Poker / Gaming Books and Strategy Forums. Welcome to Two Plus Two, the world's largest poker strategy resource online and in print. Our online poker forums, are home to over 400,000 players.Two Plus Two publishes best selling poker books written by David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Dan Harrington among others. Our strategy books are available at local retailers as well as online through. Video poker strategy takes more space to display than blackjack strategy. There can be scores of lines. To properly use a video poker strategy chart it is important to know the difference between fully open and inside straights and straight flushes. You must also know the order of hands based on how much they pay.

Some variants of poker, called lowball, use a low hand to determine the winning hand. In most variants of lowball, the ace is counted as the lowest card and straights and flushes don't count against a low hand, so the lowest hand is the five-high hand A-2-3-4-5, also called a wheel.
Flush If two players have flushes, the highest card determines which is the winning poker hand. If the highest cards are equal then the second highest card is used to determine the winner, and so one. In other words, use the kickers to determine the winner.

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What happens when two or more players have the same poker hand? How do you determine who wins? This page will guide you through all the poker hands and show you how to determine the winner, or when to declare a tie. This article assumes you already know about how poker hands are ranked. If you don’t, please read our poker hand ranking page before going any further.

kicker

A “kicker” is often used to determine the winning poker hand. For example, let’s say two players both have a pair of aces. Play one has A-A-K-8-3 and player two has A-A-j-3-2. The kicker is the highest card excluding the pair of aces. In other words, the kicker for player one is a king, and for player two it’s a jack. Since a king is better than a jack, player one has the best hand even if both players made a pair of aces. If the kicker also was tied, then you compare the next higest card. For example, if player one has A-A-K-4-2 and player two has A-A-K-5-4, you can take out the aces and kings from both hands. You are left with comparing a 4-2 with a 5-4. Player two has the highest card (a five) thus has the best hand. This is how you use kicker cards to determine the winning hand.

Poker Hands

Royal Flush

Since all suits are equal, all royal flushes are equal. The probability of seeing two royal flushes played on the same hand are likely comparable to the probability of getting struck by lightning so don’t expect to encounter this situation!

Straight Flush

If there are two straight flushes, the one with the higher top card is the best. The suit of the flush does not count in determining the wining hand as all suits are considered equal. If two flushes are ranked in the same sequence, then it’s a tie.

Four of a Kind

If two people have fours of a kind, the player with the higher ranking set of four cards has the winning hand. Thus, the player with four jacks has a better hand than the player with four tens. Kickers are not used so the fifth card is irrelevant.

Full House

A hand with three cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank. An example is A-A-A-2-2 (called Aces full of 2s). If two players have full houses, the one with the higher ranking three cards is the winner. For example, tens full of 3s (10-10-10-3-3) beats fours full of Aces (4-4-4-A-A). Someone will always have the better Full House hand and kickers are not used.

Flush

If two players have flushes, the highest card determines which is the winning poker hand. If the highest cards are equal then the second highest card is used to determine the winner, and so one. In other words, use the kickers to determine the winner. For example: 2-4-5-8-9 all in spades beats 2-3-5-6-7 all in clubs because you compare the highest card (9 vs 7). All suits are equal.

Best Flush Example:

10-3-8-K-A (suited) beats 9-4-J-Q-K (suited) – Highest card is A vs K.
Q-10-9-5-2 (suited) beats Q-10-3-6-5 (suited) – since the two top cards are the same in both hands, the third card determiens the winner. In this example, 9 beats 6.

Straight

When comparing two straights, the one with the highest ranking top card is better. An Ace can ONLY count high or low in a straight. For example, A-2-3-4-5 does not beat 10-J-Q-K-A. Also, Q-K-A-2-3 does not count as a straight because the ace doesn’t count as either the low card or the high card. A tie can occur when two players make the exact same straight based on the card ranks, and card suit is irrelevent. Unless of course it results in a straight flush explained earlier.

Best Straight Example

2-3-4-5-6 beats A-2-3-4-5
10-J-Q-K-A beats 9-10-J-Q-K
4-5-6-7-8 ties 4-5-6-7-8

Three of a kind

The highest three of a kind when comparing two hands is ranked better. For example the hand 8-8-8-3-2 beats 5-5-5-A-Q. Unless wild cards are used, a tie cannot occur. Someone will always have the better Three of a Kind hand.

Two pair

If both players have two pairs, the hand with the highest pair has the winning poker hand and the smaller pair is irrelevant. For example, Q-Q-5-5-3 beats 10-10-7-7-A because the queens beat the tens. If the higher pairs are the same then the smaller pair is used to determine the higher ranking hand. Q-Q-10-10-4 would beat Q-Q-9-9-K. If both pairs are the same then kicker cards are compared.

Best Two Pair Example

A-A-3-3-5 beats K-K-J-J-9
K-K-3-3-5 beats K-K-2-2-A
K-K-3-3-5 beats K-K-3-3-2

Pair

The higher pair determines the best hand. If two players have the same pair then the highest card is used. If this card is the same, then the second highest card is compared and finally the third if it comes down to it.

Best Pair Hand

8-8-3-2-5 wins over 5-5-A-K-J
10-10-A-2-5 wins over 10-10-K-Q-10
J-J-K-10-5 wins over J-J-K-9-8

High Card

If two players have none of the hands above, then the highest card wins. If the highest cards are the same then the second highest are compared and so on. Use the kicker rules.

Best High Card Example

A-8-3-2-5 beats K-Q-J-10-3
A-K-3-2-5 beats A-Q-J-9-5

Related Entries

It’s a weekend and you and a friend or family member are wondering if you can play a game of poker with just the 2 of you. I have been playing for over 10 years and can give you a definitive answer.

Can you play poker with 2 players? Poker can be played with only two players. It is called heads-up. Here are the two player rules:

The dealer is the small blind and the other player posts the big blind. Players take turns being the dealer.
The first card is dealt to the player in the big blind.
The Dealer goes first before the flop and the Big Blind goes first after the flop.

Let’s cover a few more common questions that players typically have about 2 player poker in greater detail.

What Are the 2 Player Poker Rules?

Now that you are set up to play, let’s cover how to play 2 player poker. Here are the basic rules that you will need to know in order to play your game.

You may want to keep this page open in your browser in case questions come up during play.

1. How do the blinds work in 2 player poker?

How the blinds work is probably the most confusing thing in heads-up poker. However, once you get the hang of it it’s not that difficult to remember since there are only a couple of differences between 6-max or full-ring rules.

Who Is the Big Blind Who Is the Small Blind in Heads-Up Poker?

This is the most common question I get about 2 player poker.

The big blind is always the player who does not have the dealer button in front of him or her. That means that the person dealing is always the small blind.

How Do We Determine Who Gets the Button First at the Start of the Game?

The easiest and most fair way to determine who gets to be dealer first is for each player to draw a card from the deck. The high card gets to deal first.

2. How Are the Cards Dealt in 2 Player Poker?

Which Blind Gets Dealt to First Before the Flop?

The big blind gets the first card and the dealer gets the second card in heads-up play. The easy way to remember this is that the dealer never deals to his or her self first.

Can the Same Person Deal Every Hand?

It’s true that sometimes one person is better at dealing. In this case, it’s okay for the same person to deal every hand.

Just make sure that you move the dealer button each hand. It would be highly unfair if the same person had to play the big blind every single hand!

3. Who Goes First When Only Two Players Are Playing?

I remember walking up to observe the heads-up match between two friends in pub poker. I quickly realized that they were following the opposite order of play that they were supposed to.

I did not want to embarrass them so I kept quiet. It was apparent everyone else didn’t want to as well since none of the 10-15 observers said anything!

Who Goes First Before the Flop?

Pre-flop, the dealer always acts first in 2 player poker.

This rule is exactly the same as pre-flop however, it is easy to get wrong for inexperienced players. The easy way to remember it is that the big blind player acts last before the flop in 6 or 9-handed games, and it makes since to work the same way in heads-up.

Who Goes First After the Flop in Heads-Up?

This rule is also exactly the same for normal poker games. The dealer gets to always go last on the flop.

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The biggest perk of playing on the dealer button is that you get to act last and have more information than your opponents. This is especially powerful in heads-up since the big blind can never act last.

What If the Dealer Open Folds in 2 Player Games?

When the Dealer decides to not play his or her hand before the flop, the small blind is relinquished to the player in the big blind. The dealer button then moves and the next hand begins.

Is it better to play Heads-Up, Cash Games or Tournaments?

Deciding what format to play in 2 player poker all comes down to personal preference. Each type of game has its perks.

Why Play Heads-up Cash Games?

There are a couple of reasons people might choose cash games over tournaments:

Blinds Do Not Rise – Perhaps the biggest benefit of 2 person cash games is that you don’t have to worry about the blinds going up like they do in tournaments. You don’t need a special tournament clock, you can just choose your stake level and play indefinitely without having to adjust your style to the rising blinds.
You Don’t Need Poker Chips – In tournaments, you really need to use poker chips that you can “color up” as the game goes on. That means to add higher value chips to compensate for the bigger stakes. Instead, you can use real coins or even paper money to play cash games.
Cash Games Take More Skill – If you really want to practice and improve at poker, then the best way is through cash games. Once the blinds rise in tournaments, the game becomes more and more about who is the luckiest person.

Why Play Heads-up Tournaments?

Even though I am a cash game specialist, when I play heads-up I actually prefer tournaments. Here is why:

There Are Logical End Points – While cash games drag on and on, a tournament always ends up with one person having all the chips. You can then decide whether to start anew or call it a night. So, if you want to play best of 3 or best of 5, you have a better idea of when the night will end and can plan for it. For this reason, it’s also a great format for hosting a home poker tournament with multiple players.
Tournaments Tend to Be Much More Exciting – There’s nothing more fun in poker than getting to the shove-fold phase of a tournament or sit and go. Chips change hands rapidly and anyone can win at that point. Who doesn’t love a race for all the chips?
The Games Are Usually More Fun for Beginners – Many people that get into poker are used to watching the World Poker Tour or the World Series of Poker. Therefore, tournaments are what they are familiar with and likely to understand better.

If you don’t have poker chips, there are likely plenty of poker chip substitutes lying around the house or office.

A Fun Alternative Format: Play Short-Stacked Cash Games

Another idea is to mix both a tournament and cash game feel by playing short stacked cash games.

The way it works is that each player starts with 20, 30, or 40 big blinds and then play cash games. The blinds do not rise, but there is still plenty of heavy pre-flop action with lots of reraise shoving.

Post-flop also plays a lot easier as a short stack. Top pair is an easy hand to get all-in with when short whereas it can be difficult to play when deed-stacked.

What Is the Best 2 Player Poker Strategy?

The biggest adjustment when playing heads-up poker is that marginal hands go way up in value. 3rd pair or even high card Ace can often win at showdown.

So, loosen up and don’t let your opponent run you over if he or she bets a lot! Conversely, you should bet often when you have any piece of the board or a credible bluff. There is a good chance your opponent might fold a better hand or pay you off with a worse hand.

What 2 Player Games Can We Play Besides Texas Hold’Em?

If you are tired of heads-up No-Limit Hold’em and want to mix in another game occasionally, there are several good options:

Pot Limit Omaha: In PLO, the heads-up rules are exactly the same as Hold’em except that both players get four hold cards. You also have to use both cards at showdown. Having one Diamond in your hand does not make a flush on a four Diamond board in PLO.
5-Card Draw: This is the traditional “old-fashioned” game that most people used to learn poker before No-Limit Hold-em became the dominant game. Both players have a designated ante that they pay before the cards are dealt. Then, you simply deal out 5 cards to each heads-up player. Instead of having a flop, turn, and river there is instead two betting rounds. Once when you get your initial cards and then after a discard round. You may discard up to 3 cards (4 if you have an Ace) and get those cards replaced by the dealer. There is then another betting round and then the cards are shown and a dealer determined. You can, of course, fold any time during the hand and only lose the money you have invested up to that point.
7-Card Stud: This game is similar to draw except that you start with two cards down and one card up. There is then a betting round. Afterward, another card is turned up one by one with a betting round happening in between. Once both heads-up players each have 7 cards, the dealing is complete and showdown can be reached.

Accessories to Make Matches Even Better

If you want to make your games more classy, then I recommend picking up quality accessories. I wrote recommendation articles for each category, just click the links to learn more:

Playing Cards– My personal favorite is Copag, what’s yours?
Poker Chips– I prefer a higher-end set, but there are plenty of good budget poker chip sets available as well.
Poker Table– I like roll up poker table mats for ease of storage, but that’s just me.

Final Thoughts

Playing heads-up only happens in tournaments if you are the last two players left in the field. However, 2 player poker is something you can do for fun either as a cash game or tournament at home.

Poker 2 Spieler Flush Video Poker

If you want to read more about heads-up poker, I wrote a detailed article on the heads-up poker rules for Texas Hold’em. Thanks for stopping by!

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