably from the button. Limping surrenders that pressure and gives him a free look; raising forces him to make a decision every time.
What happensYou raise. Sometimes he defends and you play a pot with the lead, sometimes he folds and you scoop the blinds - over a session, opening beats limping whichever way this single hand breaks.
Q-7 offsuit clears the bar to open from the button heads-up - it makes top pair often enough and beats the bottom of his defends. Limping hands the lead back and lets the big blind see a free flop in a pot you should be driving.
The heads-up button raises rather than limps because every fold wins the blinds outright and the raise keeps the initiative that position is built on.