Blind defense at .25/.50

[death_blooms]

What are the optimal hands to play against a blind steal when on the small blind vs. a tight opponent, vs a loose oppontent, and also the same vs a tight opponent?

[Bona]

The bad news is books could be written on this subject. So there is no 2 paragraph answer.

The good news is books have been written Start with Small Stakes Hold'em Also there are lots of historical threads in these 2+2 forums about the subject.

I expect you will be flamed for the question because many frequent posters think it is incumbent on you to have done your homework. I have to agree with them.

[Befolder]

[ QUOTE ]
What are the optimal hands to play against a blind steal when on the small blind vs. a tight opponent, vs a loose oppontent, and also the same vs a tight opponent?

[/ QUOTE ]
While it's true this has been rehashed over and over, I got an answer when I asked it, so I will at least offer a nugget.

It would be too easy to miss ranges of hands to play so instead I'll offer theory.

If you have a tight opponent raising your blind from late position, obviously defend less. Defend a bit more for loose raisers.

What you do post flop is going to be more critical though. That's the hard part.

[death_blooms]

Maybe before I get flamed I should specify my reason for asking, I have read SSHE 2 times and searched various times on this topic and Im still noticing my numbers are off for Blind defending. I was just looking forward to maybe some advice of big common mistakes in this area that are easily missed.

[Bona]

This may not be at all helpful but I can't resist the comment. I am trying to learn blind defense also and may be at about the same place you are. I can't know that of course. So FWIW:

I have read a lot of conflicting opinions on the subject and I think it is possible there are more people trying to steal and also to defend with hands they should muck than people who should be stealing and defending more. Naturally the range should expand a little on the steal side because of your position advantage. It expands a little on the defend side because you have already made some of the investment. But you also have to contract a little on the defend side because you are OOP. So far it,IOM. it comes down to being very read dependent and I need good solid reads to steal or defend much outside my fairly tight range. I have lots to learn here I know but so far I a treading very lightly. (Comments made from the perspective of a .50/1.00 player) Other levels other ranges?

[Sushiglutton]

U can find this out urself. Get Pokerstove. Give villain a steal range. Then test what hands have more than 50% equity against that range and play them (re-raise). This isn't the true answer but could give u a rough estimate of what hands to play from SB. Just try different combos and see what happens.

Here are a couple of more things to consider:

1) How good is villain? U can play a little more loose if villain is poor, especially if he is too tight postflop.
2) Who is BB? Is BB likely to come in for two bets? If so u could call instead with some of the 'drawing hands'. Also if he is bad u may not mind letiing him in the pot.
3) Ur image
4) Bla bla, I don't know half of it myself, this game is just so hard [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img].

[Fantam]

I will have a go at answering this, but it really is going to be a very judgemental decision, depending upon your view of your opponent.

Also you need to consider that some players might be loose with hands that they will limp or call preflop with, but quite tight with hands that they raise with.

I am going to assume that the pf raiser is either in the CO or on the button, and that you can broadly categorise him as one of the following:

1. Tight pf raising standards with no adjustment made for the late position of being the CO or button.

2. Tight pf raising standards, but loosening up for late position.

3. Loose pf raising standards regardless of position.

Generally speaking, I would 3-bet with my better hands to try to drive out the big blind.

1. Against a very tight preflop raiser, I would only 3-bet hands that I would play against any other position raiser:

AA-TT + AK.

I would probably call with AQs,AJs + KQs.

2. I would loosen up a bit against the positionally aware pf raiser. I would add the following hands to the above to now 3-bet with:

99 + AQ.

I would also call with 88,ATs,KJs,QJs,JTs,AJ,KQ.

3. I would loosen up most against the loose rasier and would add the following hands to 3-bet with:

88 + AJ.

I would also call with 77,66,A9s,A8s,KTs,QTs,AT + KJ.

Overall, I think that the above range of hands is quite tight, and that some players would defend their small blind more vigorously.

Nonetheless the above range is a start, and you will need to consider your post flop play as well.

Against the loosest of opponents, you may be prepared to see a showdown with as little as A high. However, against tighter players, I would consider that you would usually be looking to connect well with the flop to continue.

[bozlax]

Just to put a different perspective on your question, how often do you actually find Villans stealing at .25/.50? i.e. how often does a PFR either showdown junk or fold before showdown?

My point is twofold: 1) you really need to have a read on the PFR, at any limit, to be able to give yourself a defending range, and 2) the lower you play, the less likely an unknown Villan is to be a. aware and b. aggressive enough to attempt to steal. (Among other reasons, you're probably unknown to him as well, so he doesn't know if you're tight-passive enough to try and steal FROM.)

[kerowo]

[ QUOTE ]
Just to put a different perspective on your question, how often do you actually find Villans stealing at .25/.50? i.e. how often does a PFR either showdown junk or fold before showdown?

My point is twofold: 1) you really need to have a read on the PFR, at any limit, to be able to give yourself a defending range, and 2) the lower you play, the less likely an unknown Villan is to be a. aware and b. aggressive enough to attempt to steal. (Among other reasons, you're probably unknown to him as well, so he doesn't know if you're tight-passive enough to try and steal FROM.)

[/ QUOTE ]

The biggest lesson to learn is the difference between a steal and a value raise. Nothing sucks more than defending against a "steal" that turns out to be a premium hand.

Once you think it's a steal your cards aren't all that important. Obviously you don't want to be defending with utter crap unless you have a good read but you can certainly widen what you're going to defend with wider than what you'd call a raise from the blinds with.

The two standard blind defense strategies are:
1. Call pre-flop c/r any flop, lead the turn
2. Raise pre-flop, lead any flop.

2 is almost manditory from the SB unless you know BB will call anything, in which case tighten up your defense starting hands and let BB worry about it.

If you get to the turn and villain is still around, or villian raises you somewhere you can start looking at the board and thinking about outs and what not. But again, if you don't have reads on the villain you are going to be hard pressed to make the right decisions.

Another way to thwart steal attempts is to call down with anything that will beat ace high. Too often someone stealing with Ax will bet every street unimproved.