HoH1 Blind Protection

[Degen]

Reading HoH1 last night (fantastic for anybody who hasn't read/bought it) and had some questions for Dan on his blind protection advice, but the bastard wont answer his cell phone so lets see what ya'll think:

He says that when playing against aggressive/super-aggressive opponents you have to defend your blinds from time to time, you want to win/lose the hand as quickly as possible and move on, yada yada. He says to alternate between flat-calling raises and re-raising on a random basis. He also says that when you flat-call or your raise is called you can bet the flop or check-raise as a hyper-aggressive move (this is also when you are the initial aggressor).

I like all of this very very much and though I do stuff similar to this already, I have never had a clear roadmap for it like this, and I am a player who really likes structure and rules to follow etc.

So the question:

Given that I would like to incoporate doing the above (on a random basis) into my game, at what intervals would be optimal?


New move 1: What % of time to defend blind (w/ a hand that I may open from in LP but definately not a hand I'd normally defend blinds with...say KJo or A5 or 67s etc.)?

New move 2: When blind is defended, what % of time to raise and what % of time to flat call?

New move 3: When blind is defended by flat-calling raise, what % of time to contest the pot by leading or check/raising (assuming unimproved hand and reasonably safe board)? And then when pot is contested...what % of time to lead and what % to check-raise?

Again all of this is ONLY WHEN playing a super-aggressive opponent who attacks your blinds often, with both players having semi-deep stacks and neither being pot committed by the blinds or initial raising.



I am thinking that 50-50 is good for all of the above. And I am further thinking that that is either a really +EV assumption on my behalf or a SERIOUSLY -EV assumption and my figure is way off.


Discuss.

[downtown]

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Again all of this is ONLY WHEN playing a super-aggressive opponent who attacks your blinds often, with both players having semi-deep stacks and neither being pot committed by the blinds or initial raising.

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I also really enjoyed both HOH 1&2, but I feel like the situation that you describe here is so limited in SNGs. Maybe it applies in levels 2-4, but I seriously don't care if I feel like someone is stealing my blinds in levels 1-3; it just becomes a matter of what odds the pot is offering in those levels. At higher blind levels, the pots are going to be large enough that the blinds are most likely going to matter to someone. I agree that these passages are useful, but in my opinoin it's more for MTT's. I have a hard time bringing this topic into my STT game, but I could just be missing something.

That said,
New move #1: I defend my blinds with this type of hand (maybe not low suited connectors) anyway Starting Level 6 or so if stealer has been active and I have enough of a stack to get him to fold. The blinds are getting to be a decent size where he's probably gonna have to call anyway if he's got anything halfway decent.

New Move 2: I think in STTs often you will be offering odds to call when you reraise all in. Stop n go is your only option here, and dangerous in a SNG in my experience, though sometimes effective against opponents who play weak/tight after the flop.

New move 3: Again I guess this is just a stop n go. I think a lot of times you *must* lead unless stacks are still very deep. Otherwise a c/r may give any decent pot-sized bet late in the game, when the blinds are worth fighting over, odds to call.

[Degen]

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Again all of this is ONLY WHEN playing a super-aggressive opponent who attacks your blinds often, with both players having semi-deep stacks and neither being pot committed by the blinds or initial raising.

[/ QUOTE ]

I also really enjoyed both HOH 1&2, but I feel like the situation that you describe here is so limited in SNGs. Maybe it applies in levels 2-4, but I seriously don't care if I feel like someone is stealing my blinds in levels 1-3; it just becomes a matter of what odds the pot is offering in those levels. At higher blind levels, the pots are going to be large enough that the blinds are most likely going to matter to someone. I agree that these passages are useful, but in my opinoin it's more for MTT's. I have a hard time bringing this topic into my STT game, but I could just be missing something.

That said,
New move #1: I defend my blinds with this type of hand (maybe not low suited connectors) anyway Starting Level 6 or so if stealer has been active and I have enough of a stack to get him to fold. The blinds are getting to be a decent size where he's probably gonna have to call anyway if he's got anything halfway decent.

New Move 2: I think in STTs often you will be offering odds to call when you reraise all in. Stop n go is your only option here, and dangerous in a SNG in my experience, though sometimes effective against opponents who play weak/tight after the flop.

New move 3: Again I guess this is just a stop n go. I think a lot of times you *must* lead unless stacks are still very deep. Otherwise a c/r may give any decent pot-sized bet late in the game, when the blinds are worth fighting over, odds to call.

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It applies to up to 150-300 when ppl do small raises to steal, and it is huge throughout MTT play. Say you have 2k each and blinds 100-200 and opponent makes it 500. This is the spot i am referring to.

And I guess I wasn't clear enough. I was only asking how often to do the selected moves when the opportunity arrises. I suggested 1/2 the time.

So basically I flip a coin each time this guy raises my blind and if its heads i defend and if its tails i pass. Then if i defend, i flip the coin again: heads i flat-call tails i re-raise. If we see a flop, i flip it again: heads i defend an unimproved, safe flop and tails i don't. If i defend: heads i lead, tails i check-raise.

Does this make sense to anybody but me? /images/graemlins/grin.gif


So the question is...is 50% too often to be doing these moves IF I DECIDE THEY ARE PART OF MY GAME or is it about right or is it not enough?

[Degen]

bumptastic

[Bigwig]

What kind of format are you talking about?

Much of Dan's advice applies to live MTTs. And I assume deep stack MTTs. When you're playing against the same player for perhaps 6 hours, and he keeps robbing your blinds every other orbit, defending becomes important. In a STT SNG, with the payout structure, liberally defending your blinds at most points is dangerous. At the higher levels (100/200), I think it's more important, but still dangerous.

EDIT--I meant higher buy-ins of 100/200, not blind levels.