Blinds

The blinds are forced bets posted before any cards are seen. They exist to put money in the pot so there is something to play for — without them, folding every hand would cost nothing and the game would never start.

Small blind and big blind

Two players post each hand. The player immediately to the left of the dealer button posts the small blind and the next player posts the big blind, conventionally double the small. The stakes of a game are named after them: a "1/2" game has a small blind of 1 and a big blind of 2.

The button moves one seat clockwise after every hand, so the obligation rotates and each player pays the blinds equally often over time.

How the blinds shape the betting

The big blind counts as the first bet of the pre-flop round. That is why the first raise is technically the second bet and a re-raise is called a three-bet — the count includes the forced wager.

Pre-flop, the blinds act last, because action begins to the left of the big blind. From the flop onwards the order reverses and they act first, which is the worst position at the table. This combination — money already committed, but acting first on every street that matters — is why the blinds are structurally losing seats, and why the goal there is to lose less rather than to profit.

The big blind does get a discount: having already posted, they face a smaller additional price to continue, which justifies defending a far wider range than any other seat would play.

Live blinds, and the option

The blinds are live, meaning the money posted counts towards any call or raise rather than being forfeited. If no one raises, the big blind has the option to raise themselves, and is the last to act pre-flop.

Blinds in tournaments

In a cash game the blinds stay fixed. In a tournament they rise on a timetable — the blind levels — which is what forces the game to a conclusion. Chips cannot be added, so as the blinds climb, every stack shortens relative to the cost of playing, and action is compelled whether players want it or not.

This is why tournament stacks are counted in big blinds rather than chips. Forty thousand chips means nothing on its own; twenty big blinds describes a situation. A structure's speed is a question of how long the levels are relative to the starting stack, and it is published in the event's structure sheet.

Antes and the big blind ante

Many tournaments add an ante once the blinds have risen — a small forced contribution from each player, which increases the pot and pressures everyone to contest it.

The big blind ante format replaces those individual antes with a single larger payment made by the player in the big blind, covering the whole table. It collects the same money while removing the slowest part of live dealing, so it has become standard in major live series. For a player in the big blind it means paying both the blind and the ante in the same hand, which shortens that orbit considerably and is worth planning for.

Missed blinds

If a player misses their blinds — by leaving the table or sitting out — house rules govern what happens. Typically they must post the missed amount on return or wait for the big blind to reach them again. The details vary by room, and attempting to time an entry to avoid the blinds is treated as an angle in most card rooms.