Heads Up Poker Starting Chips
Aggression is Critical in Heads-Up Poker! Aggression is an important part of any form of poker but with heads-up it's critical. You're in the blinds every hand. If you buy-in for $200 for a $1/$2 heads-up match and fold every hand, you will lose half your stack in just 66 hands. In a full ring game, you would have lost $18-$21. The following heads-up confrontations contain no pairs. Two high cards vs. The two higher cards are usually a 65% favourite to win, but it can vary depending on whether any of the cards are suited and/or connectors. High card, low card vs. Two middle cards. In this match-up the high card gives it the edge.
The ranks of starting hands in heads-up poker differ from the equivalent for a full ring game. There are several reasons for this. Firstly with only one opponent you only need to compare the strength of your own hand against a single other hand. In a 10 player game you are comparing your winning chances against the best of up to 9 opponent’s hands.
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When 8 out of 10 players have folded in a full ring game it is statistically more likely that the remaining 2 hands will contain aces and other high cards. The fact that 8 people folded has reduced the chances of them holding those cards – meaning the remainder of the deck will have proportionally more aces in it. In a heads-up poker game this is not the case, your hand is ranked against a truly random opponents holding.
As you will see from the table below, pairs increase in value in the rank of starting hands for heads-up play. You will only be dealt a pair once in every 17 deals meaning that the chance of both players holding a pair is approximately (17*17) = 289/1. Any pair is a favorite against a non-paired hand before the flop. Having just a single opponent means that higher pairs are extremely unlikely.
High-Card hands have value in Head-up play, being suited, however, does not add so much value as most showdowns will be won by relatively weak holdings such as one pair. In a full ring game – where stronger hands are usually shown down – having a flush possibility adds more of an advantage.
At the bottom end of the scale 7-2 off suit is promoted in heads-up play! It actually moves from the worst pre-flop starting hand in a full-ring game to the 5th worst in a heads-up poker game. Again the lack of straight possibilities is not such a disadvantage against only one opponent. In heads-up poker 2-3 off suit is the worst starting hand statistically speaking.
Chart of Top 20 Heads-Up Poker Starting Hands
1 – A-A
2 – K-K
3 – Q-Q
4 – J-J
5 – 10-10
6 – 9-9
7 – 8-8
8 – A-K (suited)
9 – 7-7
10 – A-Q (suited)
11 – A-J (suited)
12 – A-K (not suited)
13 – A-10 (suited)
14 – A-Q (not suited)
15 – A-J (not suited)
16 – K-Q (suited)
17 – 6-6
18 – A-9 (suited)
19 – A-10 (not suited)
20 – K-J (suited)
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Being a supplier of poker chips we are often asked what a good breakdown is for a poker game. Our immediate response is normally, “it depends”. Is it a cash game or tournament? How many chips do your players like to have in front of them? Do you ever see your stakes rising in the future? How deep do your players get by the end of the night?
Dia de los Muertos poker chips
There are many factors to consider when figuring out a breakdown of chips for your poker game. Make sure to consider them all. Take some time and work out your breakdown in writing so you can visualize the chips being used.
Let’s consider a poker game that is only a tournament. This is the most common type of game that is being played in home games.
Try to not think about just how many “chips” that a player starts with. You can have a player start with 100,000 chips but if the blinds are 1000/2000 in the first level they will have shorter stacks compared to a player that starts with 5000 chips with the first blinds being 25/50. In the first situation the player starts with 50 big blinds while in the second situation the player starts with 100 big blinds. That is a big difference!
So, try to think about how many big blinds (BB) you want each player to start with. A good rule of thumb is that most tournaments start with 50-100 BBs but some players prefer deep-stack tournaments that start with 100+ BBs.
Now, consider how many actual physical chips you want each player to start with. Most players like to have a HUGE stack in front of them, but you have to realize that players need to start with a smaller stack or else you will have to purchase a very large number of chips. In a normal home game tournament players will start with 20-30 chips.
Tournament
Finally, consider how many players you will have in your tournaments and how long the tournament will normally last. If there are a lot of players (20+ players) it will mean that there will be a lot of initial chips on the tables. There will be so many chips that you will have to “color up” the lower denomination chips at some point during the tournament. So, you will need to have higher denomination chips than the initial starting poker chips.
Let’s look at an example set up:
Total players: 20
Starting blinds: 25/50
Starting stack: 5000 (100 BB)
Number of poker chips to start with: 21
Initial chips that each player has in front of them:
- 4 – “25” chips = 100
- 9 – “100” chips = 900
- 8 – “500” chips = 4000
Starting stack of our Nevada Jack Skulls poker chips.
Total number of physical poker chips to start with: 21 X 20 = 420 poker chipsAt some point during the tournament the “25” chips will be useless since the blinds will be in even “100’s”. At that point you can “color up” the “25” chips. So, you will need more “100” and possibly more “500” chips. So, it is suggested that another 20 “100” chips be added.
Extra “100” chips for coloring up during the tournament:
- 20 – “100” chips
This brings the total chips needed for this game to 440 poker chips. At this point it is suggested that extra chips are added for a few reasons. Maybe you will have a game where 22 people show up. Some chips may get lost over time, etc.
Extra chips for special circumstances:
- 30 – “25” chips
- 20 – “100” chips
- 10 – “500” chips
This brings the total count of chips to:
- 110 – “25” chips
- 220 – “100” chips
- 170 – “500” chips
- 500 total poker chips
That is a general overview of how to figure out what poker chips to get for a tournament. Let’s discuss a cash game since this will be a bit different.
Cash Game
It is understood that cash games can vary drastically in stakes. Therefore, let’s not focus on the actual value of the chips but think in terms of big blinds (BB’s). I will discuss a $1/2 NL Holdemgame, but will mention BB’s.
The difference with a cash game is that players are often able to rebuy many times. Also, in many games the buy-in is not capped so a player can typically buy-in for 50 BB’s, 100 BB’s, 200 BB’s, or sometimes much higher. So, by the end of a game the value of chips can far exceed what you start with. However, home cash games generally do not involve more than 10 players.
Let’s consider an uncapped $1/2 NL Holdem
game that has unlimited rebuys.On average, the initial buy-in may be 100 BB’s per player ($200). So, let’s figure out the starting chips for each player:
- 15 - $1 chips = $15
- 17 - $5 chips = $85
- 4 - $25 chips = $100
- Total – 36 chips = $200
This brings the total number of chips starting out on the table to 360 poker chips (36 X 10 players).
As mentioned, players will often rebuy (sometimes many times) and players may be allowed to buy-in for more than 100 BB’s. This means we have to consider the extra poker chips needed for the game.
Heads Up Poker Starting Chips No Deposit
Heads Up Poker Starting Chips Poker
The starting value of the chips on the table is $2000 (10 players X $200).
During a typical game, the total value chips at the end of the game will be 2-3X the starting value. So, let’s figure out the extra chips needed if the value is up to 3X the starting value:
- 100 - $5 chips = $500
- 20 - $25 chips = $500
- 10 - $100 chips = $1000
This brings the total chips needed to (490 = 360 + 130).
As with the tournament, it is best to add extra chips for the situations where the game gets very deep. You also may want to prepare for if the game grows into a higher stakes game such as $2/5.
Here is a suggestion for extra chips that will cover deep games and slightly higher stakes:
- 80 - $25 chips = $2000
- 30 - $100 chips = $3000
Also, consider adding extra poker chips for the occasional lost chip:
- 50 - $1 chips
- 50 - $5 chips
As you can see, with the cash game there are more poker chips to purchase. This is often the case, but you are also prepared for a deep game and for future games when the stakes move up. For this situation the total poker chips suggested is (490 + 120 + 100 = 700).
There are no rules regarding the poker chips needed for a game. You may find that your games don’t need as many poker chips or you prefer to have more. The most important thing is to write out what chips you think you need. Try to break down your game like the examples above. It is much better to be prepared before your game starts than to find out that you do not have the poker chips you need to run the game.