Blinds and antes.

[KungFuKitten]

Texas hold'em was the first style of poker that introduced me to blinds. Before knowing about the game I was never aware of the forced bet. Know that I know about it I have enjoyed it and feel that Texas Hold'em is just not the same without the blinds.

I say this because I have recently ran into a group of friends who I like to play lowstakes with but they believe the blind structure is too confusing so they just have everyone in the hand ante some odd amount. It just doesn't feel right playing like that, but the company is good and I like the atmoshpere of the game. The only problem is that I run into problems when I have limping hands and limp raise-hands are hard to play.

My question is: Does the ante force me to change my style of play and does it change the game a lot? (I have noticed that preflop is almost dead with a lot of checks but if a bet is placed preflop there will be a lot of callers.) Should I use this to my advantage and just check and minimum bet with them just to see the flop and then decide how to play depending on how hard my flop hit or missed. Or should I still make it expensive to see the pot for the low pocket pairs, and random suited hands when I hold AA-JJ, AK-AJ, and KQ-KJ? I know to just check and minimum bet when holding suited cards, or connector cards and then dish them a lot of the time when they miss their flop(which for me seems all the time.) But I find that my flop misses when I hold the good hands and want to make it expensive for the fishers but feel as if I wasted my money. How should I handle this?

Thanks in advance.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

I would tell them to stop at the beginning of the game and hold up for the 10 seconds it takes to thoroughly explain blinds to them before you start. It's really not a difficult concept and if they're willing to actually listen (which I'd guess they've just got their minds stuck on antes and won't even listen to talk about blinds) for a few seconds, then it'd be a much better game. If you can understand the rest of hold'em mechanics, you really should have the mental capacity to take in blinds and play the game properly.


Patrick

[deacsoft]

I would have to believe that if they don't understand the structure of blinds then they probably are not that good at poker. I make this assumption because even those of us who do not use blinds still understand how they work. It is covered in nearly every poker book written. I would then say that you probably would just need to tighten up your game a little in order to beat it consistantly. How tight would depend on the size of the ante. If the ante is large you will need to play hands and probably could out play many of them post flop. If the ante is small just sit back and wait for good starting hands and play them accordingly.