Protecting
Blinds in Poker Tournaments
An issue you will have to address when playing in a
no limit texas
hold em poker tournament is how often you should
protect your blinds. If you are lucky, most of the time
when you are in one of the blind positions, you will
win the pot without a fight, or opponents will limp
and you will get to see a flop for free.
However,
many players know that it is a good idea to try to steal
the blinds from a late position, so you will have to
know how to deal with this. Of course you have to consider
your holding
before the flop. Some players overdefend their blinds.
They feel it is a personal insult that someone would
attack their blinds, and call or re-raise as a matter
of ego. This is usually a recipe for disaster.
It
may work a few times, but an observant opponent will
take notice and trap you when they happen to get a strong
hand in late position. On the other hand, if you let
opponents steal your blinds consistently, it will happen
every round, and become costly.
In
general it's okay to call a reasonably sized raise from
a late position player with a good hand that is not
a premium one. You may in fact want to re-raise to discourage
stealing. You may want to lead out with a moderate bet
on the flop even if you miss since it is very likely
the player attempting to steal will bet if you don't,
no matter what comes on the flop.
You
should observe your opponents to gain some idea of whether
it is a loose player raising in late position who is
likely to be on a steal, or one who has only been coming
in with premium hands and is likely raising you with
a real hand. As the tournament bubble approaches, the
big stacks will likely be attacking the blinds more
aggressively, using the threat of eliminating opponents
short of the money to their advantage.
You
will have to decide whether you are trying to win or
simply survive, and whether you can achieve this goal
if you allow continued assault on your blinds. If not,
you will have to take a stand at some point. Having
your blinds stolen occasionally will not ruin your tournament,
especially early in the tournament, and especially if
you are doing some stealing yourself when the situation
is right.
However,
you need to show some aggression in defending your blinds
if they are being attacked too much, otherwise, like
the bully in the schoolyard, your opponents will keep
coming back for more.