Poker Big Blind And Small Blind Rules

Last week, I discussed why and how we should get comfortable with playing wider ranges from the big blind. This week, I will address the same concept, only I will focus on small blind play.

They are generally split into big and small blinds. The big blind is the full 'ante' for the round. The small blind is a smaller sum. The blinds are bet before cards are dealt, but after seeing the initial cards, players can either fold, pay so that they have equaled the big blind, or place a higher bet. The size of the bets are determined by the limits of the game that you’re playing and the small blind is nearly always half of the big blind. So a $2/$4 Limit Hold’em game has a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $2. Blinds are forced bets. The players in these positions must make these bets or they aren’t dealt cards in the hand. These blinds, in turn, force betting action on the table after everyone has been dealt their hole cards. Sep 25, 2014  All of the terms listed are forced bets (or 'blind' bets, i.e., without seeing your cards.) In a game with blinds (like Hold'em or Omaha), the two players in front of the rotating button (the 'dealer' if self-dealt games) must make mandatory bets.

How Often Should We Defend the Small Blind?

When I am in the small blind, I cannot widen my ranges as much to profit from loose opens for several reasons. First, I can't defend by calling too widely because the price is not as good even in cases where my call entices the big blind to come along as well.

Let's say I am in the small blind facing a steal attempt from the cutoff in a nine-handed multi-table tournament with antes that are 10 percent the size of the big blind. If villain makes a 2.2x raise, the bet needs to work as a complete bluff only 47 percent of the time in order to break even. This means the players left to act must collectively defend 53 percent of the time to prevent him from making money with any two cards.

Once the player on the button folds, it is left up to me and the big blind. In order to call, I have to put in another 1.7 BBs to see a flop in a 7.6 BB pot, assuming the player in the big blind calls as well. This means that I have to win around 22 percent of the time to break even. If you recall from last week's article, this is more often than the 20 percent of the time the big blind would need to win had I folded.

But wait, it gets worse!

First, it is much harder to win 22 percent of the time in a three-way pot than it is to win 20 percent of the time in a heads-up pot.

Second, these numbers assume the big blind calls. If he folds, I would need to win almost 27 percent of the time against the opener to break even.

Third, I may not even get to see the flop since the player in the big blind could raise and squeeze me out of the pot. Even when all the planets align and the player in the big blind just calls, I still have to play out of position with a capped range in a multi-way pot. Not good.

For these reasons, flatting from the small blind with a wide range is a really bad idea. Instead, we should be three-betting with the majority of the hands we play from here.

What Sort of Hands Should We Defend?

Most of the absolute garbage should be folded since the small blind range is so small. This means the remaining hands should be split up into high, medium, and low categories that are stronger on average than the ones from the big blind range.

Obviously, we want to three-bet with the highest hands like big pocket pairs and big aces for value. Depending on a variety of factors, we may want to flat with a few medium hands like maybe 66-88 and suited Broadway hands.

Poker Big Blind And Small Blind Rules

This leaves the hands just below the flatting range for use as three-bet bluffs. These can include hands like ATo, A2s-A5s, J9s, and the like. Again, most hands worse than this can just be folded.

How Often Do We Need to Win?

Let's say I want to 3x the villain's 2.2x open to 6.6x as a bluff. Like the big blind, I get to use my dead money as part of my bet, so I really only have to risk another 6.1 BBs to win a total pot of 10.7 BBs.

This means that my bluff needs to work 57 percent of the time to break even compared to the 54 percent fold equity a big blind three-bet needs to generate.

Not only that, we again have the problem of trying to fold out two players, the opener and the big blind, either of whom could have been dealt a playable hand. For these reasons, the bluff will not succeed as often, which is why we attempt it with a stronger range that plays well postflop.

Conclusion

Big Blind Little Blind

As you can see, all the problems of playing from the big blind are magnified when playing from the small blind. This means we do not have to defend it as often; however, we still need to fight for the pot at least some of the time, especially in cases where the player in the big blind is too tight.

Being out of position is what causes so much trouble for the players in these spots. Next week, I will discuss playing wider ranges when this is not the case because we have the beautiful button!

Everybody needs an account at one of these online poker rooms! They're the biggest, the best, and we get you the best poker bonuses. Check out our online poker section for details on all the online poker rooms around.

  • Tags

    tournament strategyno-limit hold’emblind defensepot oddsequitypositionpreflop strategypostflop strategy

  • Related Room

    888poker

What’s the point of blinds in poker?

Have you ever wondered why there are blinds in poker? Why doesn’t everyone just play for free, and join or leave as they please?

The ‘blinds’ are so called because players have to pay them before they see their cards. They are not optional if you want to join a poker game, and not to be confused with antes. Antes are also a compulsory bet paid by players before their cards are dealt in a tournament, but an ante is usually taken from everyone in every hand. A blind is positional, taken from specific players.

For reference, we should state the purpose of the dealer button, which dictates the position of the blinds in a community card game like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. The dealer button represents the player who, in the “good old days,” used to actually distribute the cards to the other players.

The dealer button is allocated at the start of each hand, and initially two forced blinds are collected:

  • The small blind from the first player to receive cards to the left of the dealer.
  • The big blind from the second player to receive cards to the left of the dealer.
  • If only two players are to be dealt in, the button takes the small blind and the other player pays the big blind.
  • Further blinds may be collected from other new players wanting their first hand, or players returning from sitting out.

As their name suggests, the big blind is more expensive than the small blind — usually double. In ring games the blinds are constant, but in tournaments they increase at a predetermined rate. Tournament blind levels are usually scheduled for a set period of time, but may be for a number of hands.

The reason that blinds are collected, particularly in tournaments, is so there is a starting pot for the players to compete for. In tournaments, the blinds increase in size in order to force players to keep up with the average stack as players are eliminated. If there were no blinds in poker games, the best strategy would be to fold everything except premium hands because it would be free to wait. The game simply would not be at all interesting or competitive.

Big Blind Small Blind Texas Holdem

It is important to note that the players who are paying blinds are at a distinct disadvantage for that hand.

  • They’re betting without seeing their cards, whereas everyone else is playing for free.
  • They must act first in every round of betting in the hand, except for pre-flop.

In order for the blinds to affect everyone equally, there are specific rules which most poker games follow to make things fair for everyone. A well-known and highly respected resource of poker rules and etiquette, Robert’s Rules of Poker, authored by Bob Ciaffone, has this to say about the button and blind obligations:

“A new player cannot be dealt in between the big blind and the button. Blinds may not be made up between the big blind and the button. You must wait until the button passes.”

The reason for this is that having a player pay a small blind in that seat might mean a player has had to pay the big blind in two consecutive hands. That would be a severe penalty. You may be moved to an empty seat between the dealer button and the big blind, but you’ll have to wait until the button has moved to your left before you can take a hand. This applies even in tournaments when you move tables.

Also from Robert’s Rules:

“A player who misses any or all blinds can resume play by either posting all the blinds missed or waiting for the big blind. If you choose to post the total amount of the blinds, an amount up to the size of the minimum opening bet is live. The remainder is taken by the dealer to the center of the pot and is not part of your bet. When it is your next turn to act, you have the option to raise.”

Poker Big Blind And Small Blind Rules Youtube

This method is used to prevent players from declining to pay their blinds when in the big blind position and then trying to return in a different, more advantageous position for free. They have to pay their dues of a big blind plus a small blind, which they have also skipped. Even if they do come back in the cut off, immediately to the right of the dealer button and in a highly advantageous position, the penalty of paying a small blind as well as a big blind compensates for that.

Big Blind Small Blind Poker

One of the game dynamics which paying blinds introduces is that players in short-handed games and the final stages of a tournament have to fight to stay alive. Everybody has the same cost each time the blinds get to them. Stronger players will have the ability to cope with the disadvantages forced on them and exploit the forced bets made by others. The better players will try to capitalize on positional play and not waste chips by limping or calling passively.