The blind dynamics of 10-20 vs. 15-30

Hello,

I've played at Party Poker nearly exclusivly for just over a year, and recently decided to begin playing $15-$30. I have had success at the $10-$20 tables, showing a profit in each of the last 3 months. I have averaged approximitly $34/h over about 25 hours/week during the last 3 months.

The most interesting thing about $15-$30 is the blind situation. They are 15 for the big, and 10 for the small. This changes two things:

First, blind stealing is more profitable, as you are raising to $30 to win $25, (83% of your bet) instead of at 10-20 raising to $20 to win $15 (75% of your bet).

Secondly, calling from the small blind is correct much more often, with the fact that you already have 2/3rds of the bet in the pot. If the pot is unraised, and has several limpers, I will see the flop with just about any 2 cards (providing the big blind isn't a habitual raiser).

What are some changes/strategies I need to look at when playing this different blind structure? Does having a bigger small blind create more action? I have found that the average pot size is significantly larger then $10-$20, in comparison. Is this also due to more agressive players? I.E. betting & raising draws, etc.

Any feedback on play when the small blind is higher then 1/2 the big blind would be apriciated.

Comments

  • Hello,

    ....
    The most interesting thing about $15-$30 is the blind situation. They are 15 for the big, and 10 for the small. This changes two things:

    First, blind stealing is more profitable, as you are raising to $30 to win $25, (83% of your bet) instead of at 10-20 raising to $20 to win $15 (75% of your bet).

    Secondly, calling from the small blind is correct much more often, with the fact that you already have 2/3rds of the bet in the pot. If the pot is unraised, and has several limpers, I will see the flop with just about any 2 cards (providing the big blind isn't a habitual raiser).

    What are some changes/strategies I need to look at when playing this different blind structure? Does having a bigger small blind create more action? I have found that the average pot size is significantly larger then $10-$20, in comparison. Is this also due to more agressive players? I.E. betting & raising draws, etc.

    Any feedback on play when the small blind is higher then 1/2 the big blind would be apriciated.

    I think the biggest leak of winning players is playing the blinds -- mostly by overplaying hands you would normally play in MP and LP. So, even though it may be correct from an odds perspective, it should be done with great caution because of the huge positional disadvantage. IMO, the amount of caution to use is directly proportional to the the number of players in the pot. Ie. you're not going to get four players to fold with your 25o two pair on the flop -- don't forget they're getting great odds to call your flop bet.

    It's hard to identify the reason for the increase in the pot-size (assuming the measure is BB). If there are more aggressive players, then the number of players in each pot should go down, therby increasing the BB put out by each player but likely decreasing the overall avg. pot size). Since the SB is in poor position, I wouldn't say they are accountable for the increase in pot size.

    I would have to say that the game texture is more responsible for the bigger pots. I wouldn't say more good/bad players, but I would have to guess there's a bigger gap in skill levels. I used to see this way back when I used to play .5/1 when there were two or three half decent players, and the rest were really bad -- pots would be huge. They would be much bigger than when there were more evenly matched players.

    I had real trouble winning at 2/4 (paradise), so I skipped that level and did well at 3/6. I later attributed my problem with 2/4 (paradise) to the fact that their was a much smaller gap in skill levels at the table -- the pots were much smaller in BB, and thus it was much harder to recover from any mistakes I made. At 3/6 there was a bigger gap in skills, and it was much easier to be a winning player at that level for me.

    Just some thoughts.

    Cheers
    Magi
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