A big part of playing winning poker is minimizing your losses. James Obst provided an excellent example of that in a recent battle of the blinds. He was in the big blind and checked after the small blind completed. The small blind check-called a bet of 600 on the flop, then check-called a bet of 1,000 when the turn fell . On the river , the small blind checked again. Obst thought things over, then slowly tapped the felt to check behind. It was an excellent check -- his opponent showed for trip aces that took down the pot.