Antes and blinds: why they matter and how they impact the game

It is the compulsory bets that create the action at the table, form the initial pot, and force players to make decisions — to protect their chips, steal others', expand their ranges, and change strategy depending on the betting structure.

In this article, we will explain what blinds and antes are in simple terms, why they are needed, how they differ from each other, and how they affect strategy in tournament poker. 

This material will be especially useful for those who are just starting their journey in poker and want to understand the logic of the game rather than just memorise individual tricks.

You will learn:

• what small and big blinds are and why they are considered unfavourable positions

• the common mistakes beginners make on the blinds

• what an ante is and how it differs from blinds

• how the ante changes dynamics and makes the game more aggressive

What blinds are in poker

Blinds are compulsory blind bets made by two players at the table before the cards are dealt.

There are two types of blinds:

• small blind (SB) — placed by the player immediately to the left of the button

• big blind (BB) — placed by the player next after the small blind

In No Limit Texas Hold'em, it is the blinds that form the starting pot before anyone has seen their cards. After each hand, the button and blinds move clockwise, so the betting obligations are evenly distributed among all participants.

Without the blinds, players would have no incentive to enter the pot — they could wait endlessly for the best hands. Blinds create constant expenses that need to be compensated by active play.

Features of the blind positions

From a strategic point of view, the small and big blinds are not a privilege but rather a working position with apparent drawbacks.

1. Constant financial expenses

In the long run, you will be paying blinds many times and often just folding on the preflop. This means that the SB and BB positions are almost always negative in terms of expected profit, and the player's task is to minimise these losses. 

2. Unfavourable position after the flop

From the flop onwards, the blinds act first. This is an early position without information on opponents' actions. The lack of information is a significant disadvantage: any decisions are made 'in the dark', and mistakes are costlier.

3. Pressure from late positions

Players in late positions often open with a wide range, trying to steal the blinds. It is harder to distinguish a strong hand from a bluff than it seems, and players on the blinds constantly face the dilemma — whether to defend their bet or accept the loss.

That's why experienced players widen the ranges of their call and 3-bet, even to the extent of playing 90% of starting hands. 

Read more about what a 3-bet is and how to use it correctly in your game strategy in this article. 

Typical mistakes beginner players make on the blinds

1. Folding from the small blind = missed profit

At first glance, it seems logical in an SB vs BB situation to simply fold the hand — the position is unfavourable, ahead is a post-flop without initiative, and it is not always clear how to play a particular hand. 

However, such a strategy leads to systematic profit loss because opponents (especially at lower limits) on the big blind practically do not attack a wide limp range, rarely raise, and play passively post-flop. This situation allows the small blind to realise its equity even with a very wide spectrum.

It is much more profitable to overcall almost the entire range on the SB and place one BB on the flop, provoking a fold from the opponent. In the long run, this is a much more advantageous strategy than simply surrendering. 

Why is folding a mistake? 

• the player voluntarily gives up invested chips without attempting to realise equity

• the player misses the opportunity to take the pot with small bets on the flop

• regular folding on the SB makes your strategy too tight and predictable.

Thus, frequent folding on the SB is not caution but a missed opportunity to gain profit through a simple and sustainable strategy, which is particularly effective at micro limits.

2. Identical defence ranges for SB and BB

One of the typical mistakes novice players make is defending the small blind and big blind equally wide, as if they are interchangeable positions. In practice, the difference between them is significant, and ignoring this difference leads to systematic losses.

Why can't SB and BB ranges be the same? 

• The small blind is always out of position against all players. 

On the SB, it is not possible to realise equity as effectively as on the BB.

• On the BB, there is a better cost/pot ratio. 

A call on the BB has a better price, while the SB pays more relative to potential profit and more frequently lands in difficult post-flop situations.

Therefore, identical defence ranges lead the player to overestimate weak hands and fail to realise them profitably after the flop.

3. Too wide overcalling third or fourth

This mistake logically follows from the previous one and is no less common among beginners: players on the SB and/or BB call too widely after a raise and one or two calls from opponents, entering multi-pots without a position.

Why is this bad? 

• The more players in the pot, the less often your hand wins.

• Players on the SB and BB are out of position.

• Opponents in position control the size of the pot and the flow of the hand 

What an ante is and how it differs from blinds

An ante is also a compulsory bet, but it has key differences: 

1. All players at the table place the ante 

2. The size of the ante is the same for everyone, regardless of position

3. The ante is added to the pot before the hand begins — even before the blinds and the cards are dealt

The ante makes each pot initially larger and encourages players to participate more actively in the hand.

Rules for placing antes

The general principles are: the size of the ante is fixed within a level and is pre-specified in the tournament structure, the ante is paid before the cards are dealt, and if a player cannot pay the ante, they either bust out or play all-in according to the rules. 

In online poker, antes and blinds are deducted automatically; offline, this takes time and requires attention from the dealer and players. Recently, in offline tournaments, the player on the BB pays the ante for the whole table — precisely to save time and maintain the game's pace. 

How antes and blinds affect strategy

A simple rule applies — the more chips in the pot before the flop, the more motivation players have to claim them.

This leads to strategic consequences:

1. Opening ranges expand

When there are more 'dead' chips in the pot, opening with a raise becomes more beneficial — you risk a smaller part of your stack relative to what is already in the centre.

2. Push/fold ranges change

In tournament situations, especially with short stacks, the presence of an ante broadens the range of hands with which you can go all-in in short stacks and gives you the opportunity to take 10–20% of opponents' stacks without resistance if they fold too much.

3. Aggression increases

The more chips in the pot before the flop, the higher the motivation to open more widely from late positions, play more aggressively on the blinds, and use bluff and semi-bluff as a working part of the strategy.

A player who ignores the impact of antes and continues to play the same way in both the early and late stages of a tournament risks losing their entire stack due to compulsory bets.

Conclusion

Antes and blinds are the foundation of Texas Hold'em, setting the pace for hands, forming the starting pot, forcing players to make difficult decisions rather than endlessly waiting for premium hands, and directly influencing which starting hand ranges will be profitable in the long run.

Understanding how antes and blinds work is a necessary foundation for any player who wants to treat poker as a professional discipline rather than a series of random decisions.

If you want to learn how to build a strategy considering the structure of blinds and antes, choose the right tournaments, defend the blinds, and use game dynamics to your advantage, apply to FunFarm.

We help players develop a conscious, mathematically based game over the distance.