Should I just give up playing from the blinds?

[nameless1537]

I'm looking at my PT4 results by position... and yes, this is only based on 1,450 hands at 2NL... but this is what my stats are showing in terms of BB/100:

SB: -84.57 (winning 47 out of 187 hands played)
BB: -135.56 (winning 27 out of 188 hands played)
EP: +47.17 (winning 9 out of 300 hands played)
MP: +110.59 (winning 34 out of 392 hands played)
CO: -14.77 (winning 23 out of 193 hands played)
BTN: +34.74 (winning 29 out of 190 hands played)

Total: +13.79 (winning 170 hands out of 1,450 hands played)

Again, I know this is a super small sample size, but it just shows how badly I'm playing from the blinds. I'm not really concerned about the CO stat -- I just lost an all-in hand from the CO position on a bit of a cooler (but I think I also misplayed that hand... addressed in an earlier post)... but up until tonight, I've been net positive from all of the other positions. I am surprised that I am only +34 from LP though... in theory, this should be the highest of them all, right?

 

[Gohaku94]

I'm looking at my PT4 results by position... and yes, this is only based on 1,450 hands at 2NL... but this is what my stats are showing in terms of BB/100:

SB: -84.57 (winning 47 out of 187 hands played)
BB: -135.56 (winning 27 out of 188 hands played)
EP: +47.17 (winning 9 out of 300 hands played)
MP: +110.59 (winning 34 out of 392 hands played)
CO: -14.77 (winning 23 out of 193 hands played)
BTN: +34.74 (winning 29 out of 190 hands played)

Total: +13.79 (winning 170 hands out of 1,450 hands played)

Again, I know this is a super small sample size, but it just shows how badly I'm playing from the blinds. I'm not really concerned about the CO stat -- I just lost an all-in hand from the CO position on a bit of a cooler (but I think I also misplayed that hand... addressed in an earlier post)... but up until tonight, I've been net positive from all of the other positions. I am surprised that I am only +34 from LP though... in theory, this should be the highest of them all, right?

Everybody loses from the blinds no matter how good they are. In any database you will look it will be like this.
All you can do is try to get those numbers.. higher. Instead of -135 from bb get it to -100 first and that is already +35 compared to now.

 

[fundiver199]

You cant evaluate even your overall results over such a small sample, and even less results from individual position. Even after 100.000 hands there is still huge variance in the results, when you split them up by position.

And as the other reply state, everyone lose from the blinds. This is obvious, because the blinds are forced bets with random hands, which is never going to be a winning strategy. Without blinds the optimal strategy in NHL would be to go all in before the flop with AA and fold everything else.

My combined loss rate from SB and BB is somewhere around 30 BB / 100, and this is the kind of number, you should be aiming to see after 50k or 100k hands. Until then dont even look at these results. Just focus on playing good solid poker, and if you do, the results will come.

That being said, if you find yourself often cold calling out of SB, you can almost certainly improve your results by simply stopping to do that. It is possible to sometimes make a profitable cold call from SB, but playing strict 3-bet or fold is much closer to the optimal strategy, than what most players tend to do, when they are new to the game.

So the answer is, you should not stop to defend your blinds, but you should probably stop almost entirely to defend your SB by calling. If its not good enough to 3-bet, just let it go. BB is very different, because you are getting a good price and closing action. Its very far from optimal to never call from BB, so playing pots out of position without initiative is something, you need to get good at, but you dont need to add in extra spots by limping into pots or cold calling from SB.

 

[Vallet]

You've done a broad analysis. You can stop playing the small blind, but if you stop protecting the big blind, the villains will make a note and will attack with bad hands.

 

[nameless1537]

In hindsight, I think this post was done out of long term frustration. The reality is that I will likely be playing from BB and SB with a very narrow range. But will widen that range is the pre-flop raise is in late position with a knack for playing LAG / maniac, and I'd probably 3bet with a semi-strong hand. But if there is a raise with multiple callers, I'd probably play a lot more conservatively and resist temptation to 3bet most of the time at my current stakes. That might change as I move up stakes... but I just don't know if opponents have the discipline to fold too much to a 3bet from early position, and with more players in a pot from the blinds, it's just a losing proposition in most instances outside of having a monster hand.

Thanks for the comments so far though. It does give me more food for thought.

 

[fundiver199]

There is certainly nothing wrong with being more snug from the blinds, if there are field callers. It mean, that more people are now fighting for the small blind and antes, if there are such as in most tournaments, so you are actually getting a worse price and not, as many people think, a better price.

Sure there are certain hands, that dont mind going multiway, like small or medium pairs, but many other hands perform worse multiway. For instance QJo is a standard defend against a HJ open, but if CO or BTN has called, its a fold, because you dont want to go multiway OOP with a hand, that mostly flop a not to great pair.