Junk Cards in Small Blind, Table Folds to You: Call or Fold?

[CDNMAN 42]

Ok here is a quandary that I encounter repeatedly, I am in the small blind and I have garbage, all have folded to me...do I call and hope the BB doesn't raise? do I fold? do I raise? I know stack size and BBs playing style are important but I find that this blind situation can yield free chips most of the time?? Opinions?

 

[abgvedr]

Yes very confusing spot. And it annoys me big time when some folks raise SB on me every time. Like i know you dont have anything dude wtf you raising me every time. I repop him few times like 8x and he calms down.

 

[CDNMAN 42]

Blinds

And I guess the other side of the coin is if in BB and (a) you are min raised by SB, or (b) SB raises 3 or more BB, or (c) SB calls and you have a monster do you raise or try to trap?
So many times I have been in a blind and have gotten a Premium hand, all fold to me I raise and sure enough everyone including the other blind folds. Happened three times this AM in MTT I was SB and caught AA. all fold to me I made a min raise and BB folded...twice...ugh

 

[Phoenix Wright]

It doesn't really bother me. Sometimes I raise in the SB just to see how the BB reacts. Some people give credit to a SB raise ALL the time and other people NEVER give credit to it. It doesn't bother me too much, but I take note of which BB players constantly raise me big if I just call from the SB. Against these players, I'm slightly more careful with my hand selection preflop and also more prone to set traps with premium hands because they have a better chance of raising me big than someone else would.

 

[fundiver199]

Without antes you should have a reasonable hand to open from SB, and generally you dont need a limping strategy. With antes pot odds are much better, and in some situations you can play any two cards.

 

[MAGICUZ]

There is nothing to be surprised at, this is the eternal confrontation SB against BB.In many cases these positions do not have good hands, here the game is already in character. In this confrontation, the winner is the one with the stronger eggs)))

 

[StealTheButton]

So I play most hands in the small blind when it is folded to me, except for the worst 72, 38, etc. If the BB is aggressive when I have to be more choosy. I am also a very strong player and acting first can be an advantage.

You also cannot ignore the pot odds- you are getting 3 to 1 on your call. When there are antes its even better, or when the button limps. I win a lot of pots playing from the small blind just because I get to act first- this is not always a disadvantage.

 

[Jon Poker]

Ok here is a quandary that I encounter repeatedly, I am in the small blind and I have garbage, all have folded to me...do I call and hope the BB doesn't raise? do I fold? do I raise? I know stack size and BBs playing style are important but I find that this blind situation can yield free chips most of the time?? Opinions?

GTO has us limping the SB a ton and leading lots of flops when the BB checks back.

That said, one of the most common things about blind play is most players are under defending pre, and over folding post flop -- so I tend to overly exploit BvB. On ACR alone in 2020, I made 10bb/100 in the SB. Incase those stats are unfamiliar to you - we are supposed to be losing money from the blinds - its normal and common, yet I was profitable over the year and a 65k sample size.

Anyhow, when it folds to me in the SB I have a simple strategy BvB - I raise the bottom of my range (all the junk) - I limp/complete the middling and the very top of my range, like QQ+ and alot of middling cards - and I raise the remaining top of my range.

The sizing of my raise depends on stack sizing - OOP we need to size up, so around 30bb+ effective I typically go 3.2x - anything 12-29bb effective I tend to go 2.7x - and when they are shorter than 12bb effective I tend to limp ALOT - unless I know villan is a nit, in which case I just keep raising 2.7x until they fight back.

Anyhow, in conclusion - my personal strategy is an over exploit - and I raise the junk and the some of the best parts of my range - while limping the middle and the very top of my range. When we limp, we can limp call, limp fold, or limp reraise - so even if villan is agro, we have plans for that as well love to throw in limp traps vs agro villans.

 

[Jon Poker]

On the flip side of this perspective when the SB limps to me while I am the BB - I pretty much take the same strategy except I punish the limper by sizing up - I go 3.8x-4x when we are 35bb+ effective and size down accordingly as we get shorter - trying not to dip my raise below 3.3x because even 3x is inviting alot of calls that we are trying to discourage to begin with.