Playing the Blinds in Limit Hold'em Part I - Universal Considerations

If you play in a 10-handed game, you will spend 20 percent of your time in the blinds. In a sixhanded game, that number jumps to 33 percent. In spite of this, players spend much more time thinking about all of the other positions than they do about the blinds. Poker authors also appear to spend more time on hands and play in early, middle, and late position than in the blind positions. This series of columns will take a comprehensive look at some of the more interesting aspects of play from the blinds.



We will look at the following topics:



• Universal considerations



• Playing after a steal-raise



• Playing after a nonsteal-raise



• Reraising from the small blind



• Reraising from the big blind



• Raising from the small blind



• Raising from the big blind



• Completing the small blind



• Playing trash hands out of the blinds



• Blind vs. blind



Let's start with some universal considerations. These are concepts you should keep in mind regardless of the specific situation you are faced with during play in the blinds. Here are the topics we will cover in this column:



• Expectation



• Position



• Emotionally charged words



• Pot odds



Expectation: Over the course of your poker career, you will lose money in the blinds. People hate hearing and believing this, but it's true. No matter how well you play, it is simply a terrible idea to put money into a pot from out of position without looking at your hand. No amount of post-flop skill can make up for it. Obviously, some people will lose a lot more than others, but all of us will be net losers in the blind positions.



One of your goals, therefore, is simply to lose the minimum when you are in the blinds. I am not telling you just to fold without looking, but if you play the blinds in such a way that you would have been better off if you folded without looking, you need to reassess your play.



Position: You will be out of position for the rest of the hand. You will act first or second on every one of the next three betting rounds. You will have to commit chips before you know what the others will do, or you will have to check and then guess whether they are betting because you checked or because they have you beat. Or, you will be giving up free cards.



I don't want to turn this column into a treatise on position, but most of you underestimate the importance of position in limit hold'em, even if you give it weight in no-limit. In an activity in which many consider one bet per hour a gold standard for expert play, much of that extra bet comes from betting, raising, or folding in position.



Craving action, one student tried hard to argue that he could play all sorts of hands from the blinds when faced with an early-position raise. His thesis was that they probably had big cards, and he could take the pot away whenever small cards came. I gave him the following mantra: "You cannot make money by playing a mediocre hand from out of position against a good player with a better hand." It's not catchy, but I recommend you memorize it anyway.



Emotionally charged words: The second most disastrous word in gambling is "defend." This word has connotations of bravery, combat, machismo, and all that good stuff. The opposite of defend is what? Give up? Surrender? Concede? These all sound so wimpy. Real men (and women, I guess) defend what they have – their family, their honor, and their possessions.



So, what does all of this have to do with play from the blinds? Actually, nothing at all, but that's the word we have come to associate with deciding whether to throw more money in the pot when the blind has been raised. Is someone who raises your blind really "attacking" it? Sometimes, maybe, but usually he is simply trying to charge you more with your unknown hand to continue to play against his superior holding. If you go to a store and someone raises the price on something you want to buy, do you "defend" by paying it?



Your decision to put more money into a pot should be the same whether you are in the blind or have already made a bet and been raised. Does the value of your hand combined with the price the pot is offering provide a positive expectation? If yes, play; if not, fold. Defending has nothing to do with it.



If you must associate a word with putting more money in when your blind is raised, I suggest you try "chase." "Do I want to chase the money I already put in?" This sounds more realistic than, "Do I want to defend my blind?"



Another emotionally charged word that has become associated with play from the blind is "discount," or "half-price." Wow! A bargain! You have to put only one small bet into the pot to call a raise. Who can resist such a deal? Obviously, all of the above arguments apply. You do not want to invest in damaged goods, even at a discount.



By the way, since I told you "defend" is the second most disastrous word in gambling, you may be wondering what the most disastrous word is. It is "insurance," but it is a blackjack term, and this is a poker column, so I won't expand on it.



Pot odds: Writing about the game of bridge, the great Victor Mollo used the word "psittacosis" to describe certain players who learned a phrase and then recited and applied it without understanding the circumstances. Psittacosis is "parrots disease," and I am sure it is tragic for those who contract it. But as a way to remember that just learning a phrase does not make it apply, the term has meaning in the poker world, as well.



Repeatedly, I have seen players toss in money, chasing their blind (it does have a ring, yes?), while reciting, "Pot odds, pot odds." What these folks forget is that there are two pieces to pot odds. One is the price the pot offers you. The other is the actual chance that you will win more than that.



Suppose I were to telephone you from a local sportsbook. "There is a bet on the board of 15-1," I tell you. "How much do you want to get down?" You would naturally ask what it was you were betting on. If it were the chances of the Houston Texans winning the Super Bowl this year, you would pass.



But if you see a few bets in the pot, should you toss in an extra bet with 8-3, or Q-6, or 5-2 in the blind regardless, because of "pot odds"? Not unless you know that the chances of winning are greater than that price, and frequently they are not.



Pot odds are nice to have, but you must understand both sides of the equation.



Conclusion: In this introduction to play from the blinds, you probably have noticed that I advise caution. The decision to continue to play if you are facing a raise in your blind is complex. So, in fact, is the decision to simply complete the small blind. In this series of columns, we will examine many of the factors that go into making this decision, starting in the next issue with how to play when facing a "steal-raise."

Barry offers poker lessons tailored to the specific strengths and weaknesses of the individual student. Please visit his web site at http://www.barrytanenbaum.com/, or e-mail him at [email protected].