In my last entry, I wrote about what to do when the blinds are comparatively small. Now, what do you do when the blinds are comparatively big?

For example, at the Seminole Indian Casino Hollywood, the $1-$2 limit game is spread with $1-$1 blinds. In this case, there's 2 small bets in before the flop (as opposed to the "standard" 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 small bets). Can you say "blind stealing opportunity?" Risk $2 to win $2, you only have to be a favorite 50% of the time to win.

Of course, this needs to be tempered by the fact that proper play dictates defending your blind more (even the SB) -- a button raise to you in the SB gives you 4:1 odds on your call; if you're a winner more than 20% of the time, you've made money. In fact, you should consider reraising to a blind steal more (especially out of the BB); putting in $2 to win $4 means that you need to only win just over 1/3 of the hands you reraise to show a profit.

Additionally, you should loosen up slightly in a game like this. You're paying 2 small bets per orbit, so you need to be a bit more active than normal, and the extra money in the pot preflop makes it worth your time to do so (remember, if you open with a call, you only need to be the winner 1/3 of the time to break even). If you have any kind of a read on the players behind you, especially a "they're gonna call, not raise" read, all of a sudden early position can be played like middle position (eg, you can call UTG with K T as I did recently, flopping a flush and netting a $20 win).

So, to sum up the ideas from my little miniseries on making adjustments for weird blind limits:

As the blinds get comparatively smaller, fold more, raise less, steal less, and let your blinds go more.
As the blinds get comparatively bigger, fold less, raise more, steal more, and defend your blinds more vigorously.

I live in the backwoods of the public poker world; Florida. Here, there's a maximum $5 bet in limit poker, and a lot of folks who want to play ultra-low (for years, there was a $10 maximum on pots, so it's still a scary thing, playing where you can lose $10 a hand for some of these old folks).

At any rate, on a recent trip, I played $1-$2 limit at the Seminole Hard Rock, in Hollywood (see my trip report and room review for more info -- the upshot, nice room, a bit noisy, and the dealers are mediocre). At that game, there is no big blind, only a single $1 blind in front of the button (eg, if the button is at seat 1, seat 2 posts $1, and seat 3 is UTG, as opposed to the more "standard" play where seat 2 would post 50¢, seat 3 posts $1, and seat 4 is UTG).

How does one adjust to such an arrangement (aside from noting that it's frikkin' $1-$2, so it's an uber low-limit game anyhow, so the major mistake made is players calling when they should fold, and sometimes calling when they should raise or checking when they should bet, that is)? Having a single blind should change the texture of the game, right?

It does.

First off, there's less money in the pot preflop, as normally there's between 1 1/3 and 1 2/3 small bets in the pot (depending on the game -- for $3-$6, it's generally $1 and $3 blinds, for 1 1/3 small bets, for $9-$18 I've seen blinds of $6 and $9, for 1 2/3 small bets). Here, there's only 1 small bet. So, your preflop steal equity goes down; you risk $2 to win $1, so you must be at least a 67% favorite to win if you're called, where in the other situation, you need only be a favorite ~57% of the time (actually, it's between 54% and 60%, depending on the size of the small blind). Additionally, defending your big blind is riskier -- you'll put 1 SB into a 3 SB pot to defend in this case, rather than

So, steal less, and defend less.

This opens the door to the other major strategy change. Tighten up, compared to a game with the same number of players seeing the flop and "normal" blinds. You are only spending 1 small bet per orbit, so you can afford to wait for premium hands more. Admittedly, with generally between 5 and 9 players seeing the flop (on a 9-handed game, this describes the $1-$2 games here accurately), "tighter" is a pretty shaky term; you mainly only have to be tighter than your opponents to win. However, don't let yourself be tempted by mediocre hands like 9 T; you're facing long odds, because of the number of players (remind yourself in early position, "there's gonna be a crowd behind me,"), and can afford to wait for something that plays well against a crowd.

That being said, I can see some players making the argument (and it's reasonable, IMO) that in such a game, taking an extra hand every 2 orbits might make sense (after all, it means you're effectively paying your small blind as "normal"), but I'd caution you to do so in position only. Don't let yourself be swayed into calling UTG with crap like, oh, K T (a joke; I won a big pot in that position with that hand last night) unless you really know what you're doing (in that case, I had good reads on 4 players behind me; they were all calling, so I knew I was OK odds-wise).

So, perhaps a better way of saying it is "tighten up in early position, loosen up a little in late position."

Next time: dealing with games with comparitively big preflop blinds (like, the Seminole Casino Hollywood's $1-$1 blind $1-$2 limit game).

I've been taking a hiatus from poker for a while, as Real Life has dictated that I'm not to have any free time.

However, the company I work for made the mistake of sending me to Hollywood for a meeting, not 4 miles away from the Hard Rock. So, of course, it's off to play poker.

I actually went there twice during the day; once before the meeting (which started at 2 -- I arrived at 11), and once after. Both times, I asked to play $2-$4 limit holdem... and both times there were problems.

The first time, there were no active $2-$4 games (there were probably 25 tables playing total, and some of them were a multi-table tourney), but there was an interest list. Fine, put me on the list, and I'll play $1-$2 until then. I was seated immediately (well... kinda. The brush told me "table 44, by the rail," and left me to find my seat in the 50+ table room. Uhh... service?). Buy in for $60, a large buyin in that game it seemed. Overall, the quality of the players was pretty low, as exemplified by the following hand: I'm in the big blind (just clockwise from the button -- it's a single $1 blind in this game) with Q J. Preflop, there's a raise from UTG, and 7 players call. I toss in my $1, figuring to fold if the flop misses me.

It doesn't. It hits me. In a big way. Q Q Q. I check, UTG bets, 4 calls, I smooth-call (why raise? Am I gonna lose here? Only to runner-runner AA, KK, or some combination that makes a straight flush... and even then, there's the bad beat.), the turn comes a 9. I check, UTG bets, 1 call, I checkraise, 2 calls. The river brings us an A, and I'm thanking the gods of poker -- a flush on board, and I've got quads. I bet, UTG raises, the caller folds, I reraise, and UTG caps!

He had A 9. And, of all things, proceeded to tell me that I should have been more aggressive on the flop. Uhh, OK. I can't hear you over the din of the background noise and the sound of your chips being pushed to me, sir. Alas, quad queens wasn't enough to win the $1,000 high hand for the hour (it was already quad aces).

Then, I heard "Bill R, your seat is available for $2-$4 limit holdem."

Hey, waitasec... I was on the interest list! Shouldn't I have been opening the table? A quick step to the brush station, and they claim to have called me (not that I could hear the intercom reliably in the room -- it's really noisy, even at noon on a Monday), but it seems to me that sending a brush over to ask if I wanted the seat, when they knew where I had been seated (or... well, should have. They have computerized seating, I can see where that would be a reasonably nice feature to have, noting where players on multiple lists are playing). Anyhow, Bill R didn't show, and I was given his seat. $2-$4 was decent to me, not great, I won a couple of small pots, but broke even for that half of the session. Still, up $40 from $1-$2, I left to go to my meeting after snagging a slice of pizza at the coffee shop.

After my meeting and checking into my hotel room (comped by my company, score!) I drove back to the casino to see what the evening action was like. Busier! I asked to be seated at $2-$4 limit holdem... and was promptly seated at $2-$4 limit Omaha.

But, no matter, I'm flexible. Still, would have been nice to be seated at the game I'd requested!

One hand of note. I'm in late position with A3KJ, 6-way preflop action without a raise, flop comes 2 4 Q. Bet by the SB, BB folds, call around to me, I call. Turn comes a 5, same action, I raise, SB thinks for a second and folds, the next player reraises(?!) to $12, a call and a fold, and player to my right goes all-in for $14. At this point, I state "I'll complete," throw in another $8, and the reraiser begins throwing a fit. "You can't do that, it's 3 raise maximum, blah, blah." The dealer begins to toss back my $2 chip, and I ask him to call the floor for a ruling. He says "no, it's a 3 raise max, sorry."

No tip for you, buddy. Too bad, because the river gives me a T, for the nut high and lock low. Checked to me, I bet, get 2 callers in the side pot, and lo and behold, split the low with the reraiser from the turn. 3/4 of a pot is better than nothing, but I stiff the dealer, saying "when a player asks you to call the floor, you should do so. So, folks, because of mister 'you-cannot-raise,' I'm outta here... with your money. Later!"

The obnoxious guy begins to stammer and stutter, as I've just raked in about $60 in profit, and won't "give us a chance to win it back."

Too bad, so sad, you were a jerk, and there's another casino down the street where my money spends too.

See, the Seminoles used to have only one casino in Hollywood, the Seminole Casino Hollywood. I used to go there, years ago, back in the dark ages of $10 pot caps and quarter-fifty betting on stud.

The room has barely changed since then (and the last time I was over there must have been... oh, almost 6 years ago!). It's dingy, it's dark, the chips are worn to nubs. But, the players suck, so it's a good place to make a profit.

There were no $2-$4 games going, so I was seated immediately in $1-$2, and had one hand of note. I was in the BB (this game uses 2 $1 blinds) call around (6 players), SB checks, I've got A 3, I check, flop comes 2 9 4. I check, UTG bets, 5 calls, SB folds, I call. Turn is the 5, I check, UTG bets, 3 callers, I raise, UTG calls, 1 more fold, so we're 4-handed to the river... a K. I bet it out, everyone calls, I flip over second nut, and they all muck.

Another hand, my last. I'm UTG and announce that I've got to get back to the hotel (where I'm typing this before I go to sleep) and the dealer gifts me with K T. Now, I don't advise playing this hand UTG, but the game was so passive preflop that it was a safe call -- I knew I'd get at least 6 callers in the pot with me and no raise. So, I call. The flop comes something like 5 7 Q. Check to me, I bet second nut (something about me and second nut in this game...), folded around to the blinds, who both call. Turn and river are rags (I think they were something like the A and 8), I keep betting, they keep calling.

Total profit for the night, playing poker? $114. Not bad for uber-low limits. The moral of the story? Bad players can make what are, on paper, bad games into good ones. All of these games are raked 10% (in $1's) to $5, with an immediate $1 jackpot at $10. So, a $45 pot becomes a $40 pot. Bad on paper. Bad players? Make it good.

And, a second moral? If you're a dealer, and a player asks for a floor ruling... call the floor. Especially if he's betting like he's got a winner. Nobody likes being stiffed (and I don't like stiffing, either, but it's warranted in that case... and I say that as a former dealer!).