Blinds - The other view

[Naforole]

Players who are not that experienced often fail to read the table. Especially if they happen to wake up with a big hand.
The risk here is that you become so much in love with your AA, AK, AQ… that you can’t see any other scenarios that might be evolving around you.

But you try to be wise, play it cool, and make a min-raise to 2 blinds with your AKo.

Big blind calls (others have folded) and the flop comes 7s9h3d. Totally unconnected rainbow flop. BB checks.
You feel strong with this board and you keep pounding. You make a half pot bet.

At this point you have probably already forgot (if you ever even noticed) that you are playing against the big blind that could be holding anything.

BB calls with the 25% equity that you are giving him.

Turn brings 7c. No biggie since BB did not make a move. You follow with another half pot raise, and BB calls.

River brings an ace. You feel confident about having the better hand. You bet more than half a pot.

BB calls with 78s, and you lose.

What happened here?

1) if you have already been sitting at that table for several rounds you should have at least a basic picture in your mind about your opponents:
which of them is loose, maniac, tight, aggressive, etc. If you didn’t pay any attention to that, that was your first mistake.

2) You treated the player in the big blind like any other player. You assumed that he would continue only with the same type of hands that he might raise/call from some other position.
When a player is in the big blind he should defend pretty wide against blatant steal attempts. Your initial 1bb raise gave him a decent enough odds to call when also anties are in play. If you knew that the player in the big blind is tight - you should have raised bigger.

3) People who hold smaller pairs are often afraid of scare cards (A, K, Q) on the flop. But those are not the only scare cards. When ever the board has a pair on it you should be mindful about it.

4) What is your own table image? Are you a mystery or a straightforward player? How good your AQ/AK is in these situations depends also much on you. Are you able to bluff with a believable story or do you always get caught?

Do you recognize any of these errors in your own play?

Poker is so much more than just cards, and often things are easier said than done. We all need to take a look in the mirror from time to time.

[bermejoga]

I’ve made this exact mistake so many times
I will try to stop overplaying big hands and actually pay attention to the table

[Ripley_Poker]

The big mistake here was to bet the turn and not check behind. As u correctly stated the big blind can hold a wide range so the flop is actually a pretty bad flop for our hand and if he then calls a continuation bet, alarm bells should ring.

Also not a fan of minraising pre. We let the big blind in too cheap here.

[playbetter]

Great analysis about blind defense and hand tunnel vision.

When I see players make this mistake, it always reminds me that position matters more than premium cards. Playing AK from early position is way different than playing it in position - and playing against the big blind specifically requires extra caution.

The big blind defender’s range is incredibly wide, and rightfully so! They’re getting amazing odds to call with any two cards that have some potential. That 78s is exactly the kind of hand they should be continuing with.

A min-raise against the BB is practically begging them to defend with almost their entire range. That can be OK if you are good post flop - but you must be willing to sometimes just check it on some low and middle card flops when you have just Ace high. If you are afraid of being run over every time you check mix in some strong hands in your checking range, especially against players that float often.

The paired board on the turn should have been a massive red flag. When villain calls the flop and then calls again on a paired board, alarm bells should be ringing! This is classic “I have a piece of this board but don’t want to lead” behavior.

[mattiebumpo]

Great post! I see the trend of these min raises but it really makes it almost impossible for the BB to fold any two cards. It is very important to pay attention to the board texture and be willing to check when the board clearly favors the BB over your range. It is frustrating when we have such a nice starting hand like AK and then just have to check it down or fold.

[napkin_holder]

@playbetter

The big blind defender’s range is incredibly wide, and rightfully so! They’re getting amazing odds to call with any two cards that have some potential.

That depends on how big the call is. If there is a 5x opening and no call behind, pot odds aren’t that good at all. I’m not very interested in playing 87s out-of-position here and you shouldn’t be either.

Defending the BB is overrated. Yes, there are times when pot odds are good and you can call fairly wide but for the most part, “Gotta defend the BB!” is just another mantra excuse for a fish to call with weak cards.

The BB is STILL the second-worst seat at the table and position matters. Your BB range will be a little wider than your UtG range but it shouldn’t be a ton wider.

[napkin_holder]

Open AK bigger. Problem solved.

[Maxogon15]

I understand what you mean, and thank you for covering this topic.
Indeed, we behave quite confidently when we get a strong, in our opinion, preflop hand, but we really lose sight of the fact that BB will most often make a small bet with any hand, because he is already in this struggle because of his own position.
I recently found myself in a similar situation: the blinds were already quite high and I had JQs. I made a BB bet and found myself fighting a player who was on BB. flop JJ2, turn 3, river 8. I got carried away and went ALL-IN on the river… The opponent showed J2 of different suits. This is a case where a sane player would not have called if he wasn’t in a BB position.

[playbetter]

Edit below.

[playbetter]

@napkin_holder

That depends on how big the call is. If there is a 5x opening and no call behind, pot odds aren’t that good at all. I’m not very interested in playing 87s out-of-position here and you shouldn’t be either.

Defending the BB is overrated. Yes, there are times when pot odds are good and you can call fairly wide but for the most part, “Gotta defend the BB!” is just another mantra excuse for a fish to call with weak cards.

The BB is STILL the second-worst seat at the table and position matters. Your BB range will be a little wider than your UtG range but it shouldn’t be a ton wider.

In modern Poker, you only raise bigger than 2-3 BB unless you play against total morons that call your big 5x open (I guess you either play Live or very low stakes - maybe Play Money).

Here are two charts that have BB-defense against UTG (so this is the TIGHTEST BB Calling Range). The first chart is 100BB deep and the opening 2.5BB and the second is 30BB deep and the opening 2.3BB.

Don’t be afraid to play post-flop. You want to play a lot of hands against BB - since you have position and range advantage - not shut them out with a ridiculously big opening.

[napkin_holder]

@playbetter

In modern Poker, you only raise bigger than 2-3 BB unless you play against total morons that call your big 5x open (I guess you either play Live or very low stakes - maybe Play Money).

Yes, what do you think this site is?

[antonis32123]

It is hard to play out of position , at least for me . And yes small blond vs big blond can be tough , easy to get bluffed , especially if the other one is very loose player , if he knows that you play very tight and scared money , very easy to bluff you . On the big blond many tend to call with ATC . , especially at the micro nano stakes .