calling raises from big blind

[rubberloon]

My limit "system"?! based SSHE (imitation is sincerest flattery) splits hands into classes RRR (raise a reraise) RR (reraise a raise) CR (call raise) R (raise) L (limp) and F (fold), which works sort of. In big blind I call raise with CR or better.

Question: Is should you regard big blind as bet and call all single bet raises?

[Pontus]

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Question: Is should you regard big blind as bet and call all single bet raises?

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The big blind is the center of the game which makes it going in the first place. It's the stakes that you battle around for the beginning. Though if I get your question right you ask if you should count them as "Real player bets", I'd say no to that. Since the blinds don't give you any information about the play. He's just tossing it in there because he has to.

I can't say if this is in any relation to your strategy choices since I didn't really get you explaination. Someone else has to take that one.

[mvdgaag]

As said above, the blind does not give information, but it creates a pot worth fighting for and obligates everyone to play more hands than AA. Also in the blinds you obviously have a bit better odds agaisnt a raise because you allready paid part of the call with the blind.

Some players see the blind as something they need to defend, while others see it as something completely apart from that particular hand. They just think: "There are 5 opponents, so every hand I play costs me 1/6th of the total blinds on average. Compared to the stacks this distates to play tight/loose/whatev."

The fact that your blind is out there does not tell anyone anything about your hand. But sometimes it does about your behaviour. If you feel you need to defend your blind people will take advantage of this, because you call with weak hands just because you were in the blinds. So do not see the blind as a bet from yourself, just realise that it slightly changes the odds, since you (or your opponents) have to call a bit less.

[ottsville]

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Question: Is should you regard big blind as bet and call all single bet raises?

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Well, there's lots of variables. What position is the raiser in, what are his standards, are there cold callers, are there limpers in before the raise, etc.

Your hand strength is also part of the equation here. A beginner may be correct to never call a raise from the blind w/o a hand that he would typically play in mid position or later. However, if you play well post flop and OOP, you could open up your hand selection, especially in pots that will end up being several players to the flop.