Blind-vs.-Blind Fury in No-Limit Hold'em

Poker Strategy / Short-Stacked Shamus / 13 October 2011 / Leave a Comment

Pick your spots wisely in these blind-vs.-blind battles. And remember there are many better positions at the table from which to fight.

We all have love-hate relationships with the blinds, I think. On the one hand, playing from the blinds mostly stinks. They're doubly disadvantageous, really. Not only are we forced to commit chips without seeing our hole cards, we then have to play from out of position. But even though we're all net losers from the blinds, we kind of like them, too. Don't we?

From the small and big blinds we often get to play hands we wouldn't normally play, thus making the game more interesting. And flopping two pair with a "big blind special" to crack someone's pocket aces is one of the game's particularly sweet pleasures, too.

Another special circumstance occurring relatively often when starting from the blinds is that "battle of the blinds" that happens when the table folds around to the SB. Some players thrive on these battles, the little heads-up confrontations providing them with situations they find both enjoyable and profitable.

Meanwhile others sometimes experience unwanted anxiety when suddenly made to go mano-a-mano before an audience of observing opponents. Hard to keep a low profile in such situations, as a certain category of players prefer to do. Thus not only must you face the challenge of your opponent, such exposure can involve giving away information about how you play, generally speaking. Having carefully masked your "true" self since sitting down, one memorable SB-vs.-BB altercation can suddenly show the table that in fact you are at heart a nit. Or a maniac.

Small Blind = Tight

When it comes to no-limit hold'em, there are few often-shared guidelines for blind-vs.-blind play that are designed to make the ordeal less difficult, and hopefully less of a drain on your bankroll. As noted, we all lose more than we win from the blinds. That's true even for the best players. But the trick is to try to limit those losses enough to keep ourselves from being hurt too much while playing from the SB and BB.

If it folds to you in the small blind, say the experts, you really shouldn't take that as an automatic invitation to get frisky with your neighbor to the left. You certainly don't want to try to "steal" here like you might have when it is folded to you in late position. The fact is, lots of players will defend their big blinds against an open-raise from the SB with a wide variety of holdings, meaning that even with a decent starting hand it's going to be tricky to put your opponent on a range once the flop comes.

So raise with premium hands -- that is, hands you would be comfortable open-raising with from early position, or three-betting with from anywhere -- but be cautious otherwise. Limping from the small blind with medium-strength hands (or less) can be okay, but generally depends on how aggressive your opponent is. If he frequently raises after you limp, you probably should give up trying to see cheap flops with 10h-8c or the like.

Big Blind = Loose

Meanwhile, the experts often advise a much looser approach from the big blind. If the small blind open limps, be willing to raise a lot (they say). One measure to use here is to decide whether you have a hand with which you'd open-raise from late position, then add a few more hands just below that range, too, and raise the SB limp.

Following a similar principle, if the small blind raises, you can call from the big blind with a fairly wide range. Again, this would be a lot like cold-calling a raise from the button with a speculative hand, knowing that you'll have positional advantage after the flop and thus will be able to get away easily -- or apply pressure if your opponent shows post-flop weakness.

Thus, the general guidelines for these blind-vs.-blind battles are quite simple: tighten up from the SB, loosen up from the BB.

Incidentally, in pot-limit Omaha (my preferred game), I tend to follow these guidelines in an almost exaggerated fashion -- rarely if ever open-raising from the SB, and opening my range to all but the junkiest of junk from the BB -- because of the increased significance of position in PLO.

Play the Player

That said, such advice must be considered along with how your neighbor is playing. It might happen that in these blind-vs.-blind battles you will discover something worth trying to exploit in the way the guy sitting next to you appears to be approaching these situations. A number of players become either too tight or too loose in such spots, in which case you have to be willing to adjust accordingly.

Keep your head on straight, though. And don't let it get too personal when that dude on your right keeps playing back at you from the big blind. Or when the guy on your left in the small blind keeps calling you down. Sure, after a while you might feel like Bruce Lee in Fists of Fury, ready to warn those bastards that if they want a fight, you'll take them on.

But pick your spots wisely in these blind-vs.-blind battles. And remember there are many better positions at the table from which to fight.

Join Betfair Poker Now.