What Is Heads Up Poker
May 28, 2020 Heads-up poker refers to any form of the game in which the hand is played out between just two players. Head-to-head poker in other words. Virtually any type of poker can be played heads-up.
- Experts in poker industry are of the opinion that heads-up Poker is the most authentic variant of poker. This game is little different from others as in this, a player has to compete against the other players with all his skills and should find different ways to take advantage of the gaming styles of them, to finally emerge as the winner in the game.
- A simple and straightforward explanation of who is a small blind in heads-up poker – a person who has the dealer button is the small blind. After the hand ends, the other player gets the dealer button and is.
Heads Up Poker
Poker at it’s purest, heads up poker is one on one duelling. It can be played in cash game or tournament format. This article will detail the reasons why playing one on one is awesome.
Beginner Texas Holdem Question
Who is Small Blind in Heads Up Poker?
The dealer button is always the small blind. They will act first before the flop and last afterwards.
Tournament End Game
You want to win a MTT? Guess what, you will have to play heads up to do so. The difference between 1st and 2nd in any tournament is always substantial. The difference is often tens or hundred times the initial buy in. The most common mistake a runner up will make is not adjusting, letting the winner bully them into submission then taking a stand with too short a stack and losing.
Heads up trains you for the end game of a tournament and increases your chances of winning them when you get to the final two.
Gain Experience and Technical Skills
Heads up poker will afford you the chance to play many different scenarios both in and out of position. You will be playing hands and situations you are not accustomed to in regular tournaments or cash games with 6 or more people.
How often are you playing K-4 suited to a raise and calling down with 2nd bottom pair? The experience you gain from playing heads up is invaluable and improve your technical skills and hand reading ability.
Heads Up Poker Rewards the Aggressor
If you are a strong aggressive player, heads up poker is perfect. The truth is, heads up poker is often a battle of relentless aggression. The more aggressive players tend to win, provided it’s calculated and measured of course. This is rarely the case in full ring poker where you run into monsters all too often. However, heads up, there are so many nothing pots where an aggressive player can just pick them up consistently. Not only is this fun, it is great for your hourly rate and ROI.
Less Variance Heads Up
It stands to reason with less opponents and deeper stacks, chance or luck is less of an element. Of course, luck and variance exist but not to the same extent. If you are risk averse but a competent heads up player, heads up cash games may be ideal for you.
Table Selection
Never has table selection been more important when you’re facing just one person. You can be heavily rewarded for good table selection playing heads up cash games. There are many experts about but also lots of awful heads up players. By taking your time and carefully selecting the games you play, you can make a lot of money playing heads up.
Conclusion
Heads up poker can be rewarding for you if you enjoy playing post flop poker, gaining experience and are a shrewd game selector. If you are interested in learning more about heads up or want coaching in it, feel free to email us at info@texasholdemquestions.com for information.
Photo by Richard Lee
To many, heads up is the purest form of poker. Playing heads up forces players to utilize many different skills in order to be successful. Some of the many skills include the ability to read hands, bluff (in correct situations), adjust constantly to your opponents playing styles, and value bet thin.
Another important skill that heads up players must develop is hand selection. When first starting out, some players will play nearly every hand (even out of position). They seem to think that they need to over compensate for heads up play. Other players will not play nearly enough hands causing them to lose money due to the blinds and/or their opponent's steals.
But just like anything else in poker (some will say life too), balance is important. In regards to heads up poker hand selection, you must find a middle ground between playing too many hands and not playing enough. And to help with that, I have created a basic starting hand guide below.
HU Poker Starting Hands - On the Button (In Position)
The button in heads up poker is no different then the button in a 6-max or full ring game - you will have position throughout the entire hand.
Because of the positional advantage, the button is where you should have the widest hand range. Many players will start by opening 100% of their hands and slowly shave their range back to adjust to how often they're being played back at by their opponent.
At the bare minimum, I will open up every suited connector, 1 and 2-gapper, broadways and pairs. I will also open any ace, king and most of my queen and jack hands with a kicker of 5 and above (all queens and jacks if suited). Any suited ten-x hand is good enough for me to open as well. If you were to look at all of these hands in Poker Stove, my range would be in the neighborhood of 70% at minimum.
Keep in mind that your range should fluctuate somewhat depending mostly on your opponent, game flow and at times even your image. If your opponent is 3-betting you relentlessly, you should open less, folding out hands you can't defend to 3-bets with. A majority of the hands you open you should be able to defend or 4-bet. On the other hand, if your opponent folds a lot pre or plays fit or fold on the flop, you can widen your hand range, sometimes playing as much as 100% of hands dealt.
When facing a 3-bet, I will have a slightly smaller range. I will generally defend versus 3-bets with any pair, any broadway, any suited ace and about half of my suited kings and queens (like K9/Q8 suited and above). I also defend with some suited connectors and one gappers like J8s or T9s. It's really villain dependent, but this should give you an idea of where I start at least.
HU Poker Starting Hands - In the Big Blind (Out of Position)
When playing heads up poker, the player in the big blind will be the player who is out of position for the entire hand. This is a huge disadvantage and because of this, you should tighten up the range of hands that you defend with.
As a rule of thumb, I will defend any pair, any suited ace, A9 off-suit and up, almost all of my broadways and suited connectors/1-gappers like J8s and maybe T9s. Looking at Poker Stove, my hand range will be close to 35% or 40% out of position. About 10% of these hands (suited connectors, suited kings, some suited queens) I will 3-bet with preflop.
Again, it's important to realize that this is more or less a default hand range. You should be adjusting the hands you're defending with according to how tight/loose your opponent is. The tighter your opponent, the tighter the hand range you should be defending with. The looser your opponent, the wider you can defend.
HU Poker Starting Hands - Summary
What Is Heads Up Poker Odds
It should be painfully obvious that your opening hand range in a heads up game is much wider than what it would be in a 6-max or full ring game. If your preflop hand range isn't this wide (or close), you're too tight and you should widen up as it is likely costing you money.
Heads Up Poker Blinds
At the same time, I hope that you noticed that none of my preflop ranges outlined above are set in stone. Starting hand ranges in any poker game shouldn't be. You should be basing your preflop hand ranges based on your opponents, game flow and image. Your exact hand range will always be fluctuating.
What Is Heads Up Poker Vs
So while a guide like the one I posted above will definitely help you in becoming a better heads up player, knowing how to adjust for the different in-game variables will help you in becoming not only a profitable heads up player, but a profitable poker player overall.