Heads Up Hold 'Em

Introduction

Heads Up Hold 'Em is an Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em This variant from Galaxy Gaming is inspired by Texas Hold 'Em. Players are allowed to raise their bets only once and have three chances to do this. The sooner a player makes a raise, the larger the amount he can wager. Key distinctions between Heads Up Hold 'Em and Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em include that in the former, the player is restricted to a maximum raise of 3 times the Ante bet before the flop, although there are bad beat bonuses for players who lose with a straight or stronger hand.

In November 2022, I came across another game named Big Blind UTH. I'll provide more insights about it once I acquire the Blind pay table.

Rules

Here are the rules for playing Heads Up Hold 'Em. For those familiar with Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, the term 'Blind' is known as the 'Odds' bet in this variant.

1. This game is played using a standard 52-card deck.
2. Players are required to place equal bets for both the Ante and Odds.
3. Each player and the dealer are dealt two face-down cards. Players are allowed to view their own cards.
4. Players can either check or place a Play bet that is triple the Ante.
5. The dealer reveals three community cards.
6. If the player chose to check earlier, they can either make a Play bet that is double their Ante or check again. If a Play bet has already been placed, no further bets can be made.
7. Finally, two additional community cards are revealed.
8. If the player has checked twice already, they must either place a Play bet equal to their Ante or fold, which results in losing both the Ante and Odds bets. Players who have already raised cannot make further bets.
9. Both the player and dealer will form the best possible hand by combining their two personal cards with the five community cards.
10. The dealer needs to have at least a pair to qualify.
11. The table below outlines how Ante, Odds, and Play bets are evaluated depending on the winner and whether the dealer qualifies.
    

    Scoring Rules

    Winner	Dealer Opens	Ante	Play	Odds
    Player	Yes	Win	Win	See rule 12
    Player	No	Push	Win	See rule 12
    Dealer	Yes	Lose	Lose	See rule 12
    Dealer	No	Push	Lose	Lose
    Tie	Yes or No	Push	Push	Push

    

    This is each player's betting area.

12. Winning Ante and Play bets receive even money. Meanwhile, winning Odds bets are paid out based on the strength of the hand and the outcome. The subsequent pay table details the payouts for successful Odds bets.
    

    Winning Odds Bet Pay Table

    Hand	Pays
    Royal Flush	500
    Straight Flush	50
    Quads	10
    Full House	3
    Flush	1.5
    Straight	1
    All Other	Push

    Galaxy Gaming, the creator of the game, has established four different pay tables for losing blind bets.

    Losing Odds Bet Pay Table

    Hand	Pay Table
    	1	2	3	4
    Straight Flush	500	500	500	500
    Quads	50	50	50	25
    Full House	10	10	10	6
    Flush	8	6	5	5
    Straight	5	5	4	4
    All Other	Loss	Loss	Loss	Loss

13. Additionally, there are two side bets, the Trips Plus and Pocket Bonus, which pay out based solely on the player's cards. Details on these side bets can be found after the base game analysis.

Strategy

Players should opt for a 3X raise with any pair other than deuces. For other situations, the table below indicates when to execute a substantial 3X raise.

The strategies for medium and small raises parallel those used in Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, as detailed below:

Medium Raise : Place a 2X raise with any of the following scenarios:

• Two pair or better.
• Hidden pair*, except pocket deuces.
• A four-card flush can be made, provided there is a hidden 10 or better included.

* A hidden pair indicates any pair in your hole cards, making the pair unknown to the dealer.

Small Raise : Make a 1X raise in any of the following cases, or otherwise fold:

• Hidden pair or better.
• Less than 21 dealer outs beat you.

For a more robust strategy regarding small and medium raises, I suggest utilizing the James Grossjean strategy card specifically for Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em. .

Analysis

The table below illustrates each hand's potential outcomes, detailing the payouts, probabilities, and their contributions to overall returns based on the losing Odds bet pay table number 1 (that pays 500-50-10-8-5). The bottom-right corner indicates a house edge of 2.36%.

As presented in the bottom-right corner, the house edge stands at 2.36%. This statistic reflects the expected loss tied solely to the Ante bet. For example, with a $5 wager on both Ante and Odds, the anticipated loss would amount to $5 × 0.023584 = 11.79¢.

Typically, the average final bet per hand is about 3.67 units, leading to a calculation of 2.36% divided by 3.67 = 0.64%. In essence, for each dollar wagered in this game, except for side bets, you can expect an average loss of 0.64¢. element of risk In comparison, the risk factor associated with Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em shows a figure of 0.53%.

The standard deviation linked to the Ante bet is 4.56.

The upcoming table illustrates the house edge and risk level across all four losing Odds bet pay tables based on the specific pay structure for losing Odds bets.

The Trips Plus bet payout depends on the poker ranking of the player's hand, independent of the dealer's hand value. Below is an analysis of the most frequently encountered pay table.

This is full table cloth.

Trips Plus

The next table provides four recognized pay tables for the Trips Plus.

The Pocket Bonus bet payouts are determined by the value of the player's two hole cards. The tables that follow present the payouts for each combination of two cards, along with probabilities and their contributions to the total return for each known Pocket Bonus pay table.

Pocket Bonus

I want to express my gratitude to Charles Mousseau and Stephen How for their invaluable help, which validated my analysis. I also appreciate Charles's guidance on the strategies for medium and small raises.

Acknowledgments

Visit the Galaxy Gaming website. Just one click, and you are ready to play.

Internal Links

Detailed calculations on some starting hands.

External Links

Play Heads Up Hold 'Em Find mathematically sound strategies and insights for various casino games, including blackjack, craps, and roulette, along with many others that you can enjoy.

Written by: Michael Shackleford