Why The Small Blinds?

[dakine]

In our private home ring games (average 8 players .25/.50) we decided not use the Small Blind, because we really did not see any real benefit, and we also thought it was a PITA, (pain in the arse) especially trying to issue .10 or .15 cent chips for the SB.

Your Input would be appreciated! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Evan]

Why not just play something more easily divisible by 2?

.20/.40 seems like it would work well, or .50/1 if you want to up the stakes.

[meep_42]

Use 2 big blinds then, .25 each.

-d

[dakine]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not just play something more easily divisible by 2?

.20/.40 seems like it would work well, or .50/1 if you want to up the stakes.

[/ QUOTE ]

We do up the game stakes .50/1.00. I do understand should the SB not call, bet or raise, thats more money in the pot. But .25 SB? We still decided not to use the SB.

I guess my question should have been, how important is the SB. Why not cut to the chase and just have a BB.

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
guess my question should have been, how important is the SB

[/ QUOTE ]

Ummm.....I'd say important to quite important? Seriously I don't know if there's a way to decide how important the SB is. How important is the river? or the second hole card? Can these questions be answered?

I guess the best thing I can tell you is this...if you're having fun than don't worry. It seems like this is a very social game, so even if the SB was very very important I don't think leaving it out would adversly affect your quality of life. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[davidross]

THe blinds are there to ensure action. THe smaller the total blind amount, the tighter players should play out of theblinds because the reward for winning the hand is potentially less. If you get plenty of action in your home game then don't worry about it. If people are playing very tight, then you want more blind money to entice people to play. I'm pretty sure most home games don't need the extra blind.

[CORed]

According to TOP, the higher the atntes/blinds, the looser you should play. As the initial pot size goes up, the value of stealing increases, and the cost of folding increases. Holdem with a single blind makes tight play a little more profitable than it is with a SB and a BB. It should be noted that some spread limit holdem games in cardrooms have only a single blind.

[Evan]

That's true. The difference would be minimal. From what I can tell of the game he's talking about there would be no difference.