The Blinds

Blinds are compulsory bets that ensure that some betting takes place every deal.

At Cambridge Pub Poker tournaments, players start with chips worth 10,000 points, (plus any early registration bonus), and the blinds start at 100 and 200. After 20 minutes the blinds double to 200, 400, and then raise every 15 minutes until someone wins.

At the start of the tournament each player is deal a card to determine who will be dealer first. The player to the left of the dealer posts the small blind and the player to the left of the small blind, posts the big blind.

The person acting as the dealer moves round to the left with each deal, so that on a table of 8 players, for example, each player will be obliged to post a big blind and small blind every 8 hands.

Sequence of the blinds

The blinds are raised in the following sequence:
100:200
200:400
300:600
400:800
500:1000

1000:2000
1500:3000
2000:4000
2500:5000
3000:6000
3500:7000
4000:8000
4500:9000
5000:10,000

10,000:20,000

The blinds rarely go above 5000:10,000

Timing and Antes

Some tournaments use 'antes' as well as blinds to keep the betting going. Antes are compulsory bets that all players on a table must post at the beginning of a hand. Antes are not currently used at Cambridge Pub Poker tournaments as generally our tournaments run fairly reliably from 8.45 to 11.30 p.m.