Hello all,

I've been playing cash games for quite a while now and I'm still suffering from pretty awful leaks. I found out that I'm playing very, very bad from the BB position. My BB/100 winrate on this position is -70.32 over a sample of 41k hands. This is for mostly NL10 and NL25 and also NL5. I think one of the reasons is that I'm trying to defend too often which puts me in tough (losing) positions.

The stats that are outside of leaktracker's winning interval are fold blind to steal (63.65%, slightly too low) ,3b when facing steal (16.60%, too high) and pfr (10.85%, too high). What do you guys consider the strongest leak out of these three stats?

Do you guys have any material that you would advise me to study so I can work on this? What do you focus on when playing from this position?
Is a winrate of -40 BB/100 on this position a reasonable target?

Thanks !

I am at -39BB/100 with 130k hands play (still a small sample) for online play (cash games only). There is a lot of information on BB defense in regards to when to flat, raise or fold, depends on what position the raise opened the action and for how much. I pay for an annual subscription to a website and many of them out there have valuable information like this. Maybe try googling BB defense cash games and see if there is anything on the web.

My numbers you gave as a comparison;
Fold blind to steal is 67.3%
3Bet when facing steal is 7.64%
PFR is 7.21%

Originally Posted by Dhendrixon

I am at -39BB/100 with 130k hands play (still a small sample) for online play (cash games only). There is a lot of information on BB defense in regards to when to flat, raise or fold, depends on what position the raise opened the action and for how much. I pay for an annual subscription to a website and many of them out there have valuable information like this. Maybe try googling BB defense cash games and see if there is anything on the web.

My numbers you gave as a comparison;
Fold blind to steal is 67.3%
3Bet when facing steal is 7.64%
PFR is 7.21%

thanks bro for your data, it will help me a lot to analyze my hands

I'd suggest running a report where you compare your stats (the three you give in your post and any others you're interested in) with those of other regulars in your game that you respect and have a big sample on. Look for where your stats differ significantly from there's and that can be a nice place to start looking for potential leaks.

Hi. It seems to me that your 3bet range is wider than optimal. May be you should call with bottom of your 3bet value range.

From what I understand, youre supposed to defend fairly wide from the bb (eg. any 2 suited cards), otherwise people will just steal all your chips (google bb defending charts). I think this is only if they open from the button or cutoff though, someone correct me

Definitely following this thread, many players have this same issue and I think it can be very challenging to overcome. Some things that don't directly show up in stats are things such as table image. Sometimes it can play huge part in how your played back on and can go a long way in combating it.

Originally Posted by Collin Moshman

I'd suggest running a report where you compare your stats (the three you give in your post and any others you're interested in) with those of other regulars in your game that you respect and have a big sample on. Look for where your stats differ significantly from there's and that can be a nice place to start looking for potential leaks.

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to start doing a thorough analysis of my hands so I can see where the leaks are!

Originally Posted by whowantwhat

From what I understand, youre supposed to defend fairly wide from the bb (eg. any 2 suited cards), otherwise people will just steal all your chips (google bb defending charts). I think this is only if they open from the button or cutoff though, someone correct me

Eu também acho que tenho que defender um pouco mais das pessoas que apostam no CO e BT, porque geramente tendem a aumentar mesmo que seja usado em um Range menor para roubar os blinds!

Originally Posted by Marcus_Trivinho

Do you guys have any material that you would advise me to study so I can work on this? What do you focus on when playing from this position?
Is a winrate of -40 BB/100 on this position a reasonable target?

Thanks !

1. This is where a HUD is useful. BB defence theory relies a lot on villains stealing effectively. With a HUD, you can see if villain steals wide or narrow (or optimal) and react accordingly.
For example; Not every player will attempt to steal with K4s on the button, and for the ones that do, not all of them will call a 3bet with K4s, but some will.

2. Personally I focus on the fact my calling range has to be higher than his raising range in order for me to call. This is why I think it's important to know villains range first.

3. Going from -70bb/100 to -40bb/100 is more of a dream than a target.
Going from -70bb/100 to -60bb/100 is a more realistic target short-term.

Originally Posted by crazycitizen

1. This is where a HUD is useful. BB defence theory relies a lot on villains stealing effectively. With a HUD, you can see if villain steals wide or narrow (or optimal) and react accordingly.
For example; Not every player will attempt to steal with K4s on the button, and for the ones that do, not all of them will call a 3bet with K4s, but some will.

2. Personally I focus on the fact my calling range has to be higher than his raising range in order for me to call. This is why I think it's important to know villains range first.

3. Going from -70bb/100 to -40bb/100 is more of a dream than a target.
Going from -70bb/100 to -60bb/100 is a more realistic target short-term.

Yes bro, I agree, but what if the villain always raises the same amount regardless of Range? I am a type of person who does this, that is, my bets are always the same for both bleef and good play.