Protecting BB

JJPienaar

JJPienaar

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I have noticed that I run pretty well in online tournaments, and manage to build a good stack. My problem however comes in the form of BB protection, I seem to lose most in this position. I obviously don't try to protect every BB hand, but find myself often in a position where I hit the flop or have a strong draw. My opponents (villain) always seems to manage to make me pay max chips to see if my draws hit, which causes some serious damage to my stack when they don't hit.

Does anyone have some advice or wisdom on the matter? Will be greatly appreciated
 
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ph_il

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you can defend your bb wider because of the pot odds you're getting preflop, but i'd still be somewhat selective of the hands you choose to defend or the action before you.

for example, it's fine defending with hands like kx suited hands, but you'd rather defend with a hand like k9s than k2s because k9s is going to hit flops a lot better than k2s. it has flush and straight possibilities, you can make top pair with a king or a 9 but only 1 top pair with k2, and you have a better kicker if your king pairs or a great kicker if your 9 pairs.

even though you can play wider in the bb, you should switch back to playing very tight post flop as you're out of position. a good general rule of thumb is 'play looser post flop in the bb, but tighten up significantly if you completely miss or don't hit anything strong enough for you to continue.' it's 100% fine to just check/fold your bb if you miss. as for draws, continue to follow good hand-to-pot odds calculations to see if the call is profitable or not. again, you can fold if you aren't getting a good price to chase. don't worry about giving up on your big blind, you aren't losing a lot because you (usually) are only putting up a smaller amount to call a raise and see a flop.

other things to consider is, preflop action and ranges. with more callers, you want hands that can flop well multi-way or might even consider squeeze with your big hands to isolate. and if your stack is on the shorter side, say 20 bbs or less, you might want to defend a little tighter as calling of too light and folding many flops will eat your stack. you'd benefit more with playing tighter and 3betting preflop vs an open than you would be calling very wide in the bb.
 
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Collin Moshman

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Some advice:

** Study up on pot odds and implied odds

(To make sure you're only continuing with draws when it's profitable)

** Play draws aggressively if you think you have fold equity

** Decide on a plan early in the hand

** Be willing to make a slightly tight flop fold if you're not planning to continue on the turn
 
tauri103

tauri103

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when you are in BB and you have decided to just call preflop. you represent an extremely weak hand. your opponents know it and always try to take advantage of it. I advise you in this situation to try to manage the size of the pot when you have touched the flop. you can slow play or take the lead by betting a third of the pot to get your opponent to call your bet and limit your losses. otherwise, do not hesitate to fold when it is not the case to wait for a better opportunity.
 
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No Bologna

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No Bologna

I feel it depends on their position or chip stack bully. Early position usually means they have a good starting hand. If you protect and hit, play poker. If you miss the flop, your option, bluff or muck.
 
CptRunBad

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You don’t have to defend so often. It perfectly acceptable to fold your BB pre flop.
 
perrywh

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I fold bad hands no matter what position!
 
Swat1197

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Defend it like you want, analysing pos which raise. But think about folding in 3-4 bets
 
Phoenix Wright

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Some advice:

** Study up on pot odds and implied odds

(To make sure you're only continuing with draws when it's profitable)

** Play draws aggressively if you think you have fold equity

** Decide on a plan early in the hand

** Be willing to make a slightly tight flop fold if you're not planning to continue on the turn

Good advice here. :)

Also, to the op, this thread I started a while ago may be of interest to you:
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/why-defend-your-blinds-456860/

Keep in mind that most players lose the most chips when in the blinds (you are required to put chips into every pot and are also out of position postflop in many scenarios - although granted, you may get Small blind vs Big Blind), so usually most players just minimize their losses from these spots. It is rare that someone is regularly profiting from the blinds.

Finally, just because a straight or flush draw may possibly hit: that doesn't mean your opponent has those cards, by any means. Hand reading and figuring out if your hand is good here helps a lot, but I don't want you folding every bet you face while you are in the Big Blind - just because a third heart lands on the River. Based on how Villain has played it, them having two hearts for a flush is not too likely.

Hope my thinking helps: Collin Moshman gave the solid advice and I am merely building my thoughts off of this foundation :)
 
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wilberth

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The big blind must defend himself most of the time, either by 3betting a raise with a tight range or simply calling with a slightly wider range. Face the openings of players in late position when they do it frequently, since their range will be very wide and we can make them fold with our 3bet.
 
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slais_pro

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The protection of the big blind in poker is very important, so if you don’t want to conceal your blinds, you will simply steal them from you all the time, but this does not mean that you need to defend a big blind with any hand!
 
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angelamsmith05

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Good advice here. :)

Also, to the op, this thread I started a while ago may be of interest to you:
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/why-defend-your-blinds-456860/

Keep in mind that most players lose the most chips when in the blinds (you are required to put chips into every pot and are also out of position postflop in many scenarios - although granted, you may get Small blind vs Big Blind), so usually most players just minimize their losses from these spots. It is rare that someone is regularly profiting from the blinds.

Finally, just because a straight or flush draw may possibly hit: that doesn't mean your opponent has those cards, by any means. Hand reading and figuring out if your hand is good here helps a lot, but I don't want you folding every bet you face while you are in the Big Blind - just because a third heart lands on the River. Based on how Villain has played it, them having two hearts for a flush is not too likely.

Hope my thinking helps: Collin Moshman gave the solid advice and I am merely building my thoughts off of this foundation :)

Great advice!
 
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