All About Betting In the Dark
In every game of Poker you play either online or live your opponents are doing exactly what you are doing. They are trying to classify your style to help them make profitable decisions in hands against you in the future. Players try many things to combat this information gathering and one of these techniques is to check, bet, or go all-in before the next card is dealt. This is known as acting “in the dark” or “betting blind”.
It is perfectly within the rules to do this and although it is not necessarily a good poker strategy it can have some positive effects on the hand. Obviously acting in the dark is not something you can do when you play poker online but in live poker it is possible. You should not overuse betting in the dark as it is border-line in terms of etiquette and every card drawn or flop dealt has an effect on your own hand strength so it makes sense to see the cards before acting, most of the time.
When you are to act first you can say “I check” when the dealer is dealing the flop but before the cards are drawn. You see this done in cash games sometimes. This redresses the balance as your opponent must consider why you did this rather than their normal action on that street. Checking in the dark usually means some sort of strength or a plan to make a bluff at the pot at a later street. Betting directly into the player is a real statement of intent because you still have position in the hand.
What should you do if an opponent starts betting blindly like this? In most occasions simply playing ABC poker and deciding the value of your own hand and proceeding accordingly is the right path to take. Your opponent is making a very creative play and there could be a number of reasons they could be doing this. Depending on the blind levels, getting involved in a dangerous game of re-bluffing at this point with nothing could be dangerous. Having an opponent bet blind into you is rare and therefore the current hand may not be the time to get involved.
Holding a strong hand you should think carefully about why your opponent is making this unusual move. Are they simply bored and changing things up to keep themselves interested or could they have the nuts? Perhaps they hold a strong hand, but then so do you so that is no reason to panic. They are sacrificing looking at the flop or next card before acting so you may get a free card for a drawing hand. Either way betting blind is not really a good long term move so if you are careful to not get drawn into a situation you would rather avoid you will be fine.
Betting strongly into the blind bettor with a strong hand may scare away your customer so I prefer to give them some rope to allow them to make the aggressive bet later in the hand which basically says, “I bet blind indicating strength no matter what cards were coming and by continuing to bet I obviously have a great hand, you must fold”. Good post flop skills are essential to dealing with this type of play. I have found the check in the dark is usually a drawing type of hand where they would slow play if they hit and check if they missed so they are simply making the play they would make anyway, but it looks far more confusing.
Speaking with various players about betting blind they recommend thinking of your own hand strength and do not get involved in testosterone fuelled battles of ego. Treat the hand like any other and do not play into your opponents hands by considering for too long the reasons behind their unusual action. Certainly never change your play because of it because this is the exact intention of the early action, to alter your game and give them the advantage.
By Malcolm Clarke
Related posts:
- Slow Playing in NLHE Cash Games
- Taking a Look at Middle Pairs in Cash Games
- The Importance of Optimal Play on the Flop
- Bluffing in Online Poker
Tags: bet blind, cash game, cash game strategy, online poker, poker, poker strategy