Playing Blind

Foolish Plays: Playing Blind
by Chad Holloway of Predictem.com

If you've put in as many hours around the poker table as I have, you can get bored at times. Every once in awhile I will do something foolish to combat the boredom, and one such move is to play a hand blind. This means playing the hand without looking at your cards, though you don't want your opponents to know you didn't look. I usually pull this move when I am on or near the button and will begin by throwing in a raise. I'll continue to bet aggressively throughout the hand until someone presents me with a tough decision in the form of a large bet or raise. I am quite proud in rare those instances when I'm able to take down a pot, but if I'm not able to at least I'll have the excitement of discovering if my hole cards are good enough to win in a showdown.

In a recent game of $6-$12 Limit Round-by-Round (one round of Hold'em followed by a round of Omaha Hi-lo) I decided to play a hand blind when I was on the button during the Omaha Hi-lo round. There were a few limpers when it got to me and I promptly bumped it up to $12. I got three callers and the flop came 10-9-4 (with two clubs) and it checked around to me.

I bet $6 and had one player fold. The turn brought the 6c and the two players ahead of me both checked. I was a little concerned that one of my opponents might have hit a flush or a straight, but I figured since I had went that far that I'd throw in another bet, this time $12. To my surprise, both of my opponents folded! The table started making comments like "Aces held up" and I decided it was time to take a peak before I threw them in the muck. I looked down to A-A-10-10.

Sure enough my aces had held up, but it was the set of tens I had flopped that would have played. I had a big smile on my face as I stacked my chips and couldn't help but wonder if anyone had picked up that I hadn't looked at my cards the entire time!

Most of the time when you play a hand blind you won't look down at such a powerful hand. In fact, playing hands blind can be quite costly; however, there is an upside. Occasionally you will play a hand that you normally wouldn't have and it will hit the flop. For instance, if I raise a hand preflop and then my opponent leads out on a flop such as 9-3-7, I will take a look at my cards and discover I actually hit the flop with a hand like 9-3 or 7-3, a hand I would never have played otherwise. This sometimes leads to unexpected dividends, but this is the exception and certainly not the rule.

I don't recommend you immediately start playing hands blind, as that would simply be foolish. However, if you find yourself getting bored at the table, it might not be a bad idea to play a hand blind once or twice a session just to shake things up.

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