A few basic questions

[5thAve]

HI.....
having problems how to play the small blind with marginal hands....Mainly because I have to play the hand OOP if we see a flop.

Hands like KQ, AJ etc that can easily be dominated, should I be flat calling in the SB?

[Fermion5]

By flat calling do you mean completing or calling a raise from someone else on the table? If it's the latter then it depends. If it's a late position raise and you think the person is trying to steal you may want to reraise them.

Can't be obsessed and throw away good hands b/c you may be dominated. KQ, AJ, AQ are all good hands to see a flop with. Usually its hit or miss with these hands so it's easy to get away if you miss. Even if you are dominated the chances that one of the two trouble cards appear on the board are slim.

[Mr.ScragglyBeard]

Hey,

I'll pitch my 2 cents, and then let some of the more experienced players give you their take. There's no "exact" answer - it really depends on your opponents and their playing style. Pre-flop, being in the small blind gives you the advantage of seeing everyone else's move before its your turn to act.

So if the tightest player in the game just made it 3-5xBB, I would be inclined to dump KQ, AJ, AT, KJ since you're either i) dominated, ii) facing a decent pocket pair (9-J), or iii) a monster. If a player who has been playing some marginal hands opened in early position, then use your best judgement - what range of hands has s/he opened with before? I would also consider how many other people are going to be playing in the pot - if you get 3-5 calls of the raise (unlikely, but for the sake of an example), then you're getting decent pot odds to play those hands.

Post flop you need to evaluate the board - if you connected with the board fire off a probe bet to figure out where you stand. If you get a raise, and then a re-raise, then there's a good chance someone was playing a better hand, and you can just cut and run. But really, it depends on who is betting. The tighter the player, the more likely it is that your hand is toast.

If you just need to complete the bet (I just want to make sure I didn't misunderstand your question) from the SB, then you would obviously do so with the above hands you mentioned. Personally, I despise playing easily dominated hands out of position - if they are non-suited I would dump the above to a sizable raise from EP pretty quickly. If the raiser is tight, they are also getting dumped suited or not. Against a looser player I would like to see a flop - the nut flush possibility/likelihood of a wider range of hands warrants a call in my oppinion with AJs, ATs.

Sorry if that was kind of vague and useless.

[5thAve]

Thanks for the replies, scraggly, you answered exactly what i was after! thanks again

[Gonso]

5th,

One of the most obvious mistakes newer NLHE players make is overplaying hands from the blinds. The "oh, it's just a little more to call" typically doesn't overcome the disadvantages of playing in horrible, horrible position. It's not the cost of seeing the flop itself that's the problem, it's the kind of trouble some of those hands get you in when you flop something.

If the flop comes A94 in a three-way pot and you have AT, being first to act makes an already marginal situation more difficult.

Calling raises with marginal hands from the SB isn't really advised unless you feel comfortable postflop. Playing OOP with KJ is tricky business, for example. Pairs are a little different because it's easy to toss 44 on a AJ5 flop.

As far as completing the SB when no one has raised - my first reaction is to see if raising is a good option. If you have AJo and are after two limpers, don't call, raise it. If it's a passive game and you have a good multiway hand vs lots of limpers, then calling is a better idea (like if you have 98s or A5s or something like that).

But, in normal games, try to stay out of spots where you're first to act with vulnerable hands. One way to avoid that is to play marginal preflop hands more decisively: raise them or just fold them, don't call so much. Raising costs a little more, but you'll take the pot a lot of the time, and other times you can get some info on your opponent's strength.

Two people limp to you and you have KQo on the SB? Easy raise. A lot of the time you'll be 3-betting this hand if someone raises before you - esp if it looks like a position raise.

But when I'm OOP, I want the hand to end as soon as possible even if it's a decent hand.