sb vs bb confrontations?
 

I keep getting better and better at MTT. I find one of my biggest leaks in my game to be when im in the SB vs BB. Early I just fold most hands becuse im OOP and the pot is small. Later in the tourneys I'm not sure exactly how I should play when the pot is big with antes and all. Do you guys play junk hands here like 8 4 off, Q2 off etc? I also find myself getting in trouble playing the blind when i hit like bottom pair. Any help greatly aprreciated.

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

Why would you play junk here ever? I think you can open up your range a little and go with any pair...

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

Very read dependent as to what hands you play SB vs BB. Has BB been folding to raises or does he defend blinds? What size is his stack in relation to yours? I personally like to open raise almost ATC >67 here if stack allows it as long as I have a read that the BB does not defend his blinds with mediocre holdings. My range can be from ATC to Ax,any pair,K9+,Q10+,J10+ depending on what kind of player the BB is. Without a good read in early levels obv raise much narrower range than later where blinds and antes are bigger and mean something to your stack.

And I am assuming you mean also that it is folded around to the SB which will happen more later nearing the bubble than early in most SSMTT.

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

Yea im saying usaully when ive already landed in the money. Obviously early on im folding when the pots little and calling when the implied odds are big. I would think raising ATC would get me even more in trouble being OOP. I usaully play ABI of 16 bucks so when you get in the money your not playing with ALL bad players. Players are defending there bb alot of times. If the raise is coming from the small blind I always see players more ept to defend the blind also. What I want to know is when those blinds and antes are big late in tourney and the pot is laying you sick odds to call if its right to call with junk. Q 2 things like that. I know theres alot of factors that come into play here. Do you successful players outt here play bad hands here or just fold because ur OOP.

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

Negreanu raises only very strong hands when opening on the SB OOP and limps of the rest I think whatever he thinks he can get away with (not getting raised). One is of course also playing the player, e.g. sometimes it's clear one can raise to steal the blinds, while in many games the BB defends too much and it's not worth trying to steal, and less so when on the SB and OOP. One might get some value from a weak ace (like under AJ or AQ) if one doesn't open-raise with it as in many situations it's not going to get action until its beaten. There also might be many players who raise the small blind open-call (according to mr. green one should try it early on the tournament to get to know what the BB will do, though he might not stick around too long), so if one is to open-limp there at least a clear part of them should be hands one can play back with (could be dangerous, to risk one's tourney or a big amount for such when there is still fish and one would do better to just wait and drop small values, like the 50-50 to 60-40 situations) or rope a dope with big pairs.

One note of a standard SB and BB play on an unraised preflop flop is that the BB/SB might r/cr, or if he bets and one raises and he reraises, these usually mean at least two pair early on the tournament vs. unknown.

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

there are alot of factors that come into play during SB vs BB confrotations but what I usually like to do is play it like a heads up match which means that I generally want to raise with more hands out of the SB because of the post flop OOP disadvantage and raise less/call more while in the BB. so a hand like K7 i raise in the SB, during later stages in a tourney with antes in play, but just call with the same hand in the BB. again, depends on the player I am up against so my general rule will deviate some.

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

When playing any hand out of the SB I have to have a STRONG reason to just call instead of raise. I prob call less than 10% of the hands I play in SB and then it is usually a slowplay situation with a premium hand. Out of the SB in an unopened pot vs standard player Raise>Fold>Call. Late near bubble or ITM I am calling from SB with AQ+,KK+, all other hands I play I am raising. Out of position against an undefined hand is the worse position to be in in poker IMO.

Re: sb vs bb confrontations?
 

[ QUOTE ]
When playing any hand out of the SB I have to have a STRONG reason to just call instead of raise. I prob call less than 10% of the hands I play in SB and then it is usually a slowplay situation with a premium hand. Out of the SB in an unopened pot vs standard player Raise>Fold>Call. Late near bubble or ITM I am calling from SB with AQ+,KK+, all other hands I play I am raising. Out of position against an undefined hand is the worse position to be in in poker IMO.

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ditto that!