Poker Blinds

Poker Blinds Structures Explained

The following list of blind structures are taken from various popular online cardrooms, most sites employ a variety of different blind structures for the various types of online poker tournaments on offer, the structures listed below should'nt be considered as a comprehensive insight into how one sites blind structure differs from another, but merely as a tool to understand that different structures are used and it's appropriate to factor this in when making adjustments to the way you play. Effectively, you should change the way you approach a game based on the blind structure being used.

NB. Blind structures were correct at the time of writing. Please refer to individual sites for confirmation of their current blind structures.

Pacific Poker Blind Structure

10 Players

1000 Chips

10 Min Blinds

3 Places Paid

44% average blind increase

Level	SB	BB	% Increase
1	10	20	--
2	15	30	50
3	25	50	66
4	50	100	100
5	75	150	50
6	100	200	33
7	150	300	50
8	200	400	33
9	250	500	25
10	300	600	20
11	400	800	33
12	500	1000	25

Poker Stars Blind Structure

9 Players

1500 Chips

10 Min Blinds

3 Places Paid

54% average blind increase

Level	SB	BB	% Increase
1	10	20	--
2	15	30	50
3	25	50	66
4	50	100	100
5	75	150	50
6	100	200	33
7	100	200	0
8	200	400	100
9	300	600	50
10	400	800	33
11	600	1200	50
12	1000	2000	66

Party Poker Blind Structure

10 Players

2000 Chips

10 Min Blinds

3 Places Paid

63% average blind increase

Level	SB	BB	% Increase
1	20	40	--
2	30	60	50
3	50	100	66
4	100	200	100
5	200	400	100
6	300	600	50
7	400	800	33
8	600	1200	50
9	1000	2000	66
10	1500	3000	50

Full Tilt Blind Structure

9 Players

1500 Chips

6 Min Blinds

3 Places Paid

26% average blind increase

Level	SB	BB	% Increase
1	15	30	--
2	20	40	33
3	25	50	25
4	30	60	20
5	40	80	33
6	50	100	25
7	60	120	20
8	80	160	33
9	100	200	25
10	120	240	20
11	150	300	25
12	200	400	33
13	250	500	25
14	300	600	20
15	400	800	33
16	500	1000	25
17	600	1200	20

It is clear to see that the blinds at Pacific Poker finish a lot less aggressively than at Party Poker. After an hours play at Pacific Poker, Poker Stars, Party Poker and Full Tilt, the blind levels would be 150/300, 100/200, 400/800 and 150/300 respectively. There is a vast difference between 100/200 and 400/800 blinds, before buying into any tournament it is worth calculating the type of blind structure being employed so as to understand what type of play is necessary and which types of players are likely to do well. Finding a tournament that is well suited to your style of play can be half the battle.