Blind Defense

[Guelph]

A situation that comes up way too often, and potentially a big hole in my game is blind defense.

Too often, I'll "know" someone is making a steal, but just can't pull the trigger to defend my blinds, since I hate losing large amounts of chips on "junk" hands like K2o or Q6o.

Let's say you're in the BB, and the button raises 4xBB every single time it's folded to him in late position without looking at his cards, what cards do you need to defend with? All we know is he has 2 cards.

For sake of a starting point, lets assume you and the thief are equal stacks. I know the decisions will change when one or the other player has a significantly larger stack than the other.

If the raise is < 10% of your stack, what cards are worth a call? What do you need to re-raise (and how much)? What about when the raise is 25% of your stack? 50%? More?

I personally think I fold too many of these situations, but I just wonder what others usually play in this spot so I can see if there are certain hands that I'm just not seeing the proper value in.

[Ross]

Your hand is almost irrelevant; you have to judge how genuine the raisers hand is. If he is a frequent raiser then you have less reason to credit him with a hand and more reason to try to defend your blind.

If you are making a move to defend your blinds generally reraise unless you have a big pair which you can count on being the best hand on the flop. There are number of reasons for this

1 You will have the worst position after the flop and a check will invite your opponent to bet thereby surrendering more chips than had you given up the blind in the 1st place.

2. If your opponent is habitual blind stealer with any 2 cards no flop is safe for you, so it is better to reraise forcing the raiser out of the pot.

3. In cases were the raiser has a genuine hand you can get away from it without doing further damage when you flop a good 2nd best hand.

An example in a NLHE tournament I try to raid the blinds with a raise holding 9h7h. The BB calls flop Ts6d8c. BB has AT and goes broke.

Had she raised I don’t call and therefore I don’t hit the flop but once I do she is in all sorts of trouble because she cannot put me on a straight.

However on the same flop if I have a high pocket pair she is also in trouble with AT a hand that she would not have stood a reraise with pre flop.

There is a case to be made for stealing and defending blinds with trash i.e. making a play with hand that if the original raise or reraise is called you are not going any further with. If by some strange twist of fate you hit the flop and you have to show the piece of trash you re-raised with it will completely baffle your opponents.

Regards

Ross