11-16-04, LearnTexasHoldem:
Why Use Blinds
I have been holding a weekly NL Tournament for about 8-9 people for a couple of months now. We play with antes that go up gradually as the tournament goes on but have never seen the advantages of having blinds.
Is there some reason that playing with blinds improves the game.
Cheers
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Answer: Let me give a quick summary of what blinds are and what they are used for in texas holdem poker. A blind is a forced bet that rotates around the table, moving one space to the left after each hand, to get action going. Most holdem games use two blinds, one small and one big, but other games can use three blinds including a small blind on the dealer button.
What would happen if you didn't have blinds is that everyone could wait as long as they liked for good hands like AA and KK and there would be no strategic reason to risk money unless you had one of these premium hands. By making everyone put money in when it is there turn you create an environment where people can't just sit there and win. You have to play to win or the blinds will eventually bleed you out.
Battle for the blinds isn't something that you will fully appreciate until you move up in limits some. When you get to middle limits and above then most of the game is based around people leveraging their position and aggressiveness against the blinds to either get blind players to fold or to make them defend their forced bet.
This brings me to my next point and how you are using only antes in your game instead of a blinds structure. Let me first say that I like antes. The ante doesn't have to be large, but having those extra chips in the pot preflop makes the pots juicier and the game play more lively. I like antes in addition to blinds.
If you use antes only the dynamics of holdem change because you aren't putting a premium on positional play. I'm trying to think of what affect this would have on the game. My guess would be that it would make the game much more passive since no one would have too much invested preflop. I think the games would probably end up with a lot of people just calling preflop to see the flop. I'm not sure if I would recommend practicing like this since it isn't how normal tournaments or ring games are played.
I like trying new betting structures too but your staple, your bread and butter, needs to mirror what real money gaming will be like so you know how to use position, play out of the blinds and bet based on how the hand is shaping up. I think if you just use a universal ante preflop it will skew your perspective on strategy quite a bit away from what normal holdem strategy would entail.
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