Pokeriad / Learn / Two players
Updated November 2026
With two people you play normal Texas Hold'em, with one change to the order of play: the player on the dealer button posts the small blind, acts first before the flop and acts last on every street after it. You pay a blind on every hand, so you have to play far more hands than you would at a full table.
| Button | Other player | |
|---|---|---|
| Posts | Small blind | Big blind |
| First card | No | Yes |
| Acts first before the flop | Yes | No |
| Acts first after the flop | No | Yes |
The button moves every hand, so you swap roles each deal.
A two-player game is called heads-up. The two of you take turns on the button. Whoever has it posts the small blind, the other player posts the big blind, and the button moves after every hand, so you swap jobs each deal. Before the flop the button speaks first, because the big blind always gets the last word in that betting round.
From the flop on, the button acts last. That's the rule in the tournament directors' rulebook, and home games play it the same way. Acting last is worth having, since you get to see what your opponent does before you decide. It's the reason both of you want to be on the button.
One card at a time, starting with the player who is not on the button, so the button gets the last card. Two each, then you put the deck down and bet. If one of you is dealing, that person is also the button, and they swap the deck across after each hand.
To decide who starts on the button, deal one card each face up and give it to the high card. Coming down from a three-player game, the button may need moving by one seat so that nobody has the big blind twice in a row.
One hand from start to finish, with blinds of 5 and 10 and 1,000 chips each.
You post 5 and your opponent posts 10. You act first and raise to 30, and your opponent calls with 20 more.
Your opponent acts first now and checks. You bet 30 and get called.
Another check, and you check too, which keeps the pot small with one card to come.
Your opponent bets 60. You call, because a pair of kings is a strong hand when only one player can have you beaten.
They show queen-seven for a pair of sevens. Your pair of kings takes the 240, and 120 of that was your own money.
Because the blinds come around every two hands. One trip around the table costs a small blind plus a big blind, which is 1.5 big blinds. With two players that's 0.75 big blinds a hand, and with six players it's 0.25, so waiting for good cards costs three times as much here.
Fold every hand and a 100-big-blind stack lasts 133 hands, against 400 at a six-seat table. Waiting for aces doesn't work, since you get them once every 221 hands, and your stack is gone well before that.
More than feels right. In any one deal only 1 hand in 17 is a pair and about 1 in 7 holds an ace, so most of what either of you holds is nothing special. Ace-high and king-high win a lot of pots here that they would never win at a full table.
When stacks get short, the game comes down to moving all-in or folding. The chart shows the hands that do each, at every stack up to 20 big blinds.
At 10 big blinds the button moves all-in, or shoves, with 57.5 hands in 100 and the big blind calls with 37.6. At 20 big blinds those fall to 40.3 and 21.7, because each shove risks more chips and the player calling has more to lose.
With deep stacks, the same idea applies with smaller bets. The button should raise a lot of hands, since it gets to act last on every street after the flop, while the big blind defends plenty of hands because it has already paid part of the price.
Give each player 100 big blinds: 1,000 chips with blinds of 5 and 10. That's deep enough for real decisions and it means a mistake doesn't end the game.
If you want a match with a finish, double the blinds every 20 minutes. The stack you started with is 50 big blinds after 20 minutes, 25 after 40, and 12.5 after an hour, which is when the all-in chart above starts to apply.
For a game that runs as long as you like, leave the blinds alone and let either player top back up to 1,000 between hands, the way a cash game works.
Twelve spots in three rounds. The last round comes from the all-in chart on this page.
Yes. The rules are the same as a full table, with the button posting the small blind and the order of betting changing as described above.
The button acts first before the flop. The other player acts first on the flop, turn and river.
Yes. With two players, the dealer button and the small blind are the same seat.
Send them this page and start a match.