protecting blinds

[umdpoker]

is it even worth trying to protect your blinds at a LL full ring game? i tried to protect my blinds and got into a bidding war and eventually lost 3 bb because i didn't want to be a blind stealing victim every time it got down to 3 people to see the flop. anyways, this put me on a mini-tilt because i was angry at myself for doing something so stupid. funny how one stupid act causes another. anyways, i now think it is not worth it, as getting down to 3 people in a low limit game just doesn't happen enough to justify blind protection. besides, can't you just get them back when they try when you hold good down cards? let me know how to avoid another costly mistake, please!!!

[Nate tha' Great]

If the preflop raiser does not have a pocket pair and you are heads up, you will get +EV from calling one more bet with virtually any hand.

For example, 76o beats AKo 38% of the time:

http://www.twodimes.net/poker/?g=h&b=&d=&h=Ah+Kc%0D%0A7d+6s

Since you're paying 1 BB here to win 2.5, it would clearly be in your best interest to call if the hand ended right there, and you won the pot 38% of the time.

The problem is that is that hand doesn't end right there, and you will be out of position always, and behind usually, once the flop comes.

I'd say the two biggest things to consider are as follows:

1) Since it certainly isn't in your best interest to defend heads up against an overpair to your two hole cards, you need to estimate how likely it is that the preflop raiser had a big pocket pair, versus two unpaired big cards like AK, KQ, etc. If he hasn't been raising that much, or the raise comes from early position, it is more likely than not that he had a pocket pair, and you'll usually want to muck.

2) You also need to consider how good of a player you are heads up. If that isn't the strongest part of your game, it's perfectly okay to give up a small amount of EV preflop by mucking your marginal hands.

Finally, if you do choose to defend, and you hit something on the flop, it is almost always in your best interest to check-raise, since the preflop raiser will almost always bet into you regardless of whether the flop has hit him or not.

Hope that helps.

[umdpoker]

thanks. this will probably have an impact on how i finish tourneys also when it becomes heads up.