Editing Blind (poker) (section)

== Blinds in tournament play ==
In [[poker tournament]] play, blinds serve a dual purpose. In addition to the purpose explained above, blinds are also used to control how long the tournament will last.  Before the tournament begins, the players will agree to a blinds structure, usually set by the tournament organizer.  This structure defines how long each round is and how much the blinds increase per round. Typically, they are increased at a smooth rate of between 25% and 50% per round over the previous round.  As the blinds increase, players need to increase their chip counts (or "stacks") to stay in the game. The blinds will eventually consume all of a player's stack if he or she does not play to win more.{{fact|date=April 2021}}

Unlike many cash games, it is not possible for a player to "miss" blinds in a tournament. If a player is absent from the table, he will continue to have his or her cards dealt and mucked and will have blinds and, if applicable, antes taken from his stack as they are due, either until he or she returns or until his or her stack is completely consumed by blinds and antes. A player who loses his or her chips in this manner is said to have been "blinded off."

===Goals===
There are two main goals for the blinds structure:{{fact|date=April 2021}}

# Ensure that by the time the desired duration of the tournament is reached, it will be very hard for players with small stacks to stay in the game.  This forces players with smaller stacks to play them aggressively, thus increasing their chip count or losing everything quickly.
# Ensure that players, in general, do not have a large stack relative to the blind level.

If desired, [[Betting (poker)#Ante|ante]]s can be added to further increase the pressure to win more chips.

===Example===
If each player in a tournament starts with 5,000 in chips and after four hours, the big blind is 10,000 (with a small blind of 5,000), a player with only 15,000 in chips would be able to stay in the game for at most one more rotation of the dealer button if they do not win any additional chips.