Type of poker game
Heads-up poker is a form of poker that is played between only two
players. It might be played during a larger cash game session, where the game is
breaking up and only two players remain on the table, or where two players are trying
to start a game and playing heads-up while waiting for other opponents. It is also a
necessary phase in most sit-and-go (SNG) poker tournaments; the single remaining
tournament winner will at some point have to face only a single opponent.
Alternatively, heads-up poker may be played on purpose, either in a cash game format,
or as a SNG, where two players play a winner-take-all tournament for a fixed,
previously agreed upon amount of money. On larger online poker rooms and during certain
tournament series, one may stumble upon larger heads-up tournaments, usually in the
shoot-out format. Usually, in order to ensure the fairness of the game, all players
finishing at the same level of the tournament bracket will be paid out the same amount
of money, no matter what their finishing place is.
Strategy [ edit ]
The rules of
heads-up poker are the same as in a game with three or more players, except in
community card poker, the blinds are usually reversed in order to decrease the
positional advantage in matches between two players of similar skill. Nevertheless, the
strategy employed tends to be vastly different from a multi-handed poker game. Since
only two players take part in the hand, the chance of having the best hand is much
higher than in a multi-handed game, which causes the game to become more aggressive
than normal. Bluffs for example become easier to pull off in a heads-up game since it
is only necessary to bluff a single opponent in order to win the pot, whereas in a
multi-handed game there is a greater risk of someone having a big hand that cannot be
bluffed.
The heads-up limit Texas hold'em variation has been claimed to be "essentially
weakly solved" in January 2024 by the Cepheus poker-playing bot.[1][2]
Tournaments [
edit ]
In poker tournaments heads-up poker is played as individual events and there are
also heads-up championships. Heads-up poker tournaments are typically played as
knock-out tournaments. An example of a heads-up tournament is the National Heads-Up
Poker Championship.
