The difference between defending SB and BB

[chopchoi]

here's a situation i often find myself in.

i am in SB, with a decent hand (say AJ), facing a LP open raise from an aggressive player. I know he would make this move with any two, so i come over the top with a push, only to be called by a monster in the big blind.

In the SB, I need two players to fold. In BB, I only need the original raiser to fold. So, obviously, I need a better hand to defend my SB than I do to defend my BB. But how much better?

If ATo is the smallest ace I would defend my BB with, what should my minimum be from SB? AQ? AK?

If I would defend my BB with 7's or better, what do I need to defend my SB in the same situations? 9's? 10's?

[Shorty35]

[ QUOTE ]
here's a situation i often find myself in.

i am in SB, with a decent hand (say AJ), facing a LP open raise from an aggressive player. I know he would make this move with any two, so i come over the top with a push, only to be called by a monster in the big blind.

In the SB, I need two players to fold. In BB, I only need the original raiser to fold. So, obviously, I need a better hand to defend my SB than I do to defend my BB. But how much better?

If ATo is the smallest ace I would defend my BB with, what should my minimum be from SB? AQ? AK?

If I would defend my BB with 7's or better, what do I need to defend my SB in the same situations? 9's? 10's?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is VERY table/stack/read dependent. But in an "average" situation, I would say that you are not defending enough against an aggressive player if you only defend with the range you outlined (both SB and BB).

With respect to your AJ hand, stack sizes are critical. Could you have reraised less than a push without being pot stuck? Again, in "normal" situations, only a big hand would come over you in the BB and you possibly can get away from AJ in that event.

I dont think that there is any formulaic answer to how much better your SB hand needs to be to defend. In fact, I would say that the qualities/capabilities of the steal raiser and BB (together with stack sizes theirs and yours) matter more than the hand range.

[CallYNotRaise06]

jeez i wish everyone had thoes defending requirements, id be stealing like a mad man /images/graemlins/smile.gif

deciding when to defend/resteal in the blinds depends alot on the situation and stack sizes, and really doesnt matter as much about the hand. your playing the player and the situation right?

in your spot if the stack sizes werent deep enough to raise and be able to get away from it, id push like you did.

if i was sittin on a bigger stack, id make a raise, but still leave myself with enough chips left just incase the bb does pick up a monster.

[woodguy]

Shorty is right and that this is very read/stack size dependent.

I love re-stealing from the SB, sometimes the BB wakes up with a hand and you're out, it happens, but not often enough to make the move unprofitable over the long tern, don't let it stop you.

Regards,
Woodguy

[chopchoi]

in the situation in question, i had 20 BB. this was a 3 table sit-n-go, with 4 players left. Button raised to 4xBB. He had me covered, and I thought if I min-raised him, he might call with junk or come back over the top with junk. so i figured i needed to make it 12 BB to have a reasonable chance of getting him to fold. But then, 12 BB would be more than half my stack, so i decided it was push or fold. i pushed.