Options for the Small Blind and Big Blind
Sep/080
Hello,
There are some things that have been bothering my mind for some time now. Hope you can help me out.
- Say in a $3/5 limit game, small blind puts in $1 and big blind puts in $3. Then the next to act is the person to the left of the big blind. What do you think, does he need to bet or check? By the way, the person being talked about here is in the “under the gun” position.
- How about if the person bets $3 and there are calls all the way around. Do you think the small blind has to call $3? Or else just have to call $2 for getting a credit for his $1 small blind ante? How about for the big blind? I guess it will be the same thing.
Thanks!
Michael James
Michael,
- The blinds are forced bets and therefore each player at the table must at least call the $3 big blind in order to stay in the pot. The under the gun player’s only options are to call or raise. They cannot check.
- The small blind only has to complete the big blind bet of $3. If the pot is not raised by the time action is back on the big blind, the big blind can either check or raise.
Betting Side of the Game
Sep/080
Hi,
Your site has been a great help. Thanks!
I am a regular visitor of your site actually, but still, I have some questions in mind that up to now were not yet answered.
Can you explain to me the betting side of the game? What are the important things I need to know about it? It seems quite confusing to me.
Alexzander
Alexzander,
Before each hand, the two players to the left of the button put up forced bets known as blinds. The first player puts up a small blind, and the second player puts up a big blind. The small blind is half the size of the big blind. In a $1-$2 blind No Limit Holdem game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind $2.
The first player after the big blind is the under the gun position and has the option to either call, raise, or fold. If they raise, they must raise at least the size of the big blind. The same decision is faced by each person until the action returns around to the blind. If nobody has raised the pot, the small blind may either call the big blind, raise, or fold. If the small blind does not raise, the big blind then has the option to either raise or check.
When choosing to raise the pot, a standard raise is considered to be 3 and one half times the big blind. You do have the option of raising up to the total amount in your stack.
Check and Re-raise?
Sep/080
Hello,
I’ve got something in mind. Supposing, I’d be playing with a few of my friends soon. Then, during the bet, one of my friends would check, eventually the next person would raise, and after which would get back to him and then would actually re-raise. What do you think, is this something possible? I believe that once you check and someone puts in a bet, you can only call that bet and you cannot re-raise at all for you have already checked. Am I right?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Mark John
Mark,
Unfortunately, you are incorrect. Check-raising is a perfectly acceptable move in poker now. In the past this move was frowned upon, and even outlawed in casinos. Now the move is not only accepted, but a move that ever poker player needs to develop. Check-raising allows you to extract extra bets from people when you have big hands and to get free cards when you are drawing.