Which hands to defend blinds with?

[ProfesorKaos]

For me, it really depends on a lot of factors. Relative position, player type, hand strength, reads, etc.

If some random reggy looking player opens 4x UTG and its folded to me in SB, I defend with like 77-QQ/AK/AQs

I defend so tightly in SB vs UTG because I have really bad relative position and I am facing what is usually a tight range. Being OOP against a tight murky range vs TAG's, when their perceived range is strongest and mine is weakest, isnt a great spot to be in.

Whereas if someone min steals the btn and im BB, I would be defending a pretty wide range against most players.

Calling KQs preflop depends on how wide they open and how they play postflop. How people will play postflop is nearly as big a factor as your actual hand strength imo

If they open like 20% in say CO and you have some postflop info, I would be 3betting KJo/KTs and calling KQ prob. KQ just plays good against his weak Kx/Qx and there are always gonna be a few good bluff spots vs anyone.

Although if they opened a bit wider or I felt I could play pretty well against them even OOP, then I might call and 3b something worse.

That of course leads to FT3b stats/reads. If they steal wide but fold a lot pre, then you can flat hands like AT/A9s or KJ/KTs because we keep worse hands in and 3betting would be wasting our potential against the weak part of his range. If he is bad postflop prob flat even wider and 3b even worse hands.

So altogether if I think his range is wide and plays bad postflop I will call much wider but the tighter he becomes with his opens, the less I call the more I 3b (only to a certain degree, with the correct ranges) because its harder to put him on worse postflop in a lot spots with my slightly wider calling range and his stronger perceived range. He would be in a good spot to bluff and value bet light IP and I would be kind of helpless if he had half a clue.

If they are fishy or dont like getting 3b, that becomes another story. Like you can 3b/5b all pairs and A2s-A5s vs 4b monkeys or 3b fish who play 70% pre and play fof otf a lot with like weakish paint and cbet a ton or w/e.

Its such a complex subject you could probly have a never ending blind play thread.

 

[billatx]

Yes you have to remove any exposed or dead cards from the deck. Pokerstove does this for you though.

Enter your hand into the Player 1 range slot and then put villains range into player 2 slot.

Ok ,sorry my questions sound stupid.

On opponents hand i just put 50% of hands,right?

 

[TheBowlBoy]

For me, it really depends on a lot of factors. Relative position, player type, hand strength, reads, etc.

If some random reggy looking player opens 4x UTG and its folded to me in SB, I defend with like 77-QQ/AK/AQs

I defend so tightly in SB vs UTG because I have really bad relative position and I am facing what is usually a tight range. Being OOP against a tight murky range vs TAG's, when their perceived range is strongest and mine is weakest, isnt a great spot to be in.

Whereas if someone min steals the btn and im BB, I would be defending a pretty wide range against most players.

Calling KQs preflop depends on how wide they open and how they play postflop. How people will play postflop is nearly as big a factor as your actual hand strength imo

If they open like 20% in say CO and you have some postflop info, I would be 3betting KJo/KTs and calling KQ prob. KQ just plays good against his weak Kx/Qx and there are always gonna be a few good bluff spots vs anyone.

Although if they opened a bit wider or I felt I could play pretty well against them even OOP, then I might call and 3b something worse.

That of course leads to FT3b stats/reads. If they steal wide but fold a lot pre, then you can flat hands like AT/A9s or KJ/KTs because we keep worse hands in and 3betting would be wasting our potential against the weak part of his range. If he is bad postflop prob flat even wider and 3b even worse hands.

So altogether if I think his range is wide and plays bad postflop I will call much wider but the tighter he becomes with his opens, the less I call the more I 3b (only to a certain degree, with the correct ranges) because its harder to put him on worse postflop in a lot spots with my slightly wider calling range and his stronger perceived range. He would be in a good spot to bluff and value bet light IP and I would be kind of helpless if he had half a clue.

If they are fishy or dont like getting 3b, that becomes another story. Like you can 3b/5b all pairs and A2s-A5s vs 4b monkeys or 3b fish who play 70% pre and play fof otf a lot with like weakish paint and cbet a ton or w/e.

Its such a complex subject you could probly have a never ending blind play thread.

Nice post. Why are you grinding 4nl

Ok ,sorry my questions sound stupid.

On opponents hand i just put 50% of hands,right?

Yes you can just enter in 50% and pokerstove will give you a 50% range but it is often a good idea to tweak that range a little bit. You'll notice that PokerStove will often leave out small pp's whereas many players with extremely tight ranges still have small pp's in there.

 

[billatx]

Nice post. Why are you grinding 4nl



Yes you can just enter in 50% and pokerstove will give you a 50% range but it is often a good idea to tweak that range a little bit. You'll notice that PokerStove will often leave out small pp's whereas many players with extremely tight ranges still have small pp's in there.

Thanks,everything is so enlightening so far for me !

So, i shouldn't bother so much about making calculations.Pokerstove and experience is the recipy to get better on this.

 

[MediaBLITZ]

I'm not as concerned with my hand as I am the player (and his position) I am defending against.

As the opening raise gets closer to the blinds so too does the chances the raise is a blind steal with a mediocre holding. I will be less inclined to defend an opening raise UTG as an opening raise on the BTN.

Then it comes down to the player making the move. Reads, stats, etc. Obviously the nit gets more credence than the 35%er .

Also minimizing your losses should your defense be wrong. In other words don't shove back if you don't have to - do enough to get the job done. If it doesn't get it done then it may be time to get out of the way.

 

[ProfesorKaos]

Nice post. Why are you grinding 4nl

thanks


big downswing lol

 

[acky100]

To figure out how many of them combo's we beat you should construct a range of hands you think he is stealing with, so if it's 40% look on pokerstove what 40% of hands look like. The number of combo's will be hugeee.

 

[CrazyCards]

Against most opponents I would :
a)3 bet/fold 22-66,78s-KQs
b)call 77-QQ,AK-AQ
c)3bet KK+

What do you think of my ranges?

I found this topic on google and I search it because I belive 3beting/defend OOP is still the biggest leak in my game and I try to solve it, but OP even if I`m no expert your range there is wrong on sooooo many levels!

I mean you can`t just:
-3B and go all in with only AA and KK and fold the rest to a 4B,this is Very exploitable
-3B and fold with small pairs? what are you doing when you get called, just c/f when you don`t hit the set?
-flat with QQ and AK is bad for obvious reasons


Anyway it wood be very nice if some one with great experience will clear thinks up for us

 

[RamdeeBen]

Not sure how you can put any sort of 3betting/calling range on a BvB battle.

It totally depends on who the player in the SB/BB is..

If they are nits, then you can comfortable fold whenever they raise you. If they are loose action junkies raising your blinds 50% of the time, then adjust your 3betting range. If they raise nearly `100% then you can again, just adjust your range.

 

[Rickman]

Probably know the answer to this, but if you guys are playing Live, is defending your blind ever even a thought? I only play $1/$2 and the standard raise is AT LEAST to $8, but typical seems to be $12. Blind stealing doesn't seem to make as much sense in these games. Risk v Reward. Plus, if I'm less inclinded to risk $12 to steal $3, I'm assuming my opponents are as well. So, their ranges would likely be better than when I used to play online. (where 3x BB was more the norm)

Obviously, if I see someone raising with junk late, I can change course against that villain and respond more like most are saying on this thread.

Just wondering if it being a Live game would alter your thinking. (I play mostly at a riverboat casino and occasional trips to Vegas)

 

[MediaBLITZ]

Probably know the answer to this, but if you guys are playing Live, is defending your blind ever even a thought? I only play $1/$2 and the standard raise is AT LEAST to $8, but typical seems to be $12.

yeah I play this too and actually I pretty much have the mindset that the blinds are just the cost of doing business and do not worry too much about "defending"

 

[Poker_play]

^^yeah...defending blinds is completely pointless IMO in live cash games. Maaaybe if I have a hand like 89s (something I won't always play) in the BB and the situation is right, being in the BB might be incentive to call).
On $1/2 tables standard is often $12....I always play $2/5 and the standard is either $20-25. Tables are pretty loose and you can often get 3-4 callers when you do have a hand...so yeah, don't let that $2 (or $) impact your decisions.
Related note..do your tables go absollutely nuts when someone straddles? LOL lately ive had tables get 4 callers (to the straddle)..then invariably someone decides no one has a hand so they fire pre..there always ends up a few hundred in PRE when someone decdes to f around and straddle lol. I love it.

 

[Rickman]

^^yeah...defending blinds is completely pointless IMO in live cash games. Maaaybe if I have a hand like 89s (something I won't always play) in the BB and the situation is right, being in the BB might be incentive to call).
On $1/2 tables standard is often $12....I always play $2/5 and the standard is either $20-25. Tables are pretty loose and you can often get 3-4 callers when you do have a hand...so yeah, don't let that $2 (or $) impact your decisions.
Related note..do your tables go absollutely nuts when someone straddles? LOL lately ive had tables get 4 callers (to the straddle)..then invariably someone decides no one has a hand so they fire pre..there always ends up a few hundred in PRE when someone decdes to f around and straddle lol. I love it.

ABSOLUTELY! (re: straddles sometimes making the table go crazy) I will say, I rarely, if ever straddle, but love it when someone else does. Very common to see someone live straddle for $10 and several people call. (more so than for a typical open w/o straddle) Can build a big pot pre-flop that way - especially if the straddle or someone else then re-pops. Another benefit is that it loosens the table up in general. My table in Vegas 2 weeks ago was like that. Was a weak, tight almost boring table until a single seat change occured. Guy straddled each time UTG and the game morphed into a great one.