Take advantage of the blinds in poker: practical uses

The blinds in Texas Holdem poker are lazy. No one wants to be a big blind in poker, but not even a small one. You are a ‘dealer’, one of the most fun positions at the poker table, but from there everything goes wrong. There are fewer and fewer playable hands, the bar goes up, until you reach UTG and only very high cards are worth… and again the blinds come back!

But first of all… What does blinds mean in poker? The blinds are a mandatory bet that is made before the start of the betting turn. The two positions following the dealer must bet a certain amount whatever their hand. They are made so that players cannot be distracted from the game and guarantee play. You have a mediocre or downright bad hand and it’s your turn to call. It depends on the point of the game, you have a stack of 1000 left and you have to pay 100 yes or yes with 3-7 of different colors. But the blinds in texas holdem poker will not always be like this. In some moments, not to say that in the majority, you will be able to take advantage of them. But first of all, if nobody likes them… why are there blinds in poker?

Basically, the blinds serve to guarantee that there will be play in all hands, or at least try to maximize it. Look at it from the other side. When you have your AA’s you’re going to wish there were blinds in texas holdem poker so that someone would play you forcibly, you don’t want anyone intervening right? If there were no blinds and ante, probably in many hands the game would be very stagnant. Therefore, they are a lesser and necessary evil… but are they always an evil?

So… how many blinds are there in poker? Usually, there are two blinds in poker, the big blind and the small blind. The big blind will mark the minimum entry bet in the hand, while the small blind will half. How do the blinds go up in a poker tournament? Depending on how fast the table is. In very fast tournaments they last ten minutes, while if they exceed 40 minutes the game takes a long time. In general, they tend to jump (double) every 20 minutes.

Hide your monster with the poker blinds

In some contexts, being the big blind can benefit you. If you have a premium hand and are big blind in texas holdem poker, the context may benefit you. As? Easy, it is the best way to hide it and you will have previous information to decide. If you are UTG and have AA, you will have to come in hard, which can easily pigeonhole you.

However, if you have those AAs and are in the big blind, the spread is much larger. If the hand comes clean, only with some ‘call’, a raise from you can be interpreted as an attempt to defend the blind. The same would happen with a previous upload. You have the option to call hiding as much information as possible, or reraise without being (necessarily) placed in large ranges.

Ultimately, being big blind in Texas Holdem poker is an ideal way to distort information about your game, which will make you much more unpredictable.

Improve your hand ranges

If a hand comes clean (or relatively clean) to your blinds, the hand you can handle is much bigger than in other positions. Sometimes a small pocket pair is a good idea to play, as long as it doesn’t commit more than 10% of your stack (ideally).

Would it be a good idea to call from under the gun? Probably yes, but you can always find yourself with more players in between who reraise. On the other hand, if you are in the blind, you will only have to check or call to a small extent to go looking for your master move, always with less risk. This is one of the points where being blind in poker can benefit you.