Poker Blinds Chart
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- Poker Blinds Chart Length
- Poker Blinds Chart Sheet
- Poker Blinds Chart Shades
NL Hold’em Starting Hand Charts
One aspect of the game of No-Limit Hold’em that causes beginning players much grief is deciding which hands to play and which hands to dump. NL Hold’em is much more difficult than Limit Hold’em because the value of a hand depends on so many factors other than just the cards in your hand. Despite this difficulty, our coaches believe that following some general guidelines and adjusting from these is a better solution than having no guidelines at all. Given that well over half of your profitability in NL Hold’em is based on hand selection alone, we have developed these charts to help you better determine whether to play or fold.
Poker Blinds Chart: Names of Table Stakes. Below, you can find a chart of the most common stakes found between online and live, along with some remarks about them: NOTE: As aforementioned, the name of stake is representative of the $ amount for 100bb’s for that stake level. Understanding the Different Stakes. The charts below will give you a great starting point on how to play your starting hands. For all of you beginners, we recommend consulting these charts will playing online. We provide 4 separate charts depending on where you are seated relative to the dealer. You can find out how to play the Blinds, Early Position, Middle Position, and Late.
There are no perfect No-Limit starting hand charts. That is because there are many factors that affect your decision, and charts cannot account for all of them. Some of these include:
This Create-a-Blind will allow you to alter the blinds, poker chip colors and values, and starting poker chips. This is a blank schedule with a column for antes. It is 20 levels in length. This Create-a-Blind will allow you to alter the blinds, including an ante, and the poker chip colors and values. In a poker tournament, blinds go up gradually. This is to ensure that the tournament finishes on a timely manner. (the higher the blinds get the more players tend to get eliminated). Blinds usually go up after predetermined periods of time. (for example every 15 or 20 minutes). Two main factors determine blind structure of the game.
- The size of your opponent's stacks.
- How loose or tight, passive or aggressive, your opponents are.
- Where these opponents are located at the table – for example, does an aggressive player still have to act after you?
- Your image at the table – for example, how tight or tricky you are perceived.
That being said, these charts will serve you well in most typical low-stakes No-Limit cash games, such as games with blinds of $1/$2, and home games. These games typically have several loose players at the table, and good opportunities for winning big pots with suited connectors and pocket pairs. With practice, you will be able to be a consistently winning player with these charts as a starting point. As you improve, you'll find yourself making adjustments to these charts based on the factors listed above, and more.
AGAIN: These charts are a good starting point for beginners. Specifically, Chart #1 recommends a significant amount of limping. This is great in loose, passive games but less often seen in tougher games. You’ll find other training material on Advanced Poker Training that may recommend a more aggressive approach for more experienced players.
Note: It would be a serious mistake to apply these hand charts before reading the Frequent Asked Questions first.
CHART #1 ‐ LOOSE, PASSIVE GAME (OFTEN 4-5 LIMPERS PER HAND)
NO ONE HAS RAISED YET
- Raise Always
- Call from Early Position, otherwise raise
- Call always
- Call from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)
CHART #2 ‐ TIGHTER GAME (FEWER LIMPERS) OR MORE AGGRESSIVE GAME
NO ONE HAS RAISED YET
- Raise Always
- Call from Early Position, otherwise raise
- Call (or Raise) from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)
CHART #3 ‐ THERE HAS BEEN A SINGLE RAISE
(3‐5 TIMES THE BIG BLIND) BEFORE YOU
- Re‐Raise Always
- Call from Early Position, otherwise re‐raise
- Call always
- Call from Middle or Late Position if the conditions are right (see Frequently Asked Questions)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
For the hands in yellow, what do you mean when you say to play these hands if the conditions are right? The hands in yellow are speculative hands. They should always be folded from Early Position. From other positions, they can be profitable given the right conditions. Some of the questions to ask yourself:
- Are there other players who have called so far (the more, the better)?
- Are the players who have called playing poorly after the flop? Will they pay me off if I hit something?
- Is there an aggressive player still to act behind me (you might get raised and have to fold)?
- If there has been a raise and no other callers, what chance do I have of using my position after the flop to win the hand even if I don't improve (Chart #3 only)?
Why does Chart #2 say to sometimes raise with the hands in yellow, but Chart #1 does not? We have different goals in mind. Using Chart #1, we want to call to encourage additional players to enter the pot. These hands will be immensely profitable when our loose, passive opponents enter the hand, and get trapped when we flop a set, or make a well-disguised straight. When using Chart #2, however, we want to size up the opponents still to act. If they are tight, we can raise. Sometimes, we'll pick up the blinds. Other times, our pre-flop aggression will allow us to take down the pot on the flop.
What's the difference between AKs and AKo? AKs means an Ace and King of the same suit. AKo means an Ace and King of different suits.
What are early, middle, and late position? Early Position is generally the first 2 (in a nine player game) or 3 (in a ten player game) positions after the blinds. Late Position is the “cutoff” position (to the right of the dealer), and dealer button positions. Middle Position is everything in between.
How much should I raise? As a general rule, raise 3 to 4 times the big blind, plus 1 extra big blind for every player who has called before you. So if there are 2 callers already, raise between 5 and 6 times the big blind.
What if someone raises after I call? Whether you call the raise depends on how much money the raiser has for you to win, how many other players are involved, and what type of hand you have. As a general rule, if you have a pocket pair, lean towards calling. If there are a lot of other players (and therefore a big pot), lean towards calling. In general, fold suited connectors from early position. Fold hands like KQ that don't play well against a raiser.
How do I play from the blinds? From the small blind, play the same hands you would play from late position, plus a few more. But don't call with junk hands like T5o, just because it is “cheap”. From the big blind, if there is a raise to you, play like you would if you had already called from early position.
The chart says to fold KQo to a raise. Really? Yes, this hand performs very poorly against typical raising hands. Against AK, AQ, AA, KK, QQ, you are a big underdog. Other typical raising hands like JJ, TT, 99, AJs, are slightly ahead of you as well. The only time you might call or re-raise is from late position, if the opener was in middle or late position, indicating they might have a wider range of hands.
I was told to fold AJo from Early Position, why do you say to call with it? Folding AJo is not a bad idea in many games. We included it because, at low stakes tables (even tight or aggressive ones), the players are often playing badly enough after the flop that it can be profitable. We used data from millions of hands of low-limit poker to analyze this. The same could be said for KQo, ATs, and KJs – you can make a small profit in the long run at most low-stakes games, but folding would be perfectly acceptable from early position.
Can I use these charts in a NL Hold'em tournament? The charts would be best applicable to the early stages of a NL tournament, when everyone has a deep stack. In the middle and later stages, they should not be used.
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- Hold Em Poker Tournament
The Texas Hold Em Poker Tournament Blinds will determine the length of time a particular poker tournament takes to complete. In addition, the poker tournament blind structure provides an important strategic consideration for the style of play best suited to the particular poker tournament.
We aim to cover both suggested blind structures for your Texas Hold Em Home Poker Tournament as well as strategic considerations that depend on these varying blind structures.
This way, you can set up your poker tournament to last the desired length of time you prefer and be armed with the best poker tournament strategy to win it!
It is important to ensure that before starting any poker tournament that the poker tournament blinds to be used are posted for all of the players to see.
This will include the various levels with increases shown clearly as well as the amount of time between levels.
Another consideration before selecting your Texas Hold Em Tournament Blinds is the length of time that you would like the poker tournament to run for. Do you plan on playing a six hour tournament that lasts all night? Or are you hosting a quick three hour tournament?
The best way to set up a tournament to fit the time available is by choosing the correct Texas Hold Em Tournament Blinds that will move play along as the desired pace.
Here is our suggestion for Texas Hold Em Poker Blinds structures for a 10 player tournament based on desired length of play.
We recommend starting with $2,000 worth of chips for the below Texas Hold Em Tournament Blinds chart:
Level | Small Blind | Big Blind |
1 | 10 | 20 |
2 | 15 | 30 |
3 | 20 | 40 |
4 | 35 | 70 |
5 | 50 | 100 |
6 | 75 | 150 |
7 | 100 | 200 |
8 | 150 | 300 |
9 | 200 | 400 |
10 | 300 | 600 |
11 | 400 | 800 |
12 | 500 | 1000 |
13 | 750 | 1500 |
14 | 1000 | 2000 |
15 | 1500 | 3000 |
Time: 15 minute levels = 3 hours 30 minute levels = 6 hours |
This Texas Hold Em Poker Tournament Blinds structure is easy to print and should be shown before the tournament begins. It is also easy to adjust as you wish by simply changing the length of time for each blind level.
If you find it takes too long, or is too short, simply adjust the time between levels next time around until you have the perfect tournament for you and your friends!
The suggested poker tournament blind structure can be adjusted by changing the time of the levels depending on the number of players. For example, if you have 20 players instead of 10, then half the time for each blind level for the same desired tournament length.
Poker Blinds Chart Template
If you have half the number of players – 5 players – then you can double the suggested time between blind levels to keep within the time limit. The chart is really easy to use and easy to adjust.
You may also find it useful to check out our page on Texas Hold Em Tournament Payout amounts as we provide charts that will make hosting your Texas Hold Em Home Poker Tournament hassle free.
Our site provides a lot of useful resources to help you plan your Texas Hold Em Home Poker Tournament so make sure that you take the time to look around.
The Texas Hold Em Tournament Blinds also affect your strategy when playing and this is important if you plan to win the tournament. If you are playing the shorter version of the tournament, the blinds will begin to increase more rapidly.
Poker Blinds Chart Length
Therefore you have less time to wait for big hands and will eventually be forced to play aggressively and take some chances in order to stay ahead of the blinds. You need to ensure that you do this before your stack becomes too short compared to the size of the blinds.
Alternatively, if your tournament uses the longer time between blinds, then you have more time to wait for a big hand and less pressure on you to take risks. If this is the case, you will want to play more conservatively as time is on your side.
It is very important to understand how the Texas Hold Em Poker Tournament Blinds affect the tournament structure and how you need to change your style of play depending on how quickly the blinds increase. This is the key to winning Texas Hold Em Poker Tournaments.