In this hand our hero had the 10c-9c and it was limped by three players in a full-ring $5-$10 texas hold’em game. In this instance then the call is pretty automatic given the hand type and the pot odds which are very good. Then when you consider the implied odds as well then we have a profitable situation. The big blind raps the table and there is $25 in the pot.

The flop comes Qc-4c-2d giving our hero a flush draw. He is now the first to speak and rightly checks. There is little point in semi-bluffing here into four opponents or pumping the pot. If one of his opponents has flopped top pair and they raise then he could find himself heads up with the worst hand trying to outdraw the only player left in the hand with reduced implied odds.

If you bet and it gets raised then that raise can prevent other players from calling. Here is a situation where you really don’t mind other players staying in the hand if you check and someone else bets. Everyone checks to the final limper who bets and now it is back on our hero.

Once again the correct play here is to call, folding is not an option simply because of the pot odds so the choice is between calling and raising. But raising presents our hero with a similar problem as before. If his opponent is betting a hand like top pair with something like Q-J then a raise will simply thin the field against the one hand that they have to outdraw to win the pot.

It is simply better to call and let other players come along for the ride so to speak. Our hero calls as does one other limper and there is now $40 in the pot and three players left in the hand. The turn card is the 8h which misses our hero so he checks and so does the first limper. The final limper bets $10 making a $50 pot and our hero rightly calls getting 5/1 immediate odds and some implied odds as well so he cannot fold even though the limit has doubled.

The other player folds so the hand is now heads up with $60 in the pot. The river card misses our heroes flush draw but pairs his ten. He checks and the final limper bets again.

This now puts $70 into the pot. Despite the fact that he is almost certainly beaten here, pot odds of 7/1 coupled with a hand that does have some potential to be the best hand then a fold is simply out of the question here.

Raising is a poor play as if our hero has the best hand then he will win the pot by calling as any weaker hand wouldn’t call the raise anyway. Our hero called and lost the pot to a K-Q but he can be commended for playing the hand well.

This article was written by Carl “The Dean” Sampson

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Let us just put this way, the blinds were at 75/150 and the big blind only has 50. I’m wondering, do you think he is entitled to win the blinds though he doesn’t have enough? Or rather, he can just win the amount he had since the beginning?

Personally, I believe he should only win the amount he had in the first place. But I’m not so sure about this. Any advice for me?

Thank you.

Roan
Roan,

The big blind could only win up to the amount he has in front of him. The player in the small blind would get back 25 and they would play for the 100 chip pot. At no time can a player win more from a single player than they have in front of them.

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Well, I actually drop by because of some questions. My first question has something to do with me holding a tourney with 16 guys, a 250 buy in having 2 tables of 8 playing at the same time. I heard of so many ways of handling blinds, but I’m not totally sure which one to consider. Do you think, it should be started off at 2/4 and then just raise every hour? And the raising amounts would be somewhere in $2? Am I right? By the way, there is no buying back in.

For my second question on the other hand, well, it has something to do with me together with some friends playing a smaller game as a prep. At that instance, I have 2 spades, and the flop had 3. I don’t know if you would you believe that the 4th and 5th cards were spades. Eventually, 2 from our table thought I was buying the pot, but actually we, most especially me, don’t know exactly what to do then. Later on, we just decided to split in 3 ways. Quite lucky, I had 7 spades while others only had the 5. Who do you think wins during that instance?

Thank you so much.

Nathan
Nathan,

In regards to your tournament question, how much you start the blinds at depends on how much you start them in chips. Starting at 2-4 blinds seems too low. You want to start every play with at least 30 big blinds as a stack. If each player starts with 120 chips, then 2-4 blinds would work. A simple structure would be to double the blind every level. If you started with 120 chips and 2-4 blinds, then next level 4-8, and then 8-16, etc. You also need to determine how long you want to play. If you want to have a tournament that is over with quickly, then you want shorter levels.

For your second question there really isn’t enough information. I really need to know what your hold cards were and the board cards. Did you have a spade in your hand of a higher rank than that on board? If you did, then you won the pot. You play your best five cards in holdem. You could have seven spades, but only 5 count. If you did not have a spade that outranked any on the board, then you were correct to split the pot.

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For about two months now, I’ve been holding a weekly NL Tournament for about 8-9 people. Typically, we play with antes that go up bit by bit as the tournament goes on but we never seen the benefits or positive results of having blinds.

I’m wondering if there is any reason or the like that playing with blinds improves or alters the game in particular.

Thanks! By the way, great site!
Gelo
Gelo,

Blinds force action from players. Raising blinds forces player to commit to playing instead of sitting around waiting for big hands like many players do in cash games. As the tournament gets later, the higher blinds forces shrinking stacks into action to stay alive and helps the tournament move along.

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