Poker is a card game in which bets are placed, and it is they who add a sense of competition to the process and strengthen the will to win. Poker has its own set of rules and its own terminology. Today, let’s deal with such a type of bet as the blind – find out its meaning and what the blinds are, and what the expression “steal the blind” means. So, from the very first tournament, the blind in poker is a mandatory bet that a player must make before the cards are dealt. This is necessary to form the game bank for each individual (their) distribution (of cards). There is such a bet in almost every existing poker variant: in Omaha and Texas Hold’em, in Draw Poker, Lowball and Badugi. Big and small blinds The blind can be small or big. The small blind must be made by the participant who sits first to the left of the “button” – the person who has the dealer’s chip. The size of the small blind directly depends on the size of the bet set for this distribution and is half of it, that is, blind = bet:2. If the initial bet is, for example, $100, then the small blind is 50.Collage: My Lucky StoryThe big blind must be made by the second player to the left of the button. In most cases, the size of the big blind is equal to the original bet, and if it was equal to one hundred dollars, then the big blind will be one hundred dollars. We draw simple conclusions: such a mandatory bet is made by two players whose seats at the table are located to the left of the dealer. And taking into account the fact that with each distribution of cards, the position of the button in poker passes to the next participant (clockwise), the blinds will be made by each player at the table. Waiting for the Big Blind or Posting the Big Blind In online poker, there is such a thing as “waiting for the big blind” or “posting the big blind”. This phenomenon is quite common: let’s find out how it is in a situation. When a new player wants to join the table, they can place a blind bet or wait for the big blind’s turn and join the game. Poker blinds do not have a constant size: firstly, they directly depend on the size of the initial bet set for a particular hand. As we said above, the small blind is equal to half the bet, and the big blind is equal to the bet (most often). Plus, the cost of the blinds is constantly growing, for example, in online tournaments this happens every ten minutes. In a live game, due to the fact that the process of distributing cards takes longer, the time for promotion increases significantly and occurs once per hour. What does the expression stealing blinds mean It is clear that in the literal sense of the word a blind or blinds cannot be stolen. This is the name of the situation in which the thief player makes a raise. Increases the bet, showing confidence in his cards or simply bluffing, counting on the players remaining behind him to fold – fold and he will get the blinds without any struggle. It can also give him a significant advantage in terms of initiative and position, even if one of the blinds calls – a response to a raise. It is believed that stealing blinds is more often performed from the status of the button or from the cut-off position (the position of the player in poker to the right of the dealer). It is most advantageous for the “kidnapper” to make such thefts at the moment of the game, when the stakes and blinds are already very high, especially towards the end of games with long tables. Often they are aimed at passive participants. There are certain statistics: at long tables (with a large number of participants), players steal the blinds about 25 percent of the time, but at short tables (with a small number of players) – around 35 percent. Why poker needs blinds Well, the primary purpose of the blinds is an incentive, you see. It is unlikely that anyone will want to play just for fun in any of the big poker tournaments. And these mandatory bets will give players a goal to compete for. Both versions of the blind create the right incentive, making up the initial pot, which increases during the game with the bets of the participants. Note that in cash games, the size of the blinds directly depends on the table limits. None of the existing poker tournaments can be without mandatory bets. It is the constant process of increasing the size of the blinds that has an impact on the game and directly on the players, because no one can just sit out until the final without making bets and without risking their chips. Note that the time and size of the rate increase may vary and depend on the rules established by the organizers of a particular tournament. The blinds serve as a kind of standard for determining the size of the pot, as there are too different betting limits. In some games, they can be equal to one dollar, and in major tournaments or in some casino in Las Vegas – already tens of thousands of conventional units. This fact is also the reason why in big poker theoretical calculations are made in blind units, and not in monetary terms. We draw conclusions – blinds are needed in poker as a tonic for players. A bank is created from them, which each of the participants in the game wants to take possession of. This mandatory rate tends to increase. It is done by the two leftmost players in the literal sense of the word, relative to the button – the participant with the dealer’s chip. The position of the button is mobile, which means that every player at the poker table can make a blind.
