Copyright 2007 Full
Tilt Poker
September 13th, 2007
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Poker Lessons)
Poker Lesson: Playing from the
Blinds in Tournaments Part 1
Author: 'Miami' John Cernuto
If tournament poker is a game of situations, then
it’s important to know how to play from the blinds. Poker
comes down to three basic decisions: fold, call, or raise. When
you’re facing a pre-flop raise, folding the blinds will
usually be your best option. You have a significant disadvantage
when you defend your blinds because you will be out of position
for the remainder of the hand. However, there are times during
the course of a tournament that you can pick up a key pot or two
by making the right play from either the small or big blind.
One of the first things to realize is that you should
never get too attached to your blinds early in a tournament. Being
first to act leaves you at a clear disadvantage. The reward of
winning a small pot simply isn’t worth the risk of playing
out of position. Later in a tournament, when the blinds are more
significant and antes come into play, you should think twice about
automatically folding your blinds to a raise because there are
so many more chips at stake before the flop.
In fact, these are the times in a tournament when
you need to think about playing back at your opponents from the
blinds. As I mentioned, tournament poker is a game of situations
and it’s critical that you evaluate your situation properly
throughout the event. When appropriate, you may want to just flat-call
a late position raise or even think about re-raising from the
blinds.
I’ll never defend my blind with marginal cards
against an early-position raiser no matter what point of the tournament
I’m in. When a player raises in early position, it’s
often safer to assume he has a real hand as opposed to thinking
that he’s just trying to pick up the blinds. Against strong
players, I usually let the blinds go because I know there’s
going to be a battle. I’m looking to pick up pots, not pick
a fight.
As each player folds and action gets passed closer
and closer to the button, the likelihood of a “blind-stealing”
raise increases. These are the situations where you want to evaluate
your opponent and determine if you think they’re vulnerable
to a re-raise. If you sense weakness, this is a good time to play
back in order to show that you’re not going to be bullied,
and to build your stack.
Against a late-position raise from an opponent who
I read as weak, I’m going to re-steal the blinds by putting
in a re-raise. I don’t recommend re-raising all-in because
it’s not wise to risk your tournament on a bluff. Instead,
I think it’s best to determine your re-raise based on the
size of both your own and your opponent’s chip stacks. You
should put in enough of your stack to make it look like you’re
pot-committed – even though you’re really not. Giving
the appearance that you’re pot-committed displays your strength
which makes it unlikely that your opponent will come back over
the top unless he’s holding some kind of monster. By properly
sizing your bet here, you can still get away from your hand and
save yourself some chips by folding.
Be sure to check back for next week’s tip,
when I discuss playing from the blinds in relation to your opponent’s
style of play and table image.
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