Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

5/10 at Party. I'm in the SB with A9o, a 25/18/2 RFI on the button. The BB is 30/3/0.4. Nothing unusual sticks out from their play, and my image should be as a TAG also. I have no other reads.

This is my thinking:
Against any BB this would have to be played as a raise as opposed to a call. Therefore against a tighter BB you would be more inclined to play this hand.
I would easily raise ATo.
I would easilty fold A7o.
I may raise with A8s.
I may call with A6-7s
I would fold A5s.

So what do you think? Marginal between fold or raise? And how about my thinking?

Trent.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

I think it's an easy raise. And most BB's won't call 2 more SB preflop without a decent hand unless they are incredibly loose.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

Easy 3-bet. Don't be scared. Imagine the TAG button raising with KTo and the flop coming Q76 because that's an average holding from the TAG and that's an average run-of-the-mill flop. That's why you want initiative.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

I raise, and I think BB is gone most of the time, so you will be in good shape hu.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

I think you want to raise it as long as you are comfortable playing Ace-high OOP against this BT player.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

Easy 3-bet. A8s is also easy 3-bet. I might raise A7s, but I am not sure. I definetly wouldn't call with it or A6s.

I sometimes 3-bet A8o, if circumstances are correct. I rarely 3-bet A7o, but I could see doing it occasionally when a good situation popped up.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

[ QUOTE ]
5/10 at Party. I'm in the SB with A9o, a 25/18/2 RFI on the button. The BB is 30/3/0.4. Nothing unusual sticks out from their play, and my image should be as a TAG also. I have no other reads.

This is my thinking:
Against any BB this would have to be played as a raise as opposed to a call. Therefore against a tighter BB you would be more inclined to play this hand.
I would easily raise ATo.
I would easilty fold A7o.
I may raise with A8s.
I may call with A6-7s
I would fold A5s.

So what do you think? Marginal between fold or raise? And how about my thinking?

Trent.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are you describing your line of thought based on a button raise/call/fold? Which one...

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

My thinking is based on the button doing what he did, raise. I'm just trying to find the line in the sand.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

So the line in the sand:

A9o, A8s easy 3-bet
A8o, A7s 3-bet sometimes
A7o, A6s usually a fold, but a raise if situation improves

How would this change if BB became looser, and/or more difficult to play against postflop? I am thinking that we would tighten up a little bit more then the above, as these hands have more equity HU, especially OOP.

Re: Blind Defence - SB with A9o
 

sounds like you're on top of it. It depends a lot on the button's steal attempt % - if it's 20% they steal too little and you can give more credit. 30-33% is optimal, 40% is quite high and they are either excellent postflop players or are convinced stealing the blinds is necessary to feed existence.

A9o i'd threebet every day against a button who steals more than 15% of the time.