In button games, a non-playing dealer normally does the actual dealing. A round disk called the button is used to indicate which player has the dealer position.
With two blinds, the small blind is posted by the player immediately clockwise from the button, and the big blind is posted by the player two positions clockwise from the button. With more than two. The player in the position immediately to the left of the dealer (that is to say, clockwise) posts an automatic bet called the small blind, and the player immediately to his left (or two places to the left of the dealer) posts an automatic bet known as the big blind. These are forced bets that players must make in order to get dealt into the game.
The player with the button is last to receive cards on the initial deal and has the right of last action after the first betting round. The button moves clockwise after a deal ends to rotate the advantage of last action.
One or more blind bets are usually used to stimulate action and initiate play. Blinds are posted before the players look at their cards. Blinds are part of a player's bet, unless the structure of a game or the situation requires part or all of a particular blind to be 'dead.'
Dead chips are not part of a player's bet. With two blinds, the small blind is posted by the player immediately clockwise from the button, and the big blind is posted by the player two positions clockwise from the button. With more than two blinds, the little blind is normally left of the button (not on it).
Action is initiated on the first betting round by the first player to the left of the blinds. On all subsequent betting rounds, the action begins with the first active player to the left of the button.
Rules for Using Blinds in Poker
1. Each round every player must get an opportunity for the button, and meet the total amount of the blind obligations. Either of the following methods of button and blind placement may be designated to do this:
(a) Moving button - The button always moves forward to the next player and the blinds adjust accordingly. There may be more than one big blind.
(b) Dead button - The big blind is posted by the player due for it, and the small blind and button are positioned accordingly, even if this means the small blind or the button is placed in front of an empty seat, giving the same player the privilege of last action on consecutive hands.
[See 'Section 16 - Explanations,' discussion #1, for more information on this rule.]
2. A player who posts a blind has the option of raising the pot at the first turn to act. (This does not apply when a 'dead blind' for the collection is used in a game and has been posted).
3. In heads-up play with two blinds, the small blind is on the button.
4. A new player entering the game has the following options:
(a) Wait for the big blind.
(b) Post an amount equal to the big blind and immediately be dealt a hand. (In lowball, a new player must either post an amount double the big blind or wait for the big blind.)
5. A new player who elects to let the button go by once without posting is not treated as a player in the game who has missed a blind, and needs to post only the big blind when entering the game.
6. A person playing over is considered a new player, and must post the amount of the big blind or wait for the big blind.
7. 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. [See 'Section 16 - Explanations,' discussion #3, for more information on this rule.]
8. When you post the big blind, it serves as your opening bet. When it is your next turn to act, you have the option to raise.
9. 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.
10. If a player who owes a blind (as a result of a missed blind) is dealt in without posting, the hand is dead if the player looks at it before putting up the required chips, and has not yet acted. If the player acts on the hand and plays it, putting chips into the pot before the error is discovered, the hand is live, and the player is required to post on the next deal.
11. A player who goes all-in and loses is obligated to make up the blinds if they are missed before a rebuy is made. (The person is not treated as a new player when reentering.)
12. These rules about blinds apply to a newly started game:
(a) Any player who drew for the button is considered active in the game and is required to make up any missed blinds.
(b) A new player will not be required to post a blind until the button has made one complete revolution around the table, provided a blind has not yet passed that seat.
(c) A player may change seats without penalty, provided a blind has not yet passed the new seat.
13. In all multiple-blind games, a player who changes seats will be dealt in on the first available hand in the same relative position. Example: If you move two active positions away from the big blind, you must wait two hands before being dealt in again. If you move closer to the big blind, you can be dealt in without any penalty. If you do not wish to wait and have not yet missed a blind, then you can post an amount equal to the big blind and receive a hand. (Exception: At lowball you must kill the pot, wait for the same relative position, or wait for the big blind; see 'Section 11 - Lowball,' rule #7.)
14. A player who 'deals off' (by playing the button and then immediately getting up to change seats) can allow the blinds to pass the new seat one time and reenter the game behind the button without having to post a blind.
15. A live 'straddle bet' is not allowed at limit poker except in specified games.
Is it profitable to play from the blinds?
By running various filters in poker-tracking software it is possible to calculate our winrate from the blinds. If you use HEM2, go to the reports tab, select 'more reports' and choose 'position'. Likely you will find that you are making a large loss from the blinds. Does this mean you are playing badly? Not necessarily...
- Every time you play a hand in the big-blind you start off automatically down 1bb. In the small-blind you are down 0.5bb. If you were to fold every hand you would lose at a rate of 100bb/100 in the BB and 50bb/100 in the SB. It's going to be more or less impossible to turn this into a win.
Blind Order Poker
- Everyone has to pay the blinds though. If you are losing at less than 100bb/100 in the big-blind you are effectively winning. This is not strictly true since we have to factor in the occasions where it gets folded round to us, or we see a free flop and win at showdown. As a very rough guide, our loss-rate from BB should be below 40bb/100 (ideally 30bb/100) while our loss-rate from the SB should be below 25bb/100 (ideally 15bb/100). Another good rule if you are using tracking software – your winrate from the button should roughly equal your loss rate from the SB/BB.
- The important thing to understand is that we will likely still make a loss from the blinds however well we play. There are certain things we can do to maximise our winrate however...
Play Tight
The single best piece of advice for playing from the blinds is – play tight. Many players make the mistake of trying to play too many hands out of the blinds. If you are in the SB you are always going to be out-of-position postflop. In the BB you will be out-of-position most of the time unless you are facing the SB. Position is crucial in NLHE. You will find it harder to get value for your strong hands, harder to bluff your opponents, and harder to get away from your second-best hands.
Let's look at some examples:
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
BU ($25)
Pre-flop: Hero is BB with kj
UTG raises to $1.00, 4 folds, Hero?
Hopefully you recognised this is an easy fold. The open-raiser is under-the-gun and likely to have a strong range. KJo is behind that range. On top of this, is the fact that you will be out-of-position postflop.
Even if you felt you had a skill-edge over the player UTG, it will be much harder to make use of this out-of-position!
Being in the SB here would be even worse. This is because you still have the BB behind you to act. He could wake up with a monster and re-raise, or he could decide to overcall putting you out-of-position against 2 players. You get a slightly better price to play from the BB since you've already invested 1bb, whereas you invest 0.5bb from the SB.
Look at the Open-Raiser
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
BU ($25)
Pre-flop: Hero is BB with kj
3 folds, BU raises to $0.75, Hero?
There is a crucial difference between this hand and the last one. The open-raiser is now on the BU. He could potentially have a very wide range. KJ might be ahead of that range. You could think about making the call here. It's still pretty borderline – in general hands weaker than this will often be a fold. It's useful if you can estimate exactly how wide the Button is opening. The following HUD stats will be useful for this :
- PFR – Preflop Raise, % of the time an opponent takes an aggressive action preflop.
- ATS – Attempt to steal. % of the time an opponent open-raises from CO, BU, SB.
Poker Blind Order Poker
ATS is a little more relevant because it doesn't involve situations where our opponent 3bets. Specifically we want to know our opponent's ATS from the Button, which can often be found through a pop-up box on our HUD when we place our cursor over the general ATS stat.
If our opponent had a PFR of 10 and an ATS of 10 in this situation we could fold our KJo here. If our opponent had a PFR of 20 and a Button ATS of 50 this might be an easy call.
Suited Connectors
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
BU ($25)
Pre-flop: Hero is SB with 78
3 folds BU raises to $0.75, Hero?
This is a situation that pops up many times in a session, and frankly, most players are snap-calling. 78s, pretty nice hand right? Not so much in this hand.
We should be very careful about playing suited connectors out-of-position against one opponent. There is a good chance it is not going to be profitable; our default play should really be to fold in this spot. (We can also consider 3betting which we will discuss).
There are two main exceptions where we can flat-call with suited connectors here:
- If our opponent is loose, we are not going to get paid often enough when we flop big. The majority of the time when we miss our opponent is going to take the pot down with his positional advantage. In some instances it may be ok to flat suited connectors pre-flop if we felt we could steal the pot very often with a flop check-raise (or some other bluff).
- Suited Aces are in a similar category to suited connectors. They usually have better equity against your opponent's range however (because of the Ace), and so are not as bad to call with. You should still be very cautious about doing so. Against a lot of players it won't be possible. This is precisely how players end up getting slaughtered in the blinds. They call far too much with marginal hands and then get run-over postflop.
Poker Small Blind Big Blind Order
3bet Bluffing
MP ($25)
CO ($25)
UTG ($25)
BB ($25)
SB ($25)
BU ($25)
Pre-flop: Hero is SB with a5
4 folds BU raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.25
BU Folds
HERO WINS!