play sb or not

have a question when in the small blind should u go in to the hand even with nothing cause your halfway in we are talkin with cards like 9 6or 5 8 seems to me like the chips i waste later in the tourneys might of got me past the bubble . your thoughts

For me, as with everything, it depends. If I have the chips, I like seeing the flop in the sb so long as it doesn't cost to much, especially in tournament play and we're not close to the money. In a sit-in-go, or in a tournament that looks like I'll make it to the money, usually not. Freerolls are an entirely differnt matter...depends on the table and the way everyone's playing.

Position is too important in hold 'em to flat from the sb knowing that you're check folding when you miss the flop 70% of the time. Like everything there are of course exceptions....depending on the limpers in front of me and the player in the bb, a case can obviously be made for calling, especially if you get 4 or 5 limpers and you're a strict math based player. For me though, I really need a hand I can continue with post flop to even consider a sb limp

If theres a lot of limpers i always want to come in either raising big so i need a big hand, or completing the sb if i have a hand that plays well against a lot of villains, suited connectors, A-rag suited, low pp's etc if somebody with a high attempt to steal % has just raised from the CO or BTN then i might play back at them with 2 broadway, high suited connectors, med-high pp's. I don't generally complete with trash but if the BB is playing at like 9/2 or something like that then i'll be raising every blind with ATC when its just sb vs bb

Depends for me on how many are in. If I feel I can steal a pot on a low flop then its nice to be able to bet first.

My range opens up, but I don't play ATC. If I get some awful hand like 93, I'll fold, but even with some kind of decent drawing hand (i.e. 45s), I'll probably play in some scenarios. Keep in mind, I said only in some scenarios. These scenarios include low blinds when I have plenty of chips.

It depends on a few things, but a general rule of thumb is that if your SB cards are any pair, painted cards, and suited connectors..then you should at least consider playing.

If you fold those kinda hands all the time in the blinds..your leaving alot of money on the table for nothing.

I agree with everyone here. If it is cheap to see the flop it might be worth playing as you never know what will come up. As to hitting the bubble...well I am usually the one right outside of it. Luckily I haven't been the one to pop the bubble and let everyone else make money.

In a SnG or touney, unless I have a very good starting hand I would let go the SB. Tough position to play in.

Cash game, I play every hand in every position. Coming from a SnG background, being deepstacked is such a luxury!!

This will raise some controversy but at MTT's I look at the ratio between the price of calling and the pot size compared to my chip stack with more weight than value of the hole cards. Unless there is a raise it's almost always a good value to take a cheap look at the flop with most anything, otherwise you're looking at a minimum of 3 to 1 for your chips. The more limpers there are the better the value of the risk. With a raise it's an easy muck, same can be said for realy bad hole cards without a raise.

That said more often than not I end up mucking after the flop but when I do hit it more than makes up for all the cheap flops I've seen. If the players in the hand are weak and/or the flop is bad, I'll use it against them to steal the pot after the flop or turn when I think I can get by with it.

Ring games I play totaly different, everything depends on the stakes and the players skills to decide if I look at cheap flops or not. Even then I'm always changing it up.

I think there is merit to this argument. If your sitting in the sb and feel that you have a shot at sneaking into the hand and hitting something, I say go for it. However, when playing this way you have to a) have a slightly large chipstack so you still have something if you miss the flop or bb raises, and b) you need to have something at least half way decent. there are some hand that I just want nothing to do with, hands where I feel that even if I would hit something on the flop I still have a little chance of scraping in some more chips.

will for me there are just some hands you dont call with in the SB no matter wat. yes there are pot odds but your pretty much usually gonna get out kicked in most cases and feel obligated to play the hand when you hit the flop. yes you can hit the miracle full house or even quads but chances of that happen is very slim, not worth it. sometimes when its only SB and BB, BB can sense your weakiness and will try to steal the blinds. unless your a really agressive player who likes to out play people and such i wouldnt really waste my chip. thats my views anyways

You have to judge every hand differently. If there are no bets then you have to consider stealing the BB with a bet but if you do this you also run the risk that the BB will have a hand. If there are bets before it gets to you then unless you have a hand with supports the bet get out of it.

Yes you should play even if you have a hand like that but it does depend on how big ur stack it in my opinion any 2 cards can win you a hand all you need is a good flop