Defending the blinds

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vatopkr

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Hi my pokerpals
When and how can I defend my blinds ?
Sorry I am confused :confused:
 
Jacki Burkhart

Jacki Burkhart

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a lot of players lose a lot of money defending their blinds. A leak in their game.

that said, if you don't defend your blinds sometimes, that is a leak in your game too and you will be attacked ruthlessly. (by me...ha ha ha )

I assume you are new, since you are posting in this section so I'll start with the baby steps strategy.

Obviously defend your blinds with premium hands. duh! self explanatory :)

Additionally try these loose guidelines on for size:

defend 50% of the time vs. a button raise if you have a playable hand.
defend 33% of the time vs. a cut-off raise if you have a playable hand.
defend 25% of the time vs. the hi-jack if you have a playable hand

don't worry too much about defending your blinds against earlier openers, as they are more likely to have a real hand.

How to defend? you can either flat call the raise, then lead out on the flop. (I do this about half the time)

Or you can re-raise pre-flop. This is much more effective when you have a tight image at your table.

Obviously stack sizes and hand strengths matter a lot for which type of "defense" you use.

adjust those guidelines based on stack size, tourney stage, villain's raising range, player read etc. If the tightest guy ever raises you all in from the button and you have A8 suited you don't have to call THAT guy...
 
letderbefish

letderbefish

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Hi my pokerpals
When and how can I defend my blinds ?
Sorry I am confused :confused:

i dont believe in such thing as blind defense, u should consider them as mendatory bets, that's it.
play them as you would play any out of position hand, dont forget you will be next on the button and you can then take them back.
defending the blinds is a bad idea imo, it will cost you more than benefit you in the long run.
 
Jacki Burkhart

Jacki Burkhart

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i dont believe in such thing as blind defense, u should consider them as mendatory bets, that's it.
play them as you would play any out of position hand, dont forget you will be next on the button and you can then take them back.
defending the blinds is a bad idea imo, it will cost you more than benefit you in the long run.

I generally agree with this, and for cash I absolutley agree.

for tourneys where the blinds are always going up, eventually it becomes a big part of your stack and also, in your metagame, if you don't fight back at least SOMETIMES you'll soon be having all your blinds attacked all the time....ask me how I know... ;)
 
DaveE

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^^Good answers. There are times that you have make a stand, but in general, steal and be stolen from.
 
supernuts25

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defending blinds are such a myth defend them when you have a hand or throw in a raise if u think someone is stealing from u once in a while. defend those without a hand to often and you will lose alot of money. and honestly i wouldnt even worry about it until your deep and they matter. ive noticed latley people are playing crazy so even the right push move might cost ya. gl
 
helpspb

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Agreed with what others said. You can defend your blinds with decent hand, but you have to keep in mind that you're out of the position, so sometimes it's really better just fold your cards. You shouldn't fold every time though, because others will pick that up and try to steal from you way more often.
 
DevilMe03

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In early stages its better to play your cards and dont neccessarily need to defend blinds.
In middle and late stages when stacks are deep it depends mainly on who raised in what position. Early position raises are usually strong hands so avoid calling from blinds. When raised by late position base your decision on your opponents range and style.
If you are raised fairly often in blinds from late position reraise some hands or even jam all in. This will serve two purposes. People wil fear raising you. And second when they raise now usually their range will be tight and you could play the flop with more information if you decide to call.
 
lulu pk

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In the begin of the tournaments you don't need to defend your blinds whit the marginal hands.
In the late stage i like to defend whit suited connectors like 89,9T,TJ,QT...
When the raise came from the late position i like to 3bet more than just call.
 
AtiFCOD

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Hi my pokerpals
When and how can I defend my blinds ?
Sorry I am confused :confused:

It depends how big is the blind comparing to your stack.
The fight starts for blind when it becomes big comparing stacks.
There's no pattern how you can defend it if it's necessary. But it's always a fun part of the game fighting agains thiefs and vice versa. :rolleyes:
 
Salvete777

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I don't see a necessary to do it.
Need to look at size of blinds and situation. If you have enought experiece you know when you should defend them and when you should fold.
 
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kmichaels

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I only defend the blinds when its worth, and i mean when blinds are high and when there are antes, which make a considerable pot to fight for. The hands to defend them is kind of any pair, any suited connector, any hand with an ace, and hands like KQ,KJ,K10. Other thing is always defend your blinds making a nice raise, at least 2.5x of your opponent´s raise. Anything less than that he will call. If you are short stack, the only way to defend them is going all in, nothing else.
 
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Magneto

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what do you do with a minimum bet? So Binds 100/200 and 400 raises
I experience often
 
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locha2013

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I often call a minimum bet, even without monster hands. Just because to see the flop and perhaps win again a raise.
I hate blind defend when the blinds are high and i havent enough money the big stack players often raise without anything good, but i have to fold. But in tournements it isnt often the case, that i have to protect my blind. Its more in sit and gos.
 
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aznman08

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I generally agree with this, and for cash I absolutley agree.

for tourneys where the blinds are always going up, eventually it becomes a big part of your stack and also, in your metagame, if you don't fight back at least SOMETIMES you'll soon be having all your blinds attacked all the time....ask me how I know... ;)

definitely have to play back from the blinds in tournaments during mid-late stages. In early tournament stages you don't have to defend as much since you have a high M.

what do you do with a minimum bet? So Binds 100/200 and 400 raises
I experience often

Well in later stages of tournaments, you need to decide if you can play back against a 4b/post flop and your chip stack is high enough that it isn't a major portion of your stack. I see people taking min-raises both with stealing and with big hands. Another factor that may affect your decision is if another player called the min-raise.
 
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cpgd176

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Well when defending your blinds you have several things to consider. Such as are you SB or BB, the position of the person raising and their image, and your cards.

You should be defending with marginal hands (and in general) a lot less from the SB than the BB. There is a chance BB resteals, and by defending your SB you will give BB odds to call with worse hands.

The person raising and their position on the table matter greatly. EP raises usually are stronger than say cutoff or button raises. Also try to recognize what players attempt to steal the blinds the most and what hands they are showing down.

Lastly, your hand strength. You should only be defending with a small part of your range in the blinds. Generally try to defend with cards that will connect nicely with flops (suited connecters/one-gappers, pairs, paint cards). It will be much easier to continue in the hand oop with these hands.
 
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aznman08

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what do you do with a minimum bet? So Binds 100/200 and 400 raises
I experience often

Well in later stages of tournaments, you need to decide if you can play back against a 4b/post flop and your chip stack is high enough that it isn't a major portion of your stack. I see people taking min-raises both with stealing and with big hands. If you've been playing with the same opponents for a while, the image you've been showing at the table could influence how others may play against you.
 
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lost2qandisa

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I agree.... I only defend my blinds late in tourneys when I am short or mid stacked. Early in tourneys you are just risking more than what the return on investment would be.
 
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