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Heads Up Hold’em is a poker table game that you will find at some of the best online casinos. It is a variation of Texas Hold’em where your goal is to beat the dealer rather than other players. However, the game also has several bonus bets that you can make to try and score some huge wins. Let’s look at how to play the game.
How to Play Heads Up Hold’em
Heads Up Hold’em is a table poker game where the object is to make your best five-card hand using two hole cards and five community cards. Unlike traditional poker, the goal of this game is to beat the dealer. Payouts are based on whether you win the hand.
Prior to receiving cards, you must place an Ante and Odds wager. These are equal bets. You can also make side bets on Trips Plus and Pocket Bonus. Once you have placed your bets, you and the dealer will both receive hole cards.
After evaluating your cards, you can decide whether to Raise or check. If you Raise, you must place a bet of 3x your ante. After betting, the dealer will deal out all five community cards but will only expose the first three. This is the flop.
On the flop, you will again decide to check or Raise. If you raise, you’ll bet 2x your Ante. After betting is done, the dealer will expose the turn and river. Players can then choose to either fold their hand or play their hand at a bet equal to the Ante.
After players have made their decision, the dealer will show their cards. Dealers must qualify with at least a pair for standard bets to pay off. If the dealer does not qualify and the player wins the hand, the Ante pushes, the Play pays 1 to 1, and the Odds bet pushes. If the dealer does not qualify and wins the hand, the Ante pushes and the Play and Odds bets lose.
If the dealer qualifies and the player wins, the Ante and Play bets pay 1 to 1. The Odds bets push unless you make a straight or better.
Payouts On Odds and Side Bets
Odds will pay a bonus to you if you make a hand of a straight or better, regardless of if the dealer qualifies. Here the payout table for Odds bets:
- Royal Flush – 500 to 1
- Straight Flush – 50 to 1
- Four of a Kind – 10 to 1
- Full House – 3 to 1
- Flush – 3 to 2
- Straight – 1 to 1
Now if you make a straight or better and lose to the dealer, the Odds bet pays a bad beat. The bad beat pays the same for all hands except a flush and straight. A flush pays 8 to 1 while a straight pays 5 to 1. Any other hand will lose.
Heads Up Holdem Casino Game
There are also a Pocket Bonus and Trips Bonus that you can play each hand. The Trips Bonus pays when you make trips or better while the Pocket Bonus pays when you have a pair or an Ace and a face card.
Here’s the payouts for the Trips Bonus:
- Royal Flush – 100 to 1
- Straight Flush – 40 to 1
- Quads – 30 to 1
- Full House – 8 to 1
- Flush – 7 to 1
- Straight – 4 to 1
- Trips – 3 to 1
Here are the payouts for the Pocket Bonus:
- Pocket Aces – 25 to 1
- Ace-Face Suited – 20 to 1
- Ace-Face – 10 to 1
- Pair – 5 to 1
Heads Up Holdem Poker
Heads Up Hold’em a Fun Poker Table Game Variant
If you like to play poker table games like 3 Card Poker and Texas Hold’em Bonus Poker, then you should check out Heads Up Hold’em. The game is as close to normal Texas Hold’em as you’re going to get at an online casino and the bonus payouts make it a fun and profitable game to play.
Heads Up Hold’em is a relatively new table game in Las Vegas. It replaced a few Ultimate Texas Hold’em tables in the market in the past few years, as noted in our Las Vegas Table Game Survey.
The game plays like Ultimate Texas Hold’em. It adds a bad beat bonus where the player wins if a straight or better loses to the dealer. To offset this, the preflop bet is capped at three times the ante. The other betting rounds are identical to Ultimate Texas Hold’em.
Where to play Heads Up Hold’em in Las Vegas
Heads Up Hold’em is dealt at six Las Vegas casinos. Jerry’s Nugget in North Las Vegas offers the game with a $2 minimum bet. That is an exceptional deal for players. Players can complete a hand to the end with maximum raise and only have $10 invested. Alternatively, there is a $5 minimum to play only the bonus bet.
Jerry’s Nugget is just north of downtown in North Las Vegas. Other Las Vegas Heads Up Hold’em tables have a $5 or $10 minimum bet.
Las Vegas Head Up Hold’em minimum bets
$2
| $5
| $10
|
How to play Heads Up Hold’em
Heads Up Hold’em is best described as a variant of Ultimate Texas Hold’em. The rules are nearly the same between the two games. The two major differences are that a player may only raise three times before the flop in Heads Up Hold’em as opposed to four times in Ultimate Texas Hold’em, and that Heads Up Hold’em offers players a bad beat bonus in its place. This pays when the player loses with at least a straight. The losing hand can be the entire five-card board with the dealer using its hole cards to improve on it.
Heads Up Hold'em Poker
The hand starts with the player making an ante and a blind bet. These must be equal. Each player and the dealer are dealt two cards. Players have two options here. One is to check. The other is to raise three times the ante. A raise here ends action with cards placed in front of the bets.
Three cards are shown in the center of the table. This is the flop. Players may check or bet double the ante. If there is a bet here, the cards go in the center. The turn and river are shown. Players that checked the other two rounds must fold or bet an amount equal to the ante. A folded hand loses the blind and ante. Side bets stay in play and are graded on the community cards.
Once all players have acted, the house shows its two cards. If the dealer does not have a pair, the antes push because the dealer does not qualify. A pair can include community cards. If the house qualifies, the hand is compared with each player. The ante and raises are paid if the player beats the dealer. The house wins these bets if the dealer wins. A tie is a push.
The blind loses with the ante but pushes on ties and most wins. The payouts per dollar bet are:
- Royal flush: 500
- Straight flush: 50
- Four of a kind: 10
- Full house: 1.5
- Straight: 1
The bad beat bonus pays as follows when the player loses to the dealer. The hand may be on the board with the dealer using a single card to improve. For example, if the board has a flush, and the dealer has a card that makes a bigger flush than the board, the player wins the bad beat bonus. The amount shown is multiplied by the bet.
- Straight flush: 500
- Four of a kind: 25
- Full house: 6
- Flush: 5
- Straight: 4
Las Vegas Heads Up Hold’em FAQ
Can I play Heads Up Hold’em in Las Vegas?
Yes. Six Las Vegas casinos deal it.
What is the minimum bet for Heads Up Hold’em?
Jerry’s Nugget deals it for $2. Other casinos have it for $5 or $10.
What is the difference between Heads Up Hold’em and Ultimate Texas Hold’em?
In Heads Up Hold’em, the preflop bet may only be three times the ante. There is a bad beat bonus that makes up for not being able to bet four times like in Ultimate Texas Hold’em.