Poker Blinds

The blinds are a difficult position to play. You may be the last player to act pre-flop, but you’ll be the first player to act for the rest of the hand and that means you won’t know how the flop affected your opponents.

No matter how good of a player you are, you will always lose money in the blinds in the long run, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t minimize you loses with smart play. Here are some tips for minimizing your losses when you’re playing from the blinds:

Play Tight
Most players get into trouble by calling light in the blinds. They reason that they’re getting a discount, so the call is justified. That’s rarely the case.

When you’re in the blinds, you need a strong hand since you’ll be playing out of position. If you end up in a situation where you are dominated, you might not figure it out until after you lose a good portion of your stack.

Don’t Get Into Blind Wars
Don’t get into wars when the blinds are low. Sure it might seem like the button is trying to steal with their hand, but you shouldn’t play back at them without a good hand of your own.

Be Aggressive
You don’t want to get into wars, but you can’t let late position players bully you either. Play strong when you have a decent hand or a hand strong enough to execute a re-steal. If you show controlled aggression from the blinds, your opponents will be less likely to attack you without a strong hand.

The blinds are a losing position. Not even the world’s best players can profit from it. However, you can minimize your loses and increase your overall win rate by playing tight and showing aggression when you have a decent hand.