In a dead blind, the small blind or dealer button may be placed at an empty seat to assure the big blind is properly positioned. If a game has come down to a head-to-head, the dealer will also be the small blind. The players in the small blind and big blind positions are permitted the opportunity to raise once their turn has come back into play. Heads-up Pre-flop Betting: The small blind can fold, call or raise. If the small blind just calls, then the big blind (non-button player) can either check and see the flop, or raise. Over a decade of playing MTTs for a living, I’ve seen the game change in many ways. For example, back in 2010, open-raising to three times the big blind was considered standard. You could sometimes make it just 2.5x on the button, but 3x was the norm.
Covering live poker tournaments for a living affords me the opportunity to see countless thousands of hands played out, many of which offer interesting and potentially valuable insights into how players — both amateurs and professionals — play the game. In this ongoing series, I'll highlight hands I've seen at the tournaments I've covered and see if we can glean anything useful from them.
The Scene
At the beginning of the summer, I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas a little early and do some feature coverage of a very unique event, the World Poker Tour Tournament of Champions.
When you're dealing with a field full of elite players, you're always going to see some hands that catch your eye, and that was definitely the case at the WPT Tournament of Champions. In fact, the very last hand of the tournament stuck with me, and so I wanted to look back a little more closely at it here.
Matt Waxman of Florida (pictured above, left) was in control of a heads-up match with gregarious Lithuanian Matas Cimbolas (right), up 3.2 million to 800,000 at the 20,000/40,000/40,000 level (employing the big blind ante).
The two of them had been battling for about 40 hands, and while both players had been raising most buttons earlier, they began limping frequently once they had reached this new level and increased blinds.
The Action
Cimbolas completed the blind on the button and Waxman checked his option.
The flop came and Waxman checked. Cimbolas bet 40,000 and Waxman called. On the turn, Waxman checked and called 125,000. The river was an and Waxman checked a final time. Cimbolas moved all in for 425,000.
Waxman took a while before acting, using a time extension, then opted to call with for second pair. It was good, as Cimbolas had to show his for a pure bluff from start to finish. Waxman took the pot and the tournament with his big river call.
Concept and Analysis
What really caught my eye about this hand was, of course, the showdown.
'Wait,' I thought to myself. 'Why did he have ten-three offsuit? Why didn't he just fold that preflop?'
That's when I realized the effect the big blind ante has on heads-up play. Think about what Cimbolas would be giving up if he were to fold preflop.
Under normal circumstances at 20,000/40,000, there would be a 5,000 ante. In a heads-up situation, that means the total starting pot is 70,000, with the small blind needing to call 20,000 more. With the big blind ante, the pot is 100,000 with the small blind needing to call 20,000 more.
Big Blind Little Blind Rules
Instead of getting 3.5-to-1 on his money with a call, Cimbolas is getting 5-to-1. Furthermore, with 20 big blinds, he can't afford to be just giving up on pots that already contain more than 10 percent of his stack, or his tournament would be over in a hurry and with a whimper.
It seems clear, then, that the big blind ante forces players to fight for more pots in short-handed situations, especially heads up. Given that and the fact that Cimbolas was going to naturally be working with a lot of weak holdings because of the nature of hold'em hand strength, one solution would be to simply limp his whole range from the button. It seems that's the adjustment he'd decided on, as he limped 10 times or so in a row from his button leading up to this hand.
Considering that Cimbolas is possibly limping any two, that creates some very interesting situations postflop. For Waxman in this hand, the flop seems like a good time to check and call, since many of Cimbolas' limping hands have basically no equity in this spot.
On the turn, Cimbolas barrels again for a bigger sizing, a little over half of the pot, setting up a river shove for a little under the size of the pot. Waxman rightfully continued his check-call line. When Waxman then faces the river shove, what hands can he be expecting Cimbolas to jam?
Cimbolas could have a strong preflop hand that he slow played like aces, ace-king, king-queen, or the like. He could also have a number of two-pair combos, with almost any of them in play since he's limping anything. He might check back the turn with something like or , but there's still plenty else to worry about.
As for bluffs, backdoor spades look like a prime possibility. With ranges so wide, though, Waxman can hardly discount anything. That's what makes spots like this with the big blind ante so interesting. Waxman's own hand looks like what it is, a mediocre one-pair hand. Meanwhile he's playing against the widest range possible held by an opponent very capable of bluffing.
In the end, Waxman decided there was enough air in Cimbolas's range to call and he looks to have been right since he was up against .
Some have complained of the effect of the big blind ante on short-handed play. I, for one, think it's going to be awesome if we get to see more situations like this where good players have to mix it up with weak holdings.
What do you guys think?
Everybody needs an account at one of these online poker rooms! They're the biggest, the best, and we get you the best poker bonuses. Check out our online poker section for details on all the online poker rooms around.
Tags
tournament strategyno-limit hold’empreflop strategypostflop strategybig blind antebluffingrangesrange readingbluff catchingMatas CimbolasMatt WaxmanWorld Poker TourWPT Tournament of ChampionsRelated Tournaments
World Poker TourRelated Players
Matt WaxmanMatas Cimbolas
In order to start betting in Hold’em, forced bets (known as blinds) are made by the two players immediately clockwise from the dealer button. The person immediately clockwise from the dealer has the small blind, and the next player clockwise has the big blind. Making blind bets is known as posting and this is done before any cards are dealt.
The size of the bets are determined by the limits of the game that you’re playing and the small blind is nearly always half of the big blind. So a $2/$4 Limit Hold’em game has a small blind of $1 and a big blind of $2.
Heads Up Poker Rules Big Blind 2017
Blinds are forced bets. The players in these positions must make these bets or they aren’t dealt cards in the hand. These blinds, in turn, force betting action on the table after everyone has been dealt their hole cards.
At a casino, when you first sit down at a Hold’em table, the rules vary as to whether you have to post blinds (even if you’re out of the normal blind positions for that hand) in order to be dealt a hand.
In Las Vegas, you’re dealt a hand as soon as you sit down and have shown that you meet the table’s minimum buy-in. You’re not required to post a blind in order to get hole cards. Conversely, in most California card rooms, you’re required to post a big blind in order to get your starting hand.
In cases where you’re required to post a big blind before you’re dealt cards, you’re mildly better off just waiting until it would normally be your turn to get the big blind anyway, rather than jumping straight into the hand. Waiting like this keeps you from making an extra forced bet and gives an added bonus of being able to case the players at the table while you aren’t actually playing. Dealers are used to this behavior and will probably ask you if you want to sit out (that is, wait until it’s your turn to post the big blind).
How soon you post is a fine point, though, that doesn’t really make that much difference. If you’re itchin’ to play, or if you have a very limited amount of time to play, go ahead and jump in. The dealer will tell you whether you’re required to post a big blind.