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Jan. 01, 2005
The Problems of Position: The
Mystery of the Blinds
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
Euripides
I took some guff after last week's article about
poker movies, including a rash of criticism
preceded by a few euphemisms from an individual
who has lost his starting bankroll in his first
attempt at online poker, playing tournaments
only.
"Why don't you tell people how to play instead
of writing about poker movies?" (I've cleaned
the question up a bit.)
He was sitting next to me in my office. Because
I believe demonstration a very good way to
learn, I opened my demo copy of Wilson
Software's Tournament Texas Hold'em and told him
he should decide which hands he should play,
then tell me why he thought he should play them.
I immediately discovered that he was truly
unclear about position. He was under the
impression that the starting cards for early
position were good only in early position. He
didn't have a clear understanding of where
middle position started and late position began.
And surprisingly, he was particularly confused
about starting-card position play regarding the
blinds.
It's possible many people could be confused
about the starting cards in relation to the
blinds so let's correct this immediately.
For my critic, I typed up the rules governing
position in hold'em, starting with the blinds.
Posting the blinds is akin to an ante. The first
player after (to the left of) the dealer
(button) puts in a small blind and the next
person puts in a big blind, usually twice the
amount of the small blind. This doesn't mean
these two players are in early position. It
merely indicates that they have been forced to
"ante" so there will be some kind of action to
start the game.
As soon as the blinds are posted, the dealer
begins to deliver the down cards. Once these
first two cards are dealt, the first person who
has to make a decision is the person to the left
of the big blind. That means that when the down
cards are out, the two people who put in the
blinds‹the little blind and the big blind--are
in late position. They will be last to act with
regard to betting, calling, raising or folding.
Now, once the dealer lays the flop out on the
table, the blinds are in early position because
the small blind has to act first!
So your decision which cards to play should be
clear.
Before the flop, the blinds are in late position
and can, therefore, play late-position starting
cards. After the flop you can let go of the
starting-card mentality‹you've already made that
decision--because it's time to look at position
from the point of the wagering, of any advantage
gained from tells, and from the potential of
your hand based on the flop.
Just remember, if you don't start off right
consistently, you might make a goal once in a
while but you'll miss the mark so often that
you'll be wondering why you didn't stick to
brain surgery.
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