Blind defending based on steal size

Tgen · Jun 29, 2014

Well most people say , you need to defend your blinds an x% frequency depening on the raise size to prevent the opponent profit but you really need to create a very wide range for this and most of hands on the bottom of this range will not show profit oop.

Also most guides recommend a somehow tight range for blind defending , they usually contain suited broadways and highcards and 3-bet a polarize range.

I think blind defending based on raise size can be viable vs sb steals or on HU games but i dont know how applicable is this vs lp steals.

What do you think about it? do you really defend 50% vs a button steal?

RodneyC86 · Jun 30, 2014

Tgen said:
Well most people say , you need to defend your blinds an x% frequency depening on the raise size to prevent the opponent profit but you really need to create a very wide range for this and most of hands on the bottom of this range will not show profit oop.

Also most guides recommend a somehow tight range for blind defending , they usually contain suited broadways and highcards and 3-bet a polarize range.

I think blind defending based on raise size can be viable vs sb steals or on HU games but i dont know how applicable is this vs lp steals.

What do you think about it? do you really defend 50% vs a button steal?

You don't... Also you don't really have to defend 50 pct so that the lp opener do not auto profit stealing with ATC . It's more like 16 to 18 pct cause the other blind guy is another factor.

At any rate, you will lose in the blinds regardless of what you do for all the reasons you already mentioned.
The trick is to pick out profitable defense situations and minimize overall loss.
Sorry if I'm not adding much cause I'm crap at defending blinds myself and avoid doing it like the plague. Playing OOP AND without initiative is A big turnoff.

DMurph23 · Jun 30, 2014

When I defend the blinds I like to play the hands that can flop big hands but not necessarily be dominated, e.g. I would rather call 87s that KTo.

That being said, it really depends who is stealing. If the BTN has a steal range close to 50%, I think KTo is pretty OK. When calling with hands like these I try to think of whether I'll be able to play them off the hand later....if they are super aggressive my range tightens as bluffs and floats become less viable.

If the BTN opens 3x (with a bluff hand) and the SB folds, he needs his bet to work .3/.45 = 67%, meaning you would need to defend (call or 3b) a total of 33% to make his bluffs -EV. This does not consider the equity of each player's hand.

Just my two cents.

hffjd2000 · Jun 30, 2014

50% is somewhat high.

Lp steals, have to be more tight when considering defending your blinds. Have to loosen a bit though if small/button steals.

DMurph23 · Jul 7, 2014

hffjd2000 said:
50% is somewhat high.

Lp steals, have to be more tight when considering defending your blinds. Have to loosen a bit though if small/button steals.

I agree 50% is somewhat high. I've looked at PT4 database and a quick review of players labelled as regs show that 40-45% is the most common (at least in my pokerstars database).

Please can you explain why do the steals have to be tighter for you to defend?

tomnovember · Jul 7, 2014

Tgen said:
Well most people say , you need to defend your blinds an x% frequency depening on the raise size to prevent the opponent profit but you really need to create a very wide range for this and most of hands on the bottom of this range will not show profit oop.

Also most guides recommend a somehow tight range for blind defending , they usually contain suited broadways and highcards and 3-bet a polarize range.

I think blind defending based on raise size can be viable vs sb steals or on HU games but i dont know how applicable is this vs lp steals.

What do you think about it? do you really defend 50% vs a button steal?

Whether it is online or live, the style of CO/BU, the hands you are holding, your table image, etc. do really matters a lot...

jsh169 · Jul 9, 2014

50% is way to high, but this is completely player base and steal size. If a nit steals 10% you should be folding almost always and if a Lag steals 50%+ with a min raise you should be defending pretty liberally.

John A · Jul 9, 2014

DMurph23 said:
When I defend the blinds I like to play the hands that can flop big hands but not necessarily be dominated, e.g. I would rather call 87s that KTo.

That being said, it really depends who is stealing. If the BTN has a steal range close to 50%, I think KTo is pretty OK. When calling with hands like these I try to think of whether I'll be able to play them off the hand later....if they are super aggressive my range tightens as bluffs and floats become less viable.

If the BTN opens 3x (with a bluff hand) and the SB folds, he needs his bet to work .3/.45 = 67%, meaning you would need to defend (call or 3b) a total of 33% to make his bluffs -EV. This does not consider the equity of each player's hand.

Just my two cents.

I think this is the opposite of what you want to be doing in the blinds actually. You want to be playing big hands that can't be out turned or rivered a lot because you'll be playing a defensive / showdown mode more than trying to turn your hand into a bluff OOP. At least it's smarter to approach it this way imho. Hands like 67s, 87s won't be profitable for multiple reasons unless you're against a passive opponent. Hands like 87s, etc... go up in value when your opponent range is strong and they can pay you off, and you have position on them. Where hands like A2o/K9s go far up in value out of the BB against a normal button reg opening range. Most regs, unless they are really aggressive, won't try and 3 barrel you off of A high boards and you can take those hands to showdown easier.

RodneyC86 · Jul 9, 2014

John A said:
I think this is the opposite of what you want to be doing in the blinds actually. You want to be playing big hands that can't be out turned or rivered a lot because you'll be playing a defensive / showdown mode more than trying to turn your hand into a bluff OOP. At least it's smarter to approach it this way imho. Hands like 67s, 87s won't be profitable for multiple reasons unless you're against a passive opponent. Hands like 87s, etc... go up in value when your opponent range is strong and they can pay you off, and you have position on them. Where hands like A2o/K9s go far up in value out of the BB against a normal button reg opening range. Most regs, unless they are really aggressive, won't try and 3 barrel you off of A high boards and you can take those hands to showdown easier.

I second this. For starters. KQ, AJ, KJs and ATs are my initial blind defense hands against any non nit opening from the button. Maybe AQ as well if they are going to fold to 3bet upwards of 75 percent and never get hot 3bet action from worse very often

Playing smaller SC such as as blind defense vs a very likely to be 'medium' hand like K8-KJ, A2-A9 and Q8-QJ , JT and T9 used for stealing is generally bad because you are highly unlikely get heavy action when you hard vs these hands. Also, your smaller SCs might just get killed by larger straights if you are on the sucker end of it. Notice how their range would nicely land on the winner's end on a board full of middling cards?

So play a range that dominates them hard and play a medium sized pot usually.

tomnovember · Jul 9, 2014

jsh169 said:
50% is way to high, but this is completely player base and steal size. If a nit steals 10% you should be folding almost always and if a Lag steals 50%+ with a min raise you should be defending pretty liberally.

Exactly! It also base on the table dynamics and how solid the villain play

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