Small Blind/Big Blind

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Zer0-0uts

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So when you are playing in a ring game and you are in the blinds there are MANY MANY MANY times your blinds get raised. There are a few callers after the raise, and you are getting great pot odds on your call. Your hole cards are CRAP! You call because you are getting great odds. What happens when you miss the flop? Is that just a place where you take the gamble because of the odds, and then you check fold? Do you try to make a move and steal the pot? What do you do when you are given the odds to call from the blinds and you miss?

I am sick of wasting extra money from calling raises on my blinds, but the odds dictate and I would be a fool to just fold when odds say call. What would you do if it was you?
 
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PKRNRS

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Garbage is still garbage no matter how you dress it up. Cold Calling all the raises just adds to your loss. The one time you do hit, isn't going to cover all the calls and chips lost.
 
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ivanobe

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It depend on a lot of factor ,people at the table

I would not defend any two because of the odds

You are often yourself getting into trouble with crap hand

But certainly defend medium and Hand with high potential Suited Connector, Suited, Connector that could potentially make you win the hand


my 2c :)
 
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Gildog89

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Yeah, don't play garbage from the blinds hoping to flop well. It's a losing play. When you do make a big hand, it almost never gets paid off. Just fold.
 
FF2586

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Hey,

First of all, you need to define crap when you say your hand is CRAP.
When your crap is connected small cards or suited Ks Qs, it is not that much of crap in that spot, that's your lowest limit in the range of hands you need to play!


I think you better do some research on your own, especially about ranges, and you would have a better understanding of that kind of spot and many other situation you might be struggling with.


Defining you call range is the most important part, then the way you play the hand is another part.


I hope this reply directs you the right way.


GL
 
Bricxjo

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I often fold blinds in ring games, it is just not profitable for me.
 
Eric Salvador

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You need to make sure that you're understanding you opponents range as well as your own. Recognizing flop texture and who's range it improved. Also when out of position make sure to not donk bet. Understand the equity of your hand. Analyze a best case and worse case equity for your opponent. You have to defend you blinds around 65% of the time and taking care of these potential holes in your game could really increase your profits.
 
luiaguila

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if you play bad cards to defend something that you should not defend so you win you are playing something that you did not have to play the blinds do not kill anybody at any table
 
Bricxjo

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In my mind the blinds are already lost, so the need to defend a hand that is unplayable in my range does not get in the way of me playing my normal game.

Good luck to you,
Brian
 
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H3adShOtXD93

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Defending my big blind in a cash game is different to defending my big blind in a tournament, due to the lack of pressure in obtaining chips as opposed to tournaments having said pressure.

Garbage like unsuited/suited trash let's say 83s for example I am folding a majority of the time, unless it is profitable to squeeze and pick up the pot uncontested. However, in tournaments I am defending with a very wide range of hands when there is odds but don't get carried away unless you hit 2 pair or better!
 
Bozovicdj

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Basically, if you are getting the right price to see the flop, then do it at least with cards that can make a straight, with suited cards etc. IMO, it is better to see it with 57o then with K5o for example
 
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NBB

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So when you are playing in a ring game and you are in the blinds there are MANY MANY MANY times your blinds get raised. There are a few callers after the raise, and you are getting great pot odds on your call. Your hole cards are CRAP! You call because you are getting great odds. What happens when you miss the flop? Is that just a place where you take the gamble because of the odds, and then you check fold? Do you try to make a move and steal the pot? What do you do when you are given the odds to call from the blinds and you miss?

I am sick of wasting extra money from calling raises on my blinds, but the odds dictate and I would be a fool to just fold when odds say call. What would you do if it was you?
When I am in the blinds, especially the small blind if I am dealt junk which is usually most of the time, I will fold most of the time [75% or more]
I tend not to blindly follow the logic of great pot odds like a sheep.

Having a junk hand pre-flop RARELY morphs into a great hand post flop, so one needs to stop and think for themselves and ask this simple question…. Is losing 30% or whatever the actual percentage is over the course of a full tournament is, worth winning maybe 2% - 6% on a magical flop that may never occur?

What I will do when certain players continually raise my blinds is wait for position while they are in the blinds, and then I gift them with the same curtesy of raising their blinds, but my raises are much more painful to them due to my bet sizing on their blinds [I do wait for decent hands for these moves though].

It is just so foolish to blindly waste your chips just because the pot odds are good when YOUR own odds of winning are so so low.
Not smart [IMHO]
 
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You are getting good pot equity when the bet is 3.5-4.5x or less even with trash cards, it's a call then check/fold, depending on how many other people are in the pot should change how you play. The more people in the pot, the more conservative, you are looking for draws, two pairs, etc. Just one or two other people in the pot? You can play a little more aggressive.
For instance let's say it's just you and one villain.


Your cards are 8 of clubs, 2 of hearts
Flop comes 5d8dKh


You can either check it or bet it fairly aggressively AND still expect them to call(Due to nature of head up poker), if another over card comes up, then slow down as a lot higher chance they actually hit. In this situation, if you checked and they bet half pot or less that is an easy snap call.


On the other hand lets say you have a 7hJc
Flop comes 8c9cQx
One person calls? You gotta play it conservative. You have a straight draw and a runner runner flush draw, but you have really bad odds here.


However, 3+ people called, this would be a fairly good hand to play aggressive with. You still have a decent chance of having the best hand if a jack comes up, you've got a decent club for if the runner-runner club draw comes, and if a 10 comes, you've hit the straight and only have to worry about J-K or a possible flush.
 
Bricxjo

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There are some players that defend their blinds with pretty much anything. I have many times seen something go to showdown and thought to myself those are horrible cards to start with, but sometimes they get rewarded. That's poker.

Good luck to you,
Brian
 
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subsinind

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So when you are playing in a ring game and you are in the blinds there are MANY MANY MANY times your blinds get raised. There are a few callers after the raise, and you are getting great pot odds on your call. Your hole cards are CRAP! You call because you are getting great odds. What happens when you miss the flop? Is that just a place where you take the gamble because of the odds, and then you check fold? Do you try to make a move and steal the pot? What do you do when you are given the odds to call from the blinds and you miss?

I am sick of wasting extra money from calling raises on my blinds, but the odds dictate and I would be a fool to just fold when odds say call. What would you do if it was you?



Exactly why I move all in with KK and AA pre live because fishes likes to call. They might win a couple of times too but I win in the long run.
 
Empress

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You would not be a "fool to fold". I think you'd be a fool to call if you *really* have a crap hand. Crap hand being, say, unconnected & unsuited. Just because someone is raising on your blind, I wouldn't feel compelled to call raises. Sure you lose your blind, but you lose less than you would by calling crap.

Now, if you have 5hKh or 5d4d or similar, it's a gamble to call, but it's more of an educated gamble. But I wouldn't want to call 3x blind even on hands like that.
 
Z

Zer0-0uts

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So I dig all the thoughtful answers. Thank you everyone. I can't stand when people try to keep their post count up and just answer something like, "Just go all in." I have started to develop a strategy that is working well enough so far.



When in the small blind I tend to fold all garbage hands, even if just heads up with the Big Blind. Now when I do this, those who pay attention to what I am doing will give my limps more respect, because I am folding mostly every thing preflop. I will however limp into a multi-way limped pot if I have a drawing hand. So long as I have 40BB or over and there are others in the pot who also have stacks of 40BB or more, I will limp a, "poor" drawing hand from the SB, because when I hit that miracle flop the amount I can get paid makes it worth the gamble.



If I have a monster hand preflop I will usually take one of two lines. If there are multiple limpers I will raise it up as big as 5 or 6 BB. That way I chase out most the garbage and isolate a few players, or I outright win the pot preflop. If there are only a few players in a limped, or even a raised pot I will smooth call from the SB. This helps disguise my stronger hands, and allows me to limp with my drawing hands more often. This is because the players at the table who are paying attention will pick up on the fact that I do not tend to enter a hand often from the SB, so when I do it can signal potential strength.



I have been playing the BB with a lot more attention to the actual strength of my preflop holding. If it has been raised preflop I look at who raised, how many people called, my hand strength, and whether or not my call closes the preflop action.



I think it is fair to say that in the long long it plays to play conservatively from the blinds. Plus if I find the chance to steal some blinds here and there I can afford to play a little more conservatively from the blinds. Each time I steal the blinds I get a freeroll the next time I am forced to post.
 
polote21

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It depends on many factors, for example how big is the deposit in relation to your investment and how many you bet, you have to also draw the value of your hand even if it is bad for reasons of probability it will be possible to at least see the flop, but it all depends of the specific situation.
 
WabiSabi

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You should be defending wider as the position of the raise gets later. For example vs a sb open you should defend the bb around 50% with something like 35% cold calls and 15% 3bets.Your cold call range of 35% almost certainly has a range advantage over villain and you also have position.Vs a button open from the bb you should defend somewhere around 40% with something like 30% cold calls and 10% 3bets. This is vs a 2.5x vs a 2x you defend even wider.And you should call more speculative hands like suited connectors multi way for instance. As for how to play postflop start by stabbing at the pot a'lot especially when checked to you. As a rule i stab 100% of the time with my air when checked to and it's very profitable.
 
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corieaddison

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FOLD! Just fold.... you might be getting great pot odds, but I have noticed over a long period of time, its better to just fold. You might also have hit your hand, but how many times do you not... A Lot. If you dont have a premium hand, just fold.

Good Luck!
 
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chazmahal10

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BB

I feel like you are never given credit in the BB. Anyone else?
 
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