There are many strategies one can incorporate when playing a game of poker. Though poker is a game of chance, and your game is only as good as your hand, there are ways you can learn to play those hands in order to optimize what you have and help increase your chances of winning the game. One such strategy is Big Blind vs Small Blind.
The big blind and small blind are the automatic bets that must be made in any single hand of a poker game. The higher the stakes you are playing, the higher the blinds. When you are on either one of the blinds, you aren’t in a positional advantage. Remember, acting last gives you positional advantage because it means you get to see what your opponents do before you act. This is why where you sit at the table during a poker game is very important to your game.
The big and little blind act first, (pre-flop), but since you are last to act after the flop, turn, and river, which puts you at a disadvantage.
Since the value of a small blind is half that of a big blind, you should see more flops as you already have chips in the pot. If no raises occur in the pot and the big blind is $10.00 the small blind will have to be $5.00 in order to see the flop.
In this scenario, the big blind will get to see a free flop. A trap that players sometimes fall into, especially beginners, is trying to aggressively defend their blinds. This is a very bad move because it is an automatic bet that you have no control over having to pay. Because of this, you should base the decision to put more chips into the pot on if the pot size and the cards you have warrant committing them.
Don’t feel that you have to defend anything. Only put more chips in the pot if the situation will be profitable for you.
Generally, if you are on the small blind and there has not been a raise, you should play the pot, since you have already put half that amount that you will need in order to see a flop. If a few players have limped into the pot, you should play suited connectors to suited aces, pocket pairs, and suited cards.
In this situation, you can loosen up a little, since it is costing you much to see a flop. In the big blind, you should play much the same, even with one raise. It does, of course, depend on the strength of your hand.
Once you understand how this works, you will be able to use it to your advantage when possible, which will, in turn, help improve your game.
Keith Londrie II is a well known author. For more information on Poker, please visit Texas Holdem Poker for a wealth of information. You may also want to visit keith’s own web site at keithlondriedotcom/