{"id":54351,"date":"2022-02-08T23:43:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T23:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=54351"},"modified":"2022-02-08T23:43:23","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T23:43:23","slug":"online-poker-strategy-session-playing-the-blinds-with-poker-pro-author-evan-jarvis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/online-poker-strategy-session-playing-the-blinds-with-poker-pro-author-evan-jarvis\/","title":{"rendered":"ONLINE POKER STRATEGY SESSION: Playing the Blinds With Poker Pro & Author Evan Jarvis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Playing the blinds is a critical part of poker and Evan Jarvis<\/strong> offers some tips on that aspect of the game from his new book Mastering Small Stakes Ca$h Games<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jarvis has more than 10 years of experience playing poker, cash games and tournaments both live and online<\/a>. He\u2019s worked closely with some of the biggest names in the game such as Greg Merson<\/strong>, Griffin Benger, Charlie Carrel, and Ali Imsirovic<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

His career has ranged from playing micro stakes to high stakes, and he has more than $1 million<\/strong> in live and online winnings. This chapter from the book focuses on maximizing play from the blinds.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Blind considerations<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the vast majority of No Limit Hold\u2019em<\/a><\/strong> cash games, you\u2019ll be required to post\u00a0a blind twice during every orbit. On one of those occasions, you\u2019ll be posting the big blind<\/strong> and sitting two seats to the left of the dealer. The hand after that, you\u2019ll be posting the small blind, with the dealer on your immediate right.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost all the considerations we\u2019ve talked about elsewhere in this book apply\"\" when you\u2019re in the blinds. But it\u2019s worth taking a particular look at preflop<\/strong> play<\/strong> from these seats as there are a few additional considerations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most notably, when you\u2019re in the blinds you make your decisions last preflop, but first post-flop. It means you get the most information from your opponents in the preflop betting round, but the least for every round after that. We\u2019ll look at how this can affect your decision-making<\/strong> process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing the blinds will also often give you your first introduction to odds<\/strong> in poker and understanding odds is what leads to long-term profit<\/strong> in the game. It follows that understanding how to play the blinds is critical to your poker success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But I also want to stress that making preflop decisions from the blinds based solely on equity calculations can be a mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n

You are usually better off remembering the significant positional disadvantage<\/strong> you will be in post-flop, as well as the fact that there is much, much more betting to be done after the flop than there is preflop.<\/span><\/p>\n

It should help you to think twice about getting involved preflop with junky hands, just because the pot odds are so good.<\/span><\/p>\n

The equity myth\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Normally \u2013 i.e., if you\u2019re not in the blinds \u2013 when you\u2019re faced with an open raise of three times the big blind (3x<\/strong>), you are getting odds of 3:4.5<\/strong> on a call.<\/span><\/p>\n

This means that the reward for calling and winning the hand is 4.5 units total, comprising 3 (their raise) + 1 big blind + 0.5 small blind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Your risk is 3 units, i.e., you\u2019re putting in 3 to play for another 4.5 or, in other words, a total pot of 7.5<\/strong>. The odds are 3:4.5<\/span><\/p>\n

With odds like these, if all other factors were equal, we could expect to win the pot at least 40%<\/strong> of the time and turn a profit. You\u2019d be breaking even on your initial investment because 3 divided by 7.5 is 0.4 or 40%.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That means if you manage to win the pot more than 40% of the time, you turn a profit on your investment. If you anticipate winning less than 40%, then you\u2019re losing money on your call every investment.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s worth noting that preflop betting represents only one section of a full poker hand. We also have betting on flop, turn, and river.<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you can find a positive expectation on the higher stakes post-flop play, you can get away with playing hands that have slightly less than break-even equity preflop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Wow! I've been dreaming about this for almost 10 years…<\/p>\n

Thanks to @DBPoker1<\/a> and @JonathanLittle<\/a> I am officially a PUBLISHED AUTHOR!<\/p>\n

Mastering small stakes cash games condensed all of my best teachings and years of poker experience into 360 pages<\/p>\n

And I can't wait to share it! pic.twitter.com\/RkTbhmV8qg<\/a><\/p>\n

— \ud83d\udc3a Evan Jarvis \ud83d\udc3a (@Gripsed) January 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n