Hey, I’m Nicky Numbers, Professional Poker Player and today I’m going to talk to you about the blinds.
The blinds are two forced bets that occur right before every hand of poker. So one player at the table is going to be the dealer and they’re going to have this button in front of them. So the player across from me has it.
Immediately after the button is going to be two blinds; a small blind and a big blind, that the players after the button are forced to put in.
A big blind is typically twice the size of a small blind, so one half a big blind and one big blind, twice the size of the small blind. These are forced bets that drive the action. If there was no money in the pot to start the hand, then everybody could just fold until they were dealt something really great like pocket aces.
What the blinds do is that they force people to have to contribute money to the pot without being dealt a good hand first, as well give incentive to other players at the table to have something in the pot before the hand is even dealt so they have something to go after and win.
One thing to note is that in cash games the blinds remain consistent like 1-2-no limit, 2-5-no limit. The blinds are $2.00 and $5.00 or $1.00 and $2.00. In a tournament, the blinds are continually escalating.
And that’s how the blinds work in No Limit Hold ‘Em.