Texas Holdem Small Blind Big Blind
Just when you thought you had a decent grasp of the poker basics, Texas Hold’em came along with its intimidating terminology, multi-million-dollar tournaments, and poker rock stars. Forget about the odds of getting a royal flush and learn the main jargon and poker slang being slung.
Added bonus: learning poker slang is a great way to learn the game as well.
Texas Holdem Poker Small Und Big Blind People If you missed a blind you can also buy the button if you are directly under the gun. Whenever you miss the blinds you will have to post both a big and small blind or wait for the blinds to get to you before receiving a hand. Another rule of thumb is that when the small + the big blind = 7-8% of the total number of chips in play, the tournament will end. Texas Hold’em Poker Rules This is a short guide for beginners on playing the popular poker variant No Limit Texas Hold’em. There are two blinds in Texas Holdem – a small blind and a big blind. These are forced bets required by two players to make sure there are some chips in the pot worth playing for. Without any money in the pot all players might be inclined to fold much more often, slowing down the action considerably.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of every wacky word on the lips of the latest litter of poker cowpokes on the circuit. But as a good starting point for the Texas Hold’em beginner, consider this your poker primer.
Essential Hold’em Terms
Texas Hold’em has a stable full of wild and wooly terms, but before we take the bull by the horns, let’s start with the essential poker terms you need to know to navigate the Hold’em table, whether you’re playing in a land-based casino or at an online casino poker tournament. Ante up!
ALL-IN
When you bet all your remaining chips on a single hand of cards. You either have some really unbeatable cards (like four aces or a straight flush) or you’re just trying to scare the other players into folding.
BLINDS
In Texas Hold’em, the ante consists of two blinds, the big blind and the small blind. These rotating antes will hit everyone eventually. The small blind is the first player to the left of the dealer, and the big blind is the next seat farther left. The big blind is double the amount of the small blind.
BLUFF
Probably the most exciting aspect of poker: the bluff. Very skilled poker players can hide their TELL, put on their best poker face, and drop a huge raise with a crap hand (i.e. a pair of 2s). If everyone folds, the bluff has succeeded. But be careful: someone may call your bluff. Use with caution.
COMMUNITY CARDS
Texas Hold’em is a community poker game, where players make their poker hands from 2 private cards (hole cards) and five community cards which are shared by all players. Community cards are dealt face up in turns: the flop, the turn, and the river, with rounds of betting before and after each turn. Players must make the best possible 5-card poker hand from the seven total cards.
DEALER BUTTON
The plastic disc used to indicate the dealer. The button is passed clockwise after every hand of Hold’em, which also advances the blinds. The dealer rotation maintains fairness at the table, as certain player positions have advantages over others. Players in a ‘late position’ have more information to make better decisions than players in an ‘early position.’ Player position runs clockwise from the dealer.
FLOP
The initial 3 cards dealt face up in the community card area (table center) in a game of Hold’em after the 1st round of betting (pre-flop bets). The flop is followed by another round of betting and 2 more single-card deals (the TURN and the RIVER).
HOLE CARDS
The 2 private cards dealt face down to each player, which are combined with the community cards to make a poker hand. Players place their first bets based on these 2 cards. The hole is also called the pocket.
RIVER
The river is the 5th card dealt in the community cards row in a Texas Hold’em match. It is the final card dealt in the round, and players win or lose after the final bets are in.
SHOWDOWN
After the final round of betting ends, players turn their cards face up to determine the winner. A showdown occurs if two or more players have called or gone all-in during the final betting round.
TELL
A physical ‘tick’ or other sign communicated in ‘body English’ that signals how strong or weak a player’s poker hand is. Pro players hide their own tells, while they can often read the tells of weaker players. A good example of a poker tell is the character Teddy ‘KGB’ in the poker-related film ‘Rounders.’ Whenever KGB (John Malkovich) splits an Oreo cookie and listens to it, he is bluffing; if he eats the cookie, he is about to wipe the table with you.
TURN
The 4th community card dealt face-up in a game of Hold’em. It follows the initial 3-card deal (the flop), and signals a new round of bets.
Hold’em Slang for the Seasoned Player
If you’ve just scored a pair of fish hooks and are about to knock a fish back into the muck, you’re probably sitting at a table at the WSOP with some seasoned Hold’em players. Hold onto your hats, cowboys, we’re about to leave the dusty trail behind and dive deep into the territory of fish, sharks, and whales.
COWBOYS
Poker slang for pocket Kings, the 2nd best starting hand in Hold’em.
DEAD MAN’S HAND
Some poker hands are legendary. They bear the name of the player who made them famous, and thus became forever etched in the poker lexicon. When Wild West legend and pro poker player Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead while playing a hand of poker, the cards found in the dead man’s hand consisted of two pairs: 8s and aces.
DOYLE BRUNSON HAND
The ‘Doyle Brunson’ is a starting hand of 10 and 2, made famous by the man himself. Against impossible odds, Brunson won the WSOP main event in 1976 with this seemingly weak hand, simply by a twist of fate (he got a full house from the turn and the river). In 1977, he won the main event again—with the exact same starting hand. Since then, the 10-2 hand is known as the Doyle Brunson.
FISH
A newbie or a weaker player at the poker table. But if you’re new to the game, don’t worry about the card sharks, they’re probably looking for bigger fish to fry (see WHALE).
FISH HOOKS
A nickname for 2 pocket jacks, one of the strongest starting hands in Hold’em.
GUTSHOT
Another term for an inside straight, which can only be completed by a single card in the middle of a series. If your hole cards were a 7 and 8, and the flop shows a 10 and a jack, only a 9 would complete your straight. You are half as likely to hit a gutshot as an outside straight, which completes your straight from either end (i.e. you had 7-8 and the flop shows 9-10; you then need a 6 or a jack instead of a 9).
MUCK
The stack of discarded cards in a round of poker. A player tosses his cards ‘into the muck’ when he folds.
NUTS
The best possible hand a player can have at any given moment. If you have 2 jacks in the hole, and the flop shows jack-8-3, your trip jacks would make the best possible hand. Congratulations, you have the “nuts!” However, if the turn and the river add 2 aces to the mix, anyone with an ace in the hole would beat your trip jacks with trip aces, giving them the nuts.
POCKET ROCKETS
A pair of aces in the hole (pocket), and the best possible starting hand in Hold’em.
ROCK
A ‘tight’ player who sits round after round without betting for the pot. When the rock suddenly enters with a big bet for the pot, they probably have a really good hand.
WHALE
Texas Holdem Small Blind
Like a fish – only with a much bigger wallet. A player whose bankroll is much larger than their knowledge of the game of Hold’em. Card sharks love to swarm on whales and reduce them to bones.
WSOP
The World Series of Poker is the biggest poker tournament in the world and the poker mecca for professional and amateur poker players alike. The main event of the WSOP is a final round of no limit Texas Hold’em, with blinds of $100,000/$200,000 or more, and millions in prize money. In addition to fat wads of cash, winners go home with some serious poker bling: the coveted WSOP gold bracelet. 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the WSOP in its Las Vegas home.
So now you have a pretty good starting point to help you navigate the poker tables without a translator. Texas Hold’em may have started in the dusty back rooms of small Texas towns in the 1930s, but it has come a long way. From the early days of the first Hold’em matches held in Vegas at Binion’s Horseshoe to the main event of the WSOP (started by Mr. Binion himself), the rich vernacular of the poker player continues to grow.
Just how many of these poker terms originated with the original Texas Road Gamblers (Doyle Brunson, Sailor Roberts, and Amarillo Slim) and how many were added later, we may never know.
But now you talk the talk. Do you walk the walk?
One of the most challenging areas to play for maximum profit
in Texas holdem is the blinds.
Even when you get to see the flop for free in an unraised
pot, it’s easy to lose money because you’re in the worst
position at the table.
Where do you draw the line in the small blind? Should you
call a half bet with a small pair or a small suited connector?
How good does your hand need to be to call a bet and a half but
not raise?
Can you fold 90% of the blinds and still turn a long term
profit? The answer may surprise you.
Once you have a good strategy for blind play worked out, if
you switch between limit and no limit Texas holdem you’ll need
to be able to adjust your play. While many hands play the same
between the two variations, many don’t.
The Positional Disadvantage
Even though position has already been mentioned, it forms the
basis of everything else on the page so it needs mentioned
again.
Everything you do while playing Texas holdem needs to be done
while considering your position. Position directly affects your
starting hand choices because some hands can only be played form
certain positions profitably.
Medium suited connectors, like the eight and nine of
diamonds, can only be played from late position in most games
for a profit. In a few games the best players can play them from
middle position, but even the best players don’t waste their
money on them from middle position.
The mistake players make is thinking about the money they’ve
already put in the pot as theirs. It stops being your money the
second you push it forward for the blinds.
The only thing you need to consider is how the strength of
your starting hand works with your position in relation to the
button. If you can play a hand from the worst positions at the
table for a profit you should play, but if not you should fold.
Even if you see the flop for free you should fold most hands
after checking.
Limit Play
Limit Texas holdem and no limit holdem are both played almost
100% the same, but the way you have to play each of them to
maximize your profitability isn’t the same.
The biggest difference in how you have to think about limit
and no limit play is that limit is a more straightforward
mathematical game. In no limit you can make up for a
questionable starting hand by winning a huge pot when you hit
your hand, but in limit play the maximum amount you can win with
each hand is limited.
In no limit Texas holdem you can often call a raise with a
middle pair, like sevens or eights, because when you hit a set
you can win more than eight times your initial call when you
hit. You hit a set roughly one out of every eight times so you
need to be able to win more than eight times your call in order
to show a long term profit. No limit play makes this possible.
The same situation is rarely profitable in limit play. While
it’s easy to assume you can win eight times your call, the truth
is that many times you won’t.
It’s easy to say that limit Texas holdem is more mathematical
than no limit, but how do you learn from and take advantage of
this information?
The first thing you must do is learn that starting hand
selection is the number one thing you need to master in order to
be a long term winner while playing limit holdem. The player who
enters the pot with the best starting hand tends to win more
often than the player with a worse hand. This makes a great deal
of sense, but the best players combine strong starting hands
with smart play.
Once you learn the range of starting hands you can play from
each position you need to focus on learning as much as possible
about your opponents. When you’re playing from the blinds you
have to find every advantage you can.
When you see the flop in limit Texas holdem the rest of the
hand should play out based on odds and pot odds. You’ve seen
five out of the seven total cards you’ll use to make up your
hand, know the amount in the pot, and should have somewhat of an
idea of where you stand in the hand.
- If you check and face a bet are you receiving the
correct pot odds to call? - If the flop is checked around should you fire a bet on
the turn to try to take down the pot? - Should you call a single bet on the river with a third
or fourth best possible hand?
These questions all have answers based on your chances to win
the hand with your current holdings. And because limit play has
a capped betting limit on each round you have a specific number
of bets and / or pot amount to use to determine the best course
of action.
No Limit Play
You have slightly more options for starting hand play in no
limit Texas holdem from the blinds, but only if you’re able to
play well after the flop.
Some no limit holdem players are able to play trap hands
profitably from the blinds, but you really have to be able to
play well out of position to play this type of game well.
Trap hands include medium pairs and suited connectors.
The medium pairs can win big pots when you hit a set and the
suited connectors can win pots with flushes, but their largest
value is in well-disguised straights. Notice that small pocket
pairs aren’t included on the list.
While small pocket pairs can also hit a set and win a big pot
the problem is when a higher pocket pair hits their set. This
won’t happen often but you’re almost guaranteed to get stacked
when this happens. This makes a large dent into your possible
profits from hitting a set. The value of playing for a set is
stacking your opponents, not losing your entire stack.
The lower the pocket pair you play the higher the chance of
another player having a higher set when you hit. Specific advice
for which pocket pairs to play and which ones to fold vary, but
in general avoid anything lower than pocket fives. Some consider
anything lower than pocket sevens questionable.
If you’ve got a good enough read on your opponent and / or
the ability to lay down a set of threes or fours when you’re
beat you may be able to play them profitably. But very few
players are this good.
In limit play when you see the flop with a poor hand from the
blinds or call a bet to see the turn you stand to lose a bet or
two. But when you see a flop with a poor hand in no limit you
stand the chance to get stuck in a hand with higher
consequences.
Imagine the following scenario.
You’re in the small blind with the eight of clubs and the
jack of diamonds and you see the flop for a half bet. The flop
comes down jack high with three different suits. This gives you
top pair with a terrible kicker.
How are you going to play on the flop? Are you going to check
or bet? What happens if you bet and get raised? What if you
check and an opponent makes a big bet? While it’s the best hand
occasionally, the odds of jacks with an eight kicker being good
in a big pot are almost nonexistent. This is the classic case of
either winning a small pot or losing a big one. You need to be
on the other end of this equation, not on this side.
This illustrates both the problem of playing out of position
and the problem of entering a no limit pot with a poor hand.
When you have to make decisions that can involve your entire
stack each decision becomes magnified.
Raising From the Blinds
The only time you should raise from the blinds is when you’d
normally raise from the under the gun position.
Large pocket pairs and aces with a high kicker, preferably
suited, are your best bets.
The advice listed elsewhere on this page about never calling
from the blinds is still relevant. If you decide to play a hand
and can’t check to see the flop you should raise. If you don’t
feel comfortable raising you should strongly consider folding.
Once you become a strong player showing long term profit
you’ll find certain hands in certain games can be played
profitably by calling a bet in the blinds, but it’s a large leak
in many player’s games so don’t do it until you’re a good
player.
Of course you can occasionally raise with a different hand if
the level of competition is good enough to pay attention. At the
lower levels you should play straight forward poker, but as your
competition gets better you have to take precautions to not be
predictable.
When you decide you need to change up your play a little it’s
important not to go overboard. Raise with a different hand than
normal once or twice per playing session.
The best hands to take a shot with are suited
connectors. Usually if you hit the flop after making a raise
with one of these hands you have a well-disguised hand.
You can also consider making a raise with a medium pair and
hope for a set, but if you play this way you have to be willing
to fire a continuation bet on the flop most of the time even if
you miss your set. This isn’t a profitable long term play most
of the time, so you need to resist the urge to play these weaker
hands for a raise too often.
Defending Your Blinds
Have you ever heard players talking about how they have to
defend their blinds? Or have you ever felt a late position
player was raising too much trying to steal your blinds? If so,
what did you do?
Most players are convinced their opponents in late position
are always trying to steal their blinds. And some players do
raise too often in an attempt to steal blinds.
The reaction from most players is to start firing a raise
back at the late position aggressor. While this is a possible
way to challenge someone stealing your blinds, what do you do if
they re-raise?
It can be irritating to have a player constantly raise when
you’re in the blinds, but you need to forget about the concept
of protecting your blinds. You need to wait for a good hand and
raise with it and fold all of your poor and medium strength
hands to a raise.
What many players forget is that sometimes the late position
aggressor has a real hand and she gets to play the hand with
position against you.
Don’t forget that the blinds aren’t yours once you put them
in the pot.
The Ultimate Strategy
At the end of the day most Texas holdem players participate
in too many pots from the blinds.
They think that since it’s only half a bet from the small
blind or a single extra bet in a raised pot from the big blind
that the odds would surely say they need to call with almost any
hand. After all, any hand can win, right?
While it’s certainly true that any hand can win, the real
question that needs to be considered is if a call is more
profitable in the long run than any other option.
Everyone that’s been playing Texas holdem for long has
probably seen the worst starting hand, an unsuited seven and
two, win a pot. But the only time it’s even close to correct to
see the flop with this hand is from the big blind when the pot
hasn’t been raised. Even in this situation, the only time you
should do anything other than check and fold to a bet is when
the flop improves your hand in a big way.
In most no limit games you need to improve to better than two
pair to continue with the hand. This means if you don’t have
three of a kind or better you should be looking for a way to get
out of the pot.
Until you reach the level where you’ve mastered enough of the
other parts of Texas holdem to be a consistent winning player
you should fold everything in the blinds that you wouldn’t play
from early position.
If you see a flop for free simply check and fold to any bet
unless your hand improves a great deal or you have a strong read
on your opponent.
The hands most winning players are willing to play rom early
position are limited to the top starting hands. Here’s a list of
possible starting hands.
- Pair of aces
- Pair of kings
- Pair of queens
- Pair of jacks
- Pair of tens
- Ace king suited
- Ace king off-suit
- Ace queen suited
- Ace queen off-suit
- Ace jack suited
Even hands as strong as JJ and 10 10 have to be played mostly
for set value in most games. In many no limit holdem games you
can play medium pocket pairs from the blinds for set value as
well, but you have to be good enough to make them pay off at a
high enough rate when you hit your set.
Texas Holdem Blind Clock
This is harder to do when you’re out of position and when the
pre flop action doesn’t have an aggressor.
If you have any hesitation about what to do with a hand in
the blinds you should fold.
Don’t overanalyze the situation or start loosening your
starting hand standards just because you’re in the blinds.
Poker Small Blind
Going hand in hand with your tight starting hand requirements
from the blinds, don’t call any bets from the blinds. Check,
raise, or fold whenever you’re in the blinds. If you never call
you force yourself to only play your best hands and play them
aggressively.
Summary
Texas Holdem Small Blind Big Blind Rules
During your next few Texas holdem poker sessions fold every
blind that you can’t make a raise with. This has an immediate
impact on most Texas holdem players by improving their game and
overall profitability.
Even if you end up folding a few hands that could be
borderline profitable in the long run, you’ll make up for it by
eliminating many hands that lose money. Never forget the reason
for playing Texas holdem is to win as much money as possible,
not defend your blinds or get into pots with poor hands out of
position.
Texas Holdem Small Blind Big Blind Rules
You read a question in the opening about being able to fold
90% of your hands in the blinds and still being able to turn a
profit. It was somewhat of a trick question. It’s hard to turn a
profit by playing more than 10% of your hands from the blind, so
yes you can be profitable folding 90% of your blind hands.