Fun heads-up games - lockdown edition (1 Viewer)

OfficerLovejoy

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Since most of europe is still in full lockdown, I'm looking for fun games to play heads-up with my wife.
I feel, some games lend themselves more to the heads up format than others. I would argue NL games are not as good since one cooler can and will decide the game most of the time. No problem when both parties just reload and keep going, but to my wife usually this means game over.
I have been trying out 7 card stud with her and we both like the limit format.
Everyone feel free to post your favorite limit game that might be better suited for heads-up play than others and my wife and I will try out what we can. :)
Do split pot games make sense heads up or does it just usually end in a split and basically nothing happens?
 
probably not the right forum for this opinion, but if you want to remained entertained in two player games, you may need to move away from poker games.
 
probably not the right forum for this opinion, but if you want to remained entertained in two player games, you may need to move away from poker games.
Valid point. Any non poker heads-up games I can use a freshly aquired cg set for come to mind?
 
Sequence is the only non-poker game I use poker chips for. My wife actually loves it, but regular poker chips are too big for a normal board - I had to make my own using the art file from @BSteck:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/sequence-another-game-for-the-chippies.42004/
We also play Tripoley with a larger board to handle full size chips...
B5B008F3-07A2-4A9C-A951-DFEBA8608757.jpeg



[Edit:] A pretty good rundown of the rules here...

https://www.pagat.com/stops/3in1.html
 
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Not exactly what you looking for but since lock down and fact that almost every poker online site in Poland is illegal I use Faded Spade Virtual Poker site to play with friends.
 
Here's a fun game you may enjoy. It can be dealt heads up but it's also a good party game (especially if you have crazy gamblers in your midst). We call this 'Russian Roulette'.

Format: 5 card stud; wilds; blind draw

Deal all cards face down into 4 equal piles. The player left of the dealer will go first. Each person will pick a card from a pile of their choice and turn it face up in front of them so everyone can see. Then that person can bet, check, or fold. This goes around the table until everyone has 5 cards in front of them. The best poker hand wins the pot. (For this game, we state that 5 aces beat a straight flush)

Here's the kicker to this game - all non face cards (except aces) are wild. J, Q, K, and A are what they are. This is important to note because as soon as the player selects their card and flips it open to show the entire table, they must declare what their card is.

For example, I start the game and pick a card from a pile. It's the 6d. Since that's a wild card, I declare this will be an ace. I lay it down in front of me and check. The next player picks her card and she gets the Kc. She must play that card as a King. She checks and then next player goes...

The goal is to pull 5 aces. If there is a tie, any hand with the most natural aces will win. If still tied, highest card wins. If no one has 5 aces, the next best poker hand will win (straight flush, 4 of a kind, etc.)

I hope that made sense and I hope you and your wife (and your poker crew when we all can get together again) enjoy playing it. This game is built for a lot of trash talking so enjoy and have fun!
 
Since most of europe is still in full lockdown, I'm looking for fun games to play heads-up with my wife.
I feel, some games lend themselves more to the heads up format than others. I would argue NL games are not as good since one cooler can and will decide the game most of the time. No problem when both parties just reload and keep going, but to my wife usually this means game over.

Here's a great way to solve that problem and still play poker: When one player is all-in with cards left to come, run it twice.

Or four times. Or ten. The more times you run it, the closer the split will be to the equities. So if you shove all in on a coin flip, for example, instead of the game ending then and there and being decided by a coin flip, you'll both usually walk away from the hand with something much closer to half the pot. And if someone traps the other into calling a bluff that wasn't a bluff and the equities are 80/20, instead of the better hand losing the game because of a bad beat, the better hand probably gets the lion's share of the pot most of the time.

That way the game can keep going until someone's stack gets worn down through the other player outplaying them, until it's small enough that a bad play or bad luck knocks them out.
 

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