Playing the Small Blind in No-Limit Hold'em

The small blind is clearly a bad seat in a poker game, since that player acts first on the flop, turn, and river betting rounds. This handicap is even more apparent in no-limit hold'em, where the disadvantage of poor position is more telling than in limit play, since your whole stack is potentially put at risk whenever you enter a pot.



Why play a hand from the small blind? First, you have half the money required to enter the pot already committed, if the pot hasn't been raised. Second, the pot will probably not be raised, since only one player is yet to act after you. Even so, I think you should exercise a lot of caution before deciding to go bargain-hunting, as you will see in the rest of this column.



Stack size is the critical factor in measuring the penalty attached to poor position. With an extremely short stack, such as only five times the big blind, there is normally only one betting round that matters, as your only decision will be whether to go all in or fold. Preflop, the small blind has the second-best seat at the table to make this choice, since only the big blind acts after you do. Near the other end of the spectrum, such as having 100 times the big blind, as occurs in level one of the world championship tournament, and in many cash games, the full weight of bad position on the last three betting rounds will be felt on nearly every hand you play. So, there is no such thing as "the right way to play the small blind" without knowing the stack size involved.



Besides stack size, there is another important factor in deciding whether to enter a pot from out of position: the character of your hand. Every hand plays worse from bad position, but the harmful effect of having to act first weighs more heavily on a drawing hand than a made hand. With a draw, you will be playing after the flop with a chance to hit a good hand. When acting first, whether you bet or check-call the flop, if you do not improve on the turn, you will be forced to either show weakness by checking or commit a lot of money with only one card to come. If you are fortunate enough to improve on the turn, it is still better if your opponent has to guess whether you hit rather than be able to see what action you take after the turn card arrives. Either way, you are going to wish you were acting after your opponent instead of before him.



Any hand can hit the flop big-time and turn into a made hand. Any hand can flop a draw. Any hand can become a combination of a made hand and a draw. For example, two aces can turn into an overpair with the nut-flush draw. Even so, you can refer to your starting hand as a "drawing hand" if you are more likely to be staying after the flop on a straight draw, flush draw, or some combination of the two. An obvious example is the 9 8. Yes, you can flop top pair, two pair, trips, and even a boat. You can flop a straight or a flush. But the most likely reason for you to be sticking around after the flop is that you have a chance to hit a straight or a flush. The same can be said if you hold the A 3. You can flop top pair, and even two pair, but the main reason you chose to enter the pot was the possibility of making the nut flush. And as I said before, it is far easier to flop a four-flush than a flush. Beware of drawing hands when in the small blind.



Let's see how theory translates into action. You hold a pair of deuces in the small blind, and have 50 times the big blind in your stack. A couple of people call and it is up to you. I think a call is fine, even though I have a particular dislike for deuces. After the flop, if you play, you should be holding three deuces or better, and are less likely to have a tough problem than if you had flopped a draw. A set can tolerate bad position, even though we would prefer to act last than first.



Suppose that you hold the J 9 in this same preflop situation of 50 times the big blind in chips and two callers. In my opinion, you should fold. I see this type of hand, and even drawing hands a lot worse than this one, being played all the time. I have been known to play such a hand myself, when facing a weak lineup of opponents with whom I am chomping at the bit to duel. But I do not think it should be played routinely, and should be folded most of the time.



Change the stack size, making it only 20 times the big blind, and I will just about always play the hand. First, I am hardly ever going to have that size stack in a cash game, so this will almost surely be a tournament situation. When you are low on ammo in a tournament, you need to give yourself a chance to win some chips, so you can have some flexibility. With 20 times the big blind, a draw is not that hard to play. You either lead at the pot and try to pick it up without a fight, or you check-raise all in. There will not be a river round of betting to guess on when having to act first, and there is a good chance you will not have to act on the turn, either. All you have in front of you with this size stack is a bet and a raise.



Now that I've discussed whether to play a mediocre holding because of the half-price discount, I'll address how to handle your good hands. The standard raise size in most situations is the size of the pot or somewhat less. However, I believe you should be overbetting the pot size when raising preflop from either of the blinds. If you are trying to pick up the pot with a hand that is not of raising quality, this will give you a better chance to do so. If you have a quality hand, this will prevent an opponent from taking a cheap shot at you. Wimpy-size raises with aces or kings are very common, but are poor poker strategy here. If you get outflopped, you are going to lose a lot of chips when charging at the pot from out of position. Make your opponent pay for the privilege of taking a shot at a big win from you.



I recommend overbetting the pot size by 20 percent or 25 percent when raising from either blind. For example, if I am in the small blind with a $50-$100 blinds structure and two callers, there will be $400 in the pot after I call. So, if I choose to raise, I will whack it $500 more, for a total wager of $600. (Be sure to figure in your call first whenever trying to determine what a pot-size raise would be.)



As you see, falling for the half-price discount is a common leak in one's play. The hallmark of the strong no-limit hold'em player is his attitude toward position. He is a brave lion with it and a scared rabbit without it.



Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered from Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is www.pokercoach.us, where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called www.fairlawsonpoker.org, where you can read his comments on the new U.S. poker legislation.