Chopping the blinds when folded around...

Question

I never understood why people do this. I never chop. To me, the majority of people chop because they are scared to play heads up.

I love listening to the reasons people give why you should chop...

1) "The house will take a rake if we play" - Sure, they will take a rake, but if you win the hand you still profit, so who cares?
2) " Who wants to battle over the blinds" - Ummm I do, I come to win $$$$, and not give up edges when I have position on you heads up.

It just amazes me how much equity people give up over the long run by chopping hands like pairs, AK, etc etc....all of those pots you give up when you chop are pots you need to drag after paying rake, tipping dealers, cocktail waitresses, etc etc.

VegasGenius · Answer

I never understood why people do this. I never chop. To me, the majority of people chop because they are scared to play heads up.

I love listening to the reasons people give why you should chop...

1) "The house will take a rake if we play" - Sure, they will take a rake, but if you win the hand you still profit, so who cares?
2) " Who wants to battle over the blinds" - Ummm I do, I come to win $$$$, and not give up edges when I have position on you heads up.

It just amazes me how much equity people give up over the long run by chopping hands like pairs, AK, etc etc....all of those pots you give up when you chop are pots you need to drag after paying rake, tipping dealers, cocktail waitresses, etc etc.

VegasGenius · Answer

Also forgot to add my favorite...when someone doesn&#x27;t chop....someone always brings up the story of..."this one time, this guy didn&#x27;t wanna chop, and he got stacked"

w8rh3wk5 · Answer

I chop all the time... why play a hand against one person that the house gets the rake. And at best u will steal a blind and at worst u could lose a big hand.... bc chopping is such the norm now, u r pissing off the other players bc u wont chop. So on top of only winning blinds,etc. U become a target for the other players which is exactly what u don&#39;t want. U can&#39;t wait regularly with people targeting u. Why has a pro won the wsop main event??? Its bc the pros have to overcome to big of a disadvantage bc people just want to knock them out. And the same thing applies here. U piss off the people next to u and that&#39;s two more people who will go out of there way to knock u out.

VegasGenius · Answer

"Why play a hand against one person that the house gets the rake"....once again, another statement I typically hear that makes no sense. If the house takes a rake, then the winner of the hand will make a profit. Using your logic, why don't people chop when UTG raises and it folds around to the big blind and he calls? Since they would be playing heads up and the house gets the rake? Makes no sense.

Also, anyone who gets pissed because someone doesn't chop needs to grow up. It is a good thing if someone is gunning for you at the table, you want people making -ev calls preflop to try and bust you.

w8rh3wk5 · Answer

I have to disagree with u. U do not want people gunning for you bc even if u r a two to one favorite everytime, u will get sucked out some times. The win regularly u want to take down pots without contest. U want to get ur money in with the best hand. U want to chase when the pot odds say its worthwhile. All while minimizing the amount of times u go Allin. And pissing people off by not chopping, u r adding two more people who will come at u.

VegasGenius · Answer

"If you are a 2 to 1 favorite you will get sucked out some times"....just lol at that statement.
Of course you will get sucked out on every now and then, it's called variance. As a 2 to 1 favorite you will also be on the + side way more often.

MrGlue · Answer

Over my last 6800 hands, my win rate without posting the blinds would have been 8.31 BB/100 hands.

Posting the blinds, my win rate was 5.59 BB/100.

Chopping is +EV.

I don't think that's why most live players chop though... I think it probably has something to do with eligibility for jack pot hands.

DaThunder84 · Answer

Chopping blinds keeps the game moving as well, why battle for $2 when you can start another hand in 30 seconds

DannoDanger · Answer

&#xD;&#xA;And what about when you&#x27;re not holding premium hands?  How much &#x27;equity&#x27; are you saving?  It&#x27;s nice if you can look at your cards and then say, "No chop."

Amp · Answer

I bet you&#x27;re loved by all the players at the game

Bling · Answer

Less profit due to the fact heads up will have more hands with pots not over the max rake.  Therefore you would have to win more of these heads-up battles to profit over time.

TRAIN69 · Answer

If you&#x27;re not chopping you havent played much, are naive, or a jerk.

Degenerate · Answer

Been putting in a crazy amount of live play over the last year. At first I was the guy who never chopped. It's poker. Since when is there a hand you're dealt that youre supposed to just throw away? It's not part of the game. Eventually I gave in. But I see both sides, and quite frankly don't care enough about the issue. Sure it speeds the game up and we all get to move onto the next hand, but you spend the great majority of live poker sitting there while other hands are being played so I don't see why you'd get so worked up over just another hand you're not in like you're jonesing for the next hand. It's just another couple minutes you have to check out the cocktail waitresses.

Whats funny is people laughing about what they chopped. Two guys with $800 each and they flip over AA and KK of all things. Someone should remind the dude who had AA that if he was a decent player and the hand went as you'd expect he could possibly have both stacks in front of him. But hey he was making the random people he's never met and will likely never see again happy.

dude1618 · Answer

no sense to chop a cash game

WhySoSucK · Answer

[Quote: Originally Posted by TRAIN69]  If you&#x27;re not chopping you havent played much, are naive, or a jerk.&#xD;&#xA;  [/Quote]

runlagos · Answer

I think along the same lines as far as seeing both sides. There are sessions where I do chop and sessions where I don&#x27;t. Just varies on the stack to my left and right, and the rest of the table vibe.

TRAIN69 · Answer

Only reason not to chop is if there is a bad beat and you both had bad beat hands.

Weathered · Answer

this is the correct answer

PlaysnPays · Answer

W8r has it right on the head, the chances you are able to win a big pot decrease significantly against 1 player, not too mention you are calling off a small blind just to have the house take most of the profit. By Chopping you keep a target off your head and you keep the game moving. Last thing you want to do is "be that one guy." Unless that's your game, if you are the antagonist and like pissing people off and dont mind them coming after you then by all means go for it. Just have a plan and a reason.

BIGfnPOO · Answer

i  go w/ the flow ....  the hardhead who never chops gts the target.  if u r comfortable with that and are a natural a-hole anyway......."lets play"........the guy obviously never read  Mike Caro.

tkf18ny · Answer

to be fair thats your rate in all blind situations not blind vs blindin lower stakes games with rake chopping makes sense because in the long run you won&#x27;t overcome the rakethen again if chopping is coming up frequently find a new tablei always laugh in 5/10 which is a time game pretty much everywhere but la when people want to chop just because they suck heads up

earthWake · Answer

[Quote: Originally Posted by DannoDanger]  &#xD;&#xA;And what about when you&#x27;re not holding premium hands?  How much &#x27;equity&#x27; are you saving?  It&#x27;s nice if you can look at your cards and then say, "No chop."  [/Quote]you can.

refer · Answer

Just got back from LV and multiple casinos just stopped allowing chopping in thier games. These included Palms / Hard Rock / Luxor poker rooms.

BOTSLAYER · Answer

@weathered&#x27;s post including Mr. GlueThis is just simple math...except he filtered for every time he was in the blind rather than every time it was folded to the blinds. If you lose money when it is folded to the SB (when combining both stats of SB and BB*) then you are not going to win money at poker anyways and why not enjoy every hand you get?@referAwesome! That is the way it should be. Are people allowed to chop if there are antes? I know people do not consider blinds the same as antes but they actually are. Every hand the same amount of money goes into the middle blind (barring exceptions) whch means that those blinds are actually everybody&#x27;s, just like antes.*Yes a lot of times chopping in SB and playing in BB is either not noticed or not challenged but it is an angle shoot, but so is chopping to begin with.

BOTSLAYER · Answer

Also to the people stating you do not want to be the target at the table: then GTF off the table and go play slots or black jack. If your intention is not to beat every one at the table then clearly you are mistaking poker for other games more closely resembling "Sex and the City" marathons.

Chopping the blinds when folded around...

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