Does The Small Blind Have To Match The Big Blind
- Dead chips are not part of a player's bet. With two blinds, the small blind is posted by the player immediately clockwise from the button, and the big blind is posted by the player two positions.
- When you’re facing a decision in the big blind in a blind vs blind battle, there are three possible scenarios depending on the small blind’s move: The big blind could face an all-in shove from the small blind. The small blind could raise to (typically) 2-3x the big blind. The small blind could open limp, giving the big blind an option to raise.
Preflop, the two players seated to the left of the dealer must place required bets before any hand is dealt, which are known as the ‘blinds’. The player immediately to the left of the dealer is the ‘small blind’ (SB), and the player to the left of the SB is the ‘big blind’ (BB). After each hand, the position of the dealer, SB, and BB rotates around the table in a clockwise direction (to the left) for as long as the game goes on, giving all players the chance to be in these positions.
To start a new hand the SB and BB players must put out, or ‘post’, their required blind amount, before the cards are dealt,. The blinds are forced bets and are required to remain in the pot. The blinds must be matched by the other players in order to keep and play their hands. The amount posted by the SB and BB will be used as a credit toward a call or raise from the players in the blind. (For instance, if no player raises the big blind, that player already has enough in the pot to see the flop for ‘free’.)
The first stage of the game is known as preflop.
The betting continues around the table in a clockwise direction. When the action reaches the player in the small blind position, that player can either call the bet, by putting in additional chips to match the largest bet amount, or fold, forfeiting their chips to the pot. The last person to act preflop is the big blind. Often these blinds can have a white backing, so from outside of the window it looks uniform, but inside you have created a specialised custom blind look. Reasons you would choose different fabric: You want the blind fabric to suit a special coloured lounge, a special coloured wall feature.
Once the SB and BB bets are placed in front of those players, the dealer will shuffle and deal each player two cards face down. Cards are to be dealt one at a time in a clockwise direction, from left to right.
The SB receives the first card and the player with the dealer button receives the last card. These are called the players’ ‘hole cards’ or ‘pocket cards’. Once all players receive their hole cards, the player seated next to the BB player begins the betting round.
Each player, in turn, may either ‘call’ (match the current bet amount), ‘raise’ (bet a larger amount, that is at least double the amount of the current bet), or ‘fold’ (quit the hand, pushing their cards, face down, into the middle of the table, to be placed in a discard pile known as the ‘muck’.)
The minimum or lowest amount that can be bet must be equal to the amount posted by the big blind. Players can bet more than the minimum, this is called ‘raising’. If a player raises, that amount will be the new minimum for this round of betting.
The betting continues around the table in a clockwise direction. When the action reaches the player in the small blind position, that player can either call the bet, by putting in additional chips to match the largest bet amount, or fold, forfeiting their chips to the pot.
The last person to act preflop is the big blind. The BB player has the option to raise, check, or fold. As long as a player has not raised the BB amount, the BB player is entitled to play the hand. By checking, the BB player would not be required to place any additional chips into the pot. If the BB player wishes to raise, the betting round would continue around the table until each player has matched the bet or folded his hand.
Big Blind Little Blind Poker
Continue reading about the rules of the next betting round called the flop.
The Big Blind
In button games, a non-playing dealer normally does the actual dealing. A round disk called the button is used to indicate which player has the dealer position. The player with the button is last to receive cards on the initial deal and has the right of last action after the first betting round. The button moves clockwise after a deal ends to rotate the advantage of last action. One or more blind bets are usually used to stimulate action and initiate play. Blinds are posted before the players look at their cards. Blinds are part of a player's bet, unless the structure of a game or the situation requires part or all of a particular blind to be 'dead.' Dead chips are not part of a player's bet. With two blinds, the small blind is posted by the player immediately clockwise from the button, and the big blind is posted by the player two positions clockwise from the button. With more than two blinds, the small blind is normally to the left of the button (not on it). Action is initiated on the first betting round by the first player to the left of the blinds. On all subsequent betting rounds, the action begins with the first active player to the left of the button.