Marginal BB Defense - Is Killing My Results

I believe I have a solid grasp of my game, reads, and progressing well into late stage events.

My number one leak is defending the blinds. It seems I am often defending - when dominated. Some loosing results are just getting caught defending too light with something like Q/6 suited - and paying off 3 streets with top pair crap kicker, when opponent has two pair or better. Otherwise the rest of the losses come from putting my feet in the sand and saying I'm not allowing my opponent to dictate my blind play - while s/he is in LP with a monster, taking a large portion of my chips.

I have a tendency to rely on my reads/notes - and to disbelieve a 4x from CO/Bttn, it just seems like that is a BS bet. About 75% of the time my belief is correct - but the friggin board runs out for the LP player and I end up loosing the hand.
I'm often getting limped into with a strong hand - completely reasonable - and tendencies are obvious over time, or defending with a defend-able hand (K/Q) (A/5-8) hand, 3 betting, or calling and getting torched by the river.

Blind defense is killing my results.
When I defend wide - I often feel like I'm donating chips to the LP players. When I defend with a strong hand - either 3bet or call the raise, I think I'm pretty balanced here, I often feel like I'm getting drawn out on - and donating more chips to the opponents.

I'm not opposed to shoving as a defense - though - it is not optimal, and seems to more often than not - result in a loss. I usually take advantage of the opponents who shove light from the blinds, so I don't want to become a victim of the exploit that other players provide, if that makes sense.

If I could reduce the loosing hands in this area of my game - I know I could be making more final tables and increasing my win results substantially.

Because of this weakness - I have considered tightening up to NIT status in the blinds though I have found during the few sessions I have given this a half-hearted attempt, I feel completely exploitable - because I totally am - and it's a crap feeling.

Anyone else struggle with these spots?

Please - if anyone has some solid advice - or focused resources for blind defense for full ring tournaments, preferably at compatible stakes (micro-mid) I would be very grateful to get feedback/information.

Thanks -

I just realized some of the excellent feedback in my previous post
https://www.cardschat.com/forum/tou...inds-how-wide-436161/?highlight=blind+defense
Is directly relatable to this thread and the ongoing struggle I'm having. Thanks all who replied to my previous post -

Hi. I discovered the same problem by analyzing my game with HM and I think I managed to solve it. I simply reduced my rank except against very loose players. One of the problems with blind defense is the lack of position. I think that in SB against button it is better to have a tight range to be able to make 3 bets and compensate for the position, in addition to dismissing the big blind. In BB against button the range can be a little wider since most of the time the odds are favorable. But if someone opens x4 then they are not, and if your hand is Q6s there are not many worse hands that the opponent can have. However, in a battle of blind Q6s, it seems more than enough to defend. In fact there is a professional who says that in the battle of the blind you must defend any ace, any King, until Q6 and J8. Going all-in as a defense seems like a bad idea in most cases, It is usually enough that you get paid and lost once in 10 times so that the movement is not profitable. There is something else. It is not good to let the blinds be robbed. But it's better to lose 1 or 3 blinds than 10. Let your opponents know that they can't steal you with trash. But don't make it a matter of personal pride. After all, the following hands you will have the best position and you can maneuver better. I hope my opinion serves something. Like most here, I am learning and I share what I think is useful.

It sounds like, its mostly a problem in your postflop game. Tournament stacks are often short, and a lot of people dont want to risk a significant amount of their stack on running a big bluff. So they fire a C-bet on the flop, but if that fail to work, they just give up and allow you to get to showdown. For that reason I tend to give turn and river bets more credit than flop bets. Of course this is a generalization, but its a pretty good starting point in my opinion.

A leak in one position generally means you are playing too many hands in that position. You say you feel the need to defend your big blind. That usually leads to playing weak hands that shouldn't really be in your range in the BB position. They raise, you flat and the find yourself in trouble post flop where you are check-folding.

When you have a good hand you say you end up losing on the river. This is where you need to change tactics. First, just fold those weak hands instead of throwing chips away on a call and a fold on the flop. Then, with your premium hands you need to raise from the BB and raise with a substantial bet. Just don't let the weaker hands take the pot all the way to the river where they get lucky.

Thanks for the feedback guys - really excellent advice all around.

I've found - my biggest leak isn't BB defense - it's loosing flips with premium hands.

How to solve that one is a BIG mystery. LOL

A/x and baby pockets are killing my results when I call the preflop shove with KK QQ AA A/K - what to do. I guess I'll just pass on those gifts