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Poker glossary

Heads-up

What it means

Heads-up refers to any poker situation where only two players remain active in a hand or tournament. This can happen naturally when all other players fold, or it can be the format of an entire game. The dynamics shift dramatically from multi-way pots - aggression increases, hand values change, and position becomes even more critical.

How it works at the table

In a heads-up pot, the button posts the small blind and acts first preflop, then last on all subsequent streets. Say you’re playing 100bb deep and raise to 2.5bb with K♦ J♠ from the button. Everyone folds except the big blind who calls. The flop comes Q♠ 10♦ 3♣. You’re now heads-up with position and a gutshot straight draw. The big blind checks, you continuation bet 3.5bb into the 5.5bb pot, and they call. The turn brings the 9♥, giving you an open-ended straight draw. When checked to again, you fire 8bb into 12.5bb. Your opponent folds, and you take down the pot without showdown - a common heads-up scenario where aggression wins.

Strategic context

Heads-up play requires significant adjustments from full-ring strategy. You’ll play roughly 70-80% of hands from the button compared to 40-50% in 6-max games. Hand reading becomes more precise since you’re only facing one range instead of multiple. The minimum defense frequency changes too - you need to defend wider against steals since there’s more dead money in the pot relative to the bet size.

Common mistakes

Players often make three critical errors in heads-up situations. First, they play too tight, folding hands like Q7s or K2s that are profitable opens from the button. Second, they fail to adjust their continuation bet sizing - heads-up requires smaller sizes since ranges are wider and boards hit both players less frequently. Third, they undervalue thin value bets on the river, missing opportunities to extract value with second or third pair against an opponent’s wide range.

Understanding heads-up dynamics helps with bubble play in tournaments where ICM considerations create many heads-up pots. The aggression and wide ranges you’ll encounter mirror the adjustments needed for blind versus blind battles in full-ring games. Position remains paramount - perhaps even more so than in multi-way pots since you’ll play more streets heads-up and realize your equity more often.