The hybrid table game known as Heads Up Hold’em was designed and marketed by Galaxy Gaming in 2013. Shortly after that, the game made its debut at the 2013 Global Gaming Expo, before securing a placement at the M Luxury Resort Hotel Casino in Henderson, Nevada.

1. Heads Up Holdem Rules
2. How To Play Heads Up Hold'em
3. Heads Up Holdem Casino Game
4. Heads Up Hold'em Galaxy
5. Heads Up Hold'em

Eventually, the higher-ups at Galaxy Gaming signed a licensing deal with the World Poker Tour (WPT) to brand the game under a new title: WPT Heads Up Hold’em. This means you’ll often find tables labeled as WPT Heads Up Hold’em, along with the older versions which simply read Heads Up Hold’em.

Heads Up Hold’em is like Ultimate Texas Hold’em with a bad beat bonus. Players are dealt two cards. There is a house hand. Players may raise three times the ante before the flop or check. HeadsUp Push/Fold Nash Equilibrium The charts below show the Nash Equilibrium strategies for two player push-or-fold NLHE. This is a simplified game where the SB is only allowed to go all-in or fold, and the BB can either call or fold when facing a shove. Nothing brings out the adrenaline quite like a heads-up game in the No Limit Texas Hold’em world. We previously discussed the top-20 starting hole cards, button strategy and how to count outs. Heads-up play asks a poker player to combine all the tools in an aggressive format. Heads-Up Hold 'em' Play Now How To Play Video Three Card Prime' Play Now No Video Four Card Prime' Play Now No Video Four Card Frenzy' Play Now No Video Four Card Stud' Play. Play no-limit Texas Hold Em poker in 3D perspective against advanced AI opponents. In Texas Holdem Poker you must draw good card, bluff and win lots of money. Brainteaser Poker Texas Holdem Poker Heads Up.

These games play in identical fashion, however, so the information contained on this page concerns both versions.

Heads Up Hold’em is based closely on another poker based hybrid table game known as Ultimate Texas Hold’em, so it’s a good idea to head over and check out our page for that game before moving on to this offshoot.

The concept behind both games is relatively simple to grasp: transform the popular poker variant of Texas Hold’em, typically played as a ring game between multiple players, into a player versus dealer table game format.

The result is an action-packed gameplay experience which rewards players for applying skill and card sense, along with multiple player decision points, escalating pay tables, and even bonus bets that can create massive payouts.

Whether you’ve spotted a regular Heads Up Hold’em table at your favorite casino or the WPT branded variety, this page was written to help introduce you to yet another poker-based table game. Here you’ll find a detailed breakdown of the game’s rules and procedures, followed by a guide to finding the game, both in brick and mortar casinos and online, and even a strategy guide designed to help improve your play.

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Rules and How to Play

Heads Up Hold’em utilizes the typical table game setup, so up to six players will be seated on one side of the semicircular table, while the dealer runs the game from the other side.

A standard 52 card deck of playing cards is used during each hand, and instead of using a shoe containing multiple decks, a single deck is reshuffled upon the completion of each hand.

Just to be sure, let’s review the traditional poker hand hierarchy below, so you’ll know exactly how to form the various hands, and which hands outrank others:

Step #1: Place Mandatory Bets

To begin the game, players must put up a pair of mandatory bets: the Ante bet and the Odds bet, and both of these bets must be made in identical amounts.

To help illustrate the gameplay concepts, we’ll be using a running example hand throughout this section. For that hand, let’s assume we’ve placed a standard $5 wager on both the Ante bet and the Odds bet.

Step #2: Optional Side Bets

Heads Up Hold’em also includes two optional side bets, the Trips bet, and the Trips Plus bet. Both of these bets will be described near the end of this section.

Step #3: Dealer Distributes Cards

Once all players have placed their wagers, the dealer will proceed to distribute two cards face down to each player, along with two cards face down to themselves. Players may examine their own hole cards of course, but no sharing of hole card information between players is permitted.

For the running example hand, let’s imagine we’ve been dealt the As and Ks.

Step #4: Check or Play

Heads Up Holdem Rules

After examining your two hole cards, the game’s first player decision point comes into play: Check or Play.

• CHECK: you simply forego the option to place an additional wager. Checking is not the same as folding, so you’ll still be alive in the hand, you’ll just have a smaller wager on the line during the rest of the hand.
• PLAY: you will have to put up an additional Play bet equal to exactly three times the amount of your Ante bet.

Returning to our running example hand, in which we hold the As and Ks as our two hole cards, we’ll go ahead and make the Play bet for an additional $15 wager ($5 Ante bet x 3 = $15 Play Bet). With two high suited cards like this, making a big Play bet would likely be the best play, but depending on your bankroll limitations or tolerance for risk, you could easily decide to check as well.

Step #5: Three More Cards (Flop)

With all Check or Play decisions made, the dealer will then distribute three cards face up in the center of the table. These cards represent the “flop,” or the first three community cards used in Texas Hold’em. The concept of community cards is simple enough: you can fit one or both of your hole cards with the community cards to form the best possible five-card poker hand.

Returning to the running example hand, we’ve decided to put in a Play bet of $15 on top of our $5 Ante and Odds bets, holding the As and Ks as hole cards. Now, the dealer spreads out a flop of Ad 10s 4s. By fitting our hole cards with these first three community cards, we’d create a strong hand with one pair of aces and a king kicker (As Ad Ks 10s 4s). You may also notice that we now hold four spades, so if we were to land one more spade among the next two community cards, we’d improve our hand to a flush.

Step #6: Second Check or Play

After the first three community cards are revealed, each player who previously checked has another decision point in front of them: Check or Play.

You can simply check for the second time and take a look at the final two community cards. Or, you can Play, but doing so will cost an additional Play bet equal to exactly double the amount of your original Ante bet. Players who took the Play bet already can make no further bets, so this step in the hand doesn’t concern them.

For the running example hand, we did elect to make the first Play bet for three times our Ante bet, so we’ll simply skip over this step. However, assuming we checked on the first decision point, we’d now go ahead and make the Play bet for $10 ($5 Ante x 2 = $10 Play bet) holding a pair of aces.

Step #7: Final Two Cards

Once all players have either checked or made this secondary Play bet, the dealer will proceed to turn over the final two community cards.

For our running example hand, the final two community cards come in as the 9d and 6s. With one more spade to add to our hand, we now hold a flush (As Ks 10s 6s 4s) as our best possible five card poker hand.

Step #8: Fold or Play

At this point, players who have previously checked on both prior decision points must now decide between one of two options: Fold or Play.

• FOLD: you simply surrender the hand straight away, forfeiting both your Ante bet and Odds bet to the house.
• PLAY: you must put up a Play bet equal to exactly the amount of your original Ante bet.

Players who have already placed a Play bet on either of the previous decision points simply stay put during this process.

How To Play Heads Up Hold'em

Step #9: Best Possible 5-Card Hand

Finally, with all players either folded out or choosing to play, the dealer will then turn over each player hand and fit it with the five community cards on the board to create the best possible five card poker hand.

At showdown, the dealer must produce a five card poker hand of at least one pair or better in order to qualify and “open” their hand. Simply put, unless the dealer makes one pair or better, they won’t be able to show down their hand.

Step #10: Get Paid

With all the cards in play now turned face up, and the final five card poker hands for all players and the dealer evident, the Ante bet, Odds bet, and Play bets will be paid out according to various pay schemes. Payouts are dependent on whether or not the dealer was able to open their hand, and then which hand (player or dealer) outranks the other.

For the Ante bet, the following table describes all possible scenarios upon showdown, along with the corresponding payouts:

As you can see, you’ll be wanting the dealer to open when you hold a strong hand, while the dealer not being able to open helps you on occasions when your hand is beaten.

Win: Even Money

Boiled down to the basics, you’ll win even money on your Ante bet and all of your Play bets by beating the dealer’s opened hands. When the dealer doesn’t open, and you still produce a winning hand, your Ante bet will be returned as a push while the Play bets will pay out at even money.

Lose: All Bets

On occasions when the dealer does open and their hand beats yours, you’ll lose all of your Ante and Play bets to the house. But when the dealer beats your hand but can’t open, you’ll only lose the Play bets, will the Ante bet will be returned as a push.

Push: Equal Hands

Finally, when your hand ties the dealer’s hand exactly, it doesn’t matter whether they’ve opened or not, and all Ante and Play bets will be returned as a push.

Returning to our running example hand for a moment, we’ve wagered $5 on the Ante and $15 on the Play bet, before making an ace-high flush in spades. Assuming the dealer turns over a qualifying hand (something like 3d 3c 4h 9d 10h for one pair of 3s), our flush takes the pot, so we’d earn even money payouts of $5 on our Ante bet and $15 on the Play bet.

If the dealer didn’t manage to make one pair, their non-qualifying unopened hand would still lose to our flush, but we’d receive our Ante bet back in a push, before being paid out the $15 even money reward on our Play bet.

Even money payouts aren’t all that exciting, though, so Heads Up Hold’em has included the ever popular escalating pay table for the Odds bet. Here’s how the Odds bet pay table stacks up:

As you can see, the game’s allure comes from the huge payouts you can earn for landing monster poker hands like a royal flush or a straight flush. Even better, you can’t lose this bet to the house when your hand beats the dealer, as it will be returned as a push if you fail to make at least a straight.

For our running example hand, our ace high flush would be good for a 1.5 to 1 payout on our $5 Odds bet, so we’d receive a $7.50 bonus.

Heads Up Hold’em keeps the kicks coming with a second pay table which awards payouts on your Odds bet if you make a big hand and still manage to lose against the dealer’s hand. The pay table for losing Odds bets can be reviewed below:

Let’s say that ace high flush we tabled has been brutally beaten by the dealer’s miracle full house. In this case, a losing Odds bet holding a flush pays out at 8 to 1, so we’d receive a “bad beat” bonus of $40 on our $5 wager.

Now that we’ve covered the game’s base bets in exhaustive detail, we can move on to the pair of optional side bets found at the Heads Up Hold’em table: the Trips Plus bet and the Pocket Bonus bet.

Trips Plus Bet

When making the Trips Plus bet, you are essentially betting on the strength of your own five-card poker hand to rank as at least three of a kind or higher. For this side bet, it doesn’t make a difference if the dealer opens, nor if the dealer’s hand beats yours.

When you make a hand of three of a kind or better, you’ll always earn a payout on the Trips Plus side bet based on the pay table below:

Most side bets are made for just a $1 chip, so assuming we did the same, our ace high flush in the running example hand would earn an additional payout of $7 at 7 to 1 odds.

Pocket Bonus Bet

When making the Pocket Bonus side bet, the premise is slightly different: payouts are awarded based on the strength of your two hole cards alone.

The pay table for the Trips Plus side bet can be reviewed below:

Once again, returning to our running example hand, a $1 wager on the Pocket Bonus side bet would produce a payout of $20 at 20 to 1, as our As and Ks fits the Ace + Face Card (Suited) category.

Now that you’ve digested this lengthy instruction manual for Heads Up Hold’em, feel free to experiment with the game concepts here using this play money learning tool. This resource perfectly replicates the game conditions of Heads Up Hold’em, allowing you to set your wagers, make player decisions, and see how payouts are awarded.

Best Places to Play Heads Up Hold’em

As a relatively new addition to the crowded and competitive casino table game landscape, Heads Up Hold’em is still struggling to secure widespread placements throughout the U.S.

The folks at Galaxy Gaming are always working to expand the game’s presence, but currently, the list of brick and mortar casino properties known to carry Heads Up Hold’em is rather slim.

The following venues are currently advertising Heads Up Hold’em tables, so you should be sure to find a table by visiting one of these locations:

• Dover Downs Hotel & Casino – Dover, DE
• Harrington Raceway & Casino – Harrington, DE
• Riverwalk Casino Hotel – Vicksburg, MS
• M Luxury Resort Hotel Casino – Henderson, NV
• Hawk’s Prairie Casino – Lacey, WA
• Little Creek Casino Resort – Shelton, WA
• Lucky 21 Casino & Oak Tree Restaurant – Woodland, WA
• Muckleshoot Casino – Auburn, WA
• Slo Pitch Sports Grill & Casino – Bellingham, WA

As you can probably tell by now, Heads Up Hold’em has caught on mostly in Washington state, and the game can probably be found in more card rooms and casinos there than have been listed above. If you live in or near Washington and want to play Heads Up Hold’em, your best bet is to make a few phone calls to casinos in the area and ask around. The odds are good that you’ll locate the game this way, but if not, you have five verified venues to choose from.

Galaxy Gaming has also broken through into the online casino industry of late, and Heads Up Hold’em has been licensed for play through two major online casino platforms:

• PokerStars Casino
• William Hill Vegas Casino

Once again, as Galaxy Gaming continues to expand its marketing efforts and secures additional licensing, Heads Up Hold’em is sure to appear on additional online casino brands. If you’re unable to access either of the online casinos shown above, chances are the game will be adapted for play at your preferred internet based gambling location sometime in the future.

Strategic Considerations for Heads Up Hold’em

First things first in terms of strategy: the house edge for Heads Up Hold’em stands at 2.36 percent, while the element of risk is 0.64 percent. The latter figure simply means that for every $1 you wager on the base game bets, you’ll stand to lose $0.64 over the infinite long run.

When you compare those numbers to their equivalents in Ultimate Texas Hold’em – which offers a house edge of 2.18 percent and an element of risk of 0.53 percent – Heads Up Hold’em simply doesn’t do players justice.

When contemplating the first player decision point, in which you can Check or Play for a 3x bet, the following rules should be used at all times:

• When you hold any pair, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold an ace with any other card, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold any K Q through K 7, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold a suited K 6 or K 5, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold any Q J or Q 10, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold a suited Q 9 or Q 8, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold a suited J 10, you should Play for 3x
• When you hold any other hands, you should Check

These guidelines will keep you on track when making the game’s pivotal decision on whether to check or make the big Play bet for three times your ante.

When it comes to the other decision points, after you’ve checked the first time around, experts agree that James Grosjean’sstrategy chart for Ultimate Texas Hold’em can be seamlessly adapted for use in Heads Up Hold’em.

From a purely strategic standpoint, you should be passing up the Heads Up Hold’em tables in favor of Ultimate Texas Hold’em.

On the other hand, gamblers can do whatever they please with their money, and if Heads Up Hold’em is your game, here’s how to play it correctly.

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

Heads Up Holdem Casino Game

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 Hold'em Galaxy

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.

Heads Up Hold'em

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.