Blinds
Blinds are forced bets posted by poker players to the left of the dealer button in flop-style in poker games. The number of poker blinds is usually two, but can be one or three. Without the blinds, everyone would just wait until they had a perfect hand to play, and there would be no action at all. In Texas Hold'em, there's no ante, so the two players to the left of the dealer must post blind bets. A Blind is a forced bet before you receive your initial cards and is posted by the players to the immediate left of the dealer button. This is used to seed the pot with cash.
How to calculate poker tournament blinds schedule?
- Divide the starting chip amount by 50. Make this your first big blind.
- Make your big blind equal to your starting chip amount at the time you want your tournament to finish. This is your anticipated final blind.
- Arrange the middle levels so that the blinds gradually increase from your first big blind to your anticipated final big blind. Keep the first 2 or 3 levels low to allow new players to learn without having to risk too much.
- Add a couple of extra blinds levels to be on the safe side.
- Forced bets in community card games similar the use of antes, but normally only required of two players rather than all players at the table.
- Small Blind: the smaller of two forced bets, usually 1/2 the minimum opening bet.
- Big Blind: the larger of two forced bets, usually equal to the minimum opening bet.
- Stealing the Blinds: make a raise on the opening betting round with the goal of winning the blind bets without any further action on the hand.
- Betting blind: betting without taking the option to look at the next card(s).
