Online Poker Nut!

Doylespoker - Blinds are forced bets placed by the two seats to the left of the dealer. The dealer button moves around one place each hand, along with the blinds. The purpose of these forced bets is to place some money in the pot and provoke some action from the players participating in the game. Without these blinds, everyone could just sit around all day waiting for huge hands, so they are necessary to keep the game going.

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The way in which you play your hands, is not usually dictated by blinds and position in the earlier part of a tournament, but often in the latter stages, this can be much more important. If for instance, the action has been folded around to you in the small blind, you know there is only one hand that your hand has to beat to win the pot, so slightly weaker hands can still be reasonable to raise with. But if you are first to act, you know there are many hands waiting behind you which could be better, and so it is much riskier to raise with playable hands, which aren’t premium.

For shorter stacks, blinds will become increasingly more of a problem as the tournament wears on, partly because they are rising all the time, and partly because as players are eliminated, they come round quicker. As you become more experienced at the game, you should learn to better use position and blinds to your advantage, but whenever you find yourself low on chips, they will always be more of a hindrance than a help.