Blind vs. Blind Play

Blind-vs-blind pots — where the action folds to the small blind and it's just the two blinds left — are wide, aggressive, and heavily positional. They come up constantly, and many players misplay them by being far too tight. Treated correctly, they're a steady profit source.

Wide ranges, like a heads-up match

When everyone folds to the blinds, it's effectively a heads-up confrontation, so ranges are very wide. The small blind should attack a large range (folding the small blind too often just donates to the big blind), and the big blind must defend wide because they're getting a good price and the small blind is opening light. Full-ring tightness is a major leak here.

The positional twist

There's a wrinkle: depending on the format, the small blind may act first or last postflop. In most games the big blind has position on the small blind postflop (the small blind acts first). That makes the small blind's wide opens a bit trickier — they're entering wide and often out of position — so many strong strategies favor an aggressive 3-bet-or-fold or a mix that doesn't leave the small blind flatting too much out of position.

How to play each seat

• Small blind: open aggressively, but be mindful of being out of position. Lean toward raising rather than limping, and have a plan for playing the wide range you're entering with.
• Big blind: defend wide against the small blind's light opens, use your position, and apply pressure with check-raises and floats postflop.

Postflop

These are wide-range, often low-SPR-ish heads-up pots where aggression, range reading, and position decide things. Both players have lots of air, so c-betting, floating, and barreling all come into play heavily.

The takeaway

Blind-vs-blind is a wide, aggressive, positional battle. Don't fold too much from either blind, respect who has position postflop, and play aggressively with the wide ranges these spots demand. Mastering them adds up over the thousands of times they occur.