No matter what Hold Em game or level you are playing, one of the toughest situations you regularly face is playing in the blinds. By being in the blind you are forced to put a bet in without ever getting a chance to see your cards and evaluate the situation at hand. Because of this, you will often be looking down at a non premium hand, and be forced to make a decision to play against a raise or re-raise. Your play in the blinds of a limit game is crucial to being profitable.
In limit poker, the blinds are normally one small bet as the big blind, and the small blind is usually represented by a half of that, or is a $3/6 game, it is a $1 bet in the small blind. Playing in these spots lays you with some disadvantages that you want to be very aware of. First off, as mentioned earlier, you are being forced to put in a bet without seeing your cards. This translates into you having a garbage hand like 9-5 off-suit seven out of every ten times. You are completely out of position to play the flop, turn and river, and if you do happen to flop a huge hand, it becomes a little tougher to play and maximize your profit.
When you sit down at a poker table, more often than not you will find several aggressive players raising and trying to push people out of pots. There is a certain way you want to play these games when you are in the blinds. If you are in the big blind and get to see the flop without having to face a raise, and you do flop a good hand, play it in an aggressive manner. If the cards hit and you are holding something like top pair, then you should bet out. If you flop two pair, a straight, or something stronger than top pair, then check raising the flop is a very good option, as long as you feel that the other player in the hand is aggressive and going to bet. Remember, you don稚 have good position, so you want to take down the pot as soon as you can. If you flop something weak, like an inside draw, or bottom pair, and you are not heads up, checking and folding is the right idea.
If you find yourself faced with a raise, than use your best judgment and your starting hand guidelines, but always remember you are out of position. Playing from the big blind and seeing a single raise, you can treat the hand as it you were in middle position. If you feel like you are holding a marginal hand, fold it. Throwing your hand away in the big blind to a raise will often save you money, which equals more profit. The one exception to this rule is going to be when you are facing a button raise. You need to be able to recognize when this is merely a steal attempt, and if you can make that read, you want to play back at them. Remember that hand values are on somewhat of a sliding scale. When in the big blind and facing a raise from the button, Ace rag becomes a very strong hand.
When you are seeing a raise and even a re-raise, and you look down at a premium hand, you will want to make a re-raise from the big blind. People with middle to late position with marginal hands are already locked into the hand, and you should take the opportunity to take advantage of that. This works so well because very few people are going to lay down that marginal hand, and your KK or QQ becomes that much better.
Be aware that most of the time you are going to be folding your hand before the flop, or to a bet after the flop. Realize that you are in bas position and it is easy to get yourself in trouble. What is important is that when the opportunity presents itself to play from the blinds, that you maximize your profit from the hand.
center>
|
