In Phil Hellmuth's book, Play Poker Like the Pros, Hellmuth writes about a player he knew who would sit down at an $80-160 hold'em game, and proceed to play every hand blind for an entire round (10 hands), betting or raising the max every time it got to him.

Hellmuth uses it as an example of how to loosen up a table, and although he doesn't come out and recommend it, seems to suggest it as a possible strategy. He implies that it was worth it for the guy, because he got almost unlimited action for the rest of the night and it would cover the "$3500" (according to Hellmuth) it cost him to do this.

I looked at that number and immediately thought, it would cost you WAY more than that to play that strategy. This is a matter dear to my heart, because I am known to play blind from time to time. (Side stories to follow.)

Playing blind can be a good way to loosen up a tight table, but if you played blind as described every time you sat down, you would be looking at a costly proposition.

At an 80-160 game, assuming a full 10-player table, an average of 3 bets/round (not quite capped but close due to your maniac play), 4 players/hand, and you (the blind maniac) in ten hands in a row, and winning on average one of those hands, your net would be -$8,640! That's 54 big bets which would take a LOT of action to recover from. If you don't win one hand, you lose $14,400 or 90 big bets!

So, I can heartily recommend not taking Phil Hellmuth's friend's lead and capping every time you sit down, blind, for an entire round.

As I alluded to, however, I have had my moments in the sun playing blind. Here are my two greatest playing blind stories:

$1-2 pot-limit hold'em home game in Austin, about three years ago. I had been developing a healthy rivalry with an up-and-coming player in the game, let's call him BJ. In one particular hand, I got up to go to the kitchen for some refreshments but got dealt in. I was standing in the kitchen and someone shouted that it was $10 to go. I hadn't seen my cards, and yelled out "call". On the flop, it was just me and BJ heads up. I remained in the kitchen and was first to go. I yelled out "pot" to make it about $25. I heard BJ say "repot", raising it up to about $100.

At this point I decided it was probably prudent to come back to the table and actually look at my cards. I walked back and saw the flop was 3-4-5 rainbow. I decided that if I had any kind of hand, including two biggies, I was coming back over the top. I looked at my cards very quickly and saw an absolute angel: 6-7 offsuit for the nut straight! I instantly repotted it all-in, and BJ instantly called me and about died when he flipped up K-K and I flipped up the stone-cold nuts. I think that hand put him on tilt for about three months :)

Second story: I was in Vegas about two years ago and had been cavorting around, doing my best to exploit the casinos' free drink policy. I decided maybe it was a good time for some low-roller poker action. I was in the Luxor, so went to their tiny poker "room" (4 tables with a rail around them) and asked for a $4-8 seat. There was a huge list, and I didn't want to go to another casino, so I decided to REALLY low-roll and play the worst poker game in history, $1-5 seven-card stud.

$1-5 seven-card stud attracts a rather unique brand of players, mostly the 70+ set who like to bet $1 or $2 a hand and sit around smoking Lucky Strike unfiltereds and talking about game shows. I find it amusing, when no other tables are open, to sit down and absolutely jam the pot while I wait for a table.

I sat down, ordered a double shot of vodka, and declared my intention to play the first hand blind as my introduction to the game. I raised $5 on the open, which instantly got most of the table to fold, probably without even looking at their cards. I ended up heads-up against a gentleman who clearly thought he was going to outplay me, and in his defense probably was the best $1-5 seven-card stud player at the table (a very dubious honor). I jammed it the whole way, managed to get another shot in, and at the end flipped up my hand and was pleased to see a full house.

I then declared I would play the next hand blind also, to give him a chance to win back his money. At the end, against two opponents, jammed the whole way, I flipped up a 6-card straight and took down the pot again. I ordered another shot and decided that I was having a very good time playing blind, and I didn't care if I didn't keep winning, I was going to play every hand blind. Even if I lost it was worth it just to see the expressions on the other player's faces :)

I ended up playing $1-5 seven-card stud, completely blind, doing shots of vodka and toasting my opponents, for almost an hour. It was the most fun I've ever had playing $1-5, and maybe ever in poker. I didn't even lose -- I ended up +$125. That's 25 big bets, my friend!

The best part was absolutely putting the rest of the table on tilt, including clearing 5 of the original players from when I sat down -- I busted 2 of them out, and 3 left out of rage or frustration.

What's the moral of the story? Perhaps you can play blind and win blind sometimes, but you can't play blind and win blind all the time.

I don't know a thing about poker, but man you tell some great war stories!

Posted by: Prentiss Riddle on November 24, 2003 08:52 PM

I only read a few chapters in my local B&N, but if I remember correctly Hellmuth was talking about preflop play, not necessarily for the whole hand. As I said, I could be wrong about this, though.

Posted by: Ken Goldstein on November 26, 2003 09:08 PM

It's definitely true, though, that I've been playing at a pretty tight table when somebody throws in a straddle (blind raise preflop) and after that everybody goes nuts.

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