Live HU 10$ How do I stop this passive/aggressor?

[Crispy]

I play many Heads Up sesssions against my friend, we have only played about a 100 so far. Most recently he has changed his style to where he raises preflop about 3/4 with good hands and 1/4 with junk. In addition, he has become found of raising and check raising on the assumption that I cant call unless I have top pair. He used to play very laggy, but now has become more preflop passive and postflop aggressive. How should I combat his new style? With my style I raise preflop about 9/10 hands and bet 3/4 and pot on almost every flop. Its troublesome because he will call when he hits, and raise when he thinks he doesnt have it. So I guess the real question, how do I fight a solid player?

[MikeyEdge]

I play a lot of live Heads Up matches against a friend too. Here's what I think.

Raising 9 out of 10 hands preflop is way too many IMO. And betting the pot "on almost every flop" is also way too much. Your opponent has probably figured this out and is calling your preflop raise with nothing, you bet the flop every time, and he raises knowing you have nothing. Are you sure you didn't change your style and he is reacting to you, not the other way around?

Basically, if he is more aggressive on the flop you need to tighten up. To me it sounds like you need to tighten up overall. There is no need to build the pot up every hand. If he is letting you see cheap flops, take it, and wait to hit something and take advantage. Don't be afraid to let him win some small pots. Don't let yourself get pot committed with weak hands, especially early. I don't really start raising pre-flop, if I can, until round 2 or 3.

[Minnesota]

Raise less. 9/10 against an opponent who actually pays attention is way too much. Your biggest sin is c-betting every pot. Anybody who knows anything will pick up on this and will win big pots when they hit and they'll be able to checkraise you at will.

Your strategy works well against the random $10 HU internet donk but against anybody who has a brain they actually use it becomes exploitable.