PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t150 (5 handed) converter

UTG (t2365)
MP (t3765)
Button (t2935)
SB (t2475)
Hero (t1960)

Preflop: Hero is BB.
<font color="#666666">2 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Button raises to t450</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>.

What sort of range should BB push with here? (I assume calling really isn't an option given hero is OOP post-flop, correct me if I am wrong.)

Would it make a difference if all the stacks were identical (before posting blinds).

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

It depends. On a lot of things.

How has button been playing, loose? tight? stealing a lot? is this his first steal of your BB? is he capable of folding to a big reraise? what does he think of the way I'm playing? is he even thinking about that now?

Im probably leaving out a few things, but in order to figure out your own pushing range, you need to put your opponent on a range first. These kind of plays are typically a feel thing for me.

"is calling an option?" - I typically push or fold here, although some people might think a stop and go might be better.

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

[ QUOTE ]
How has button been playing, loose? tight? stealing a lot? is this his first steal of your BB? is he capable of folding to a big reraise? what does he think of the way I'm playing? is he even thinking about that now?

[/ QUOTE ]
He's a typical player at the $27s; I'm a typical reader of this forum who plays the $27s.

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

I think you should be very wary about pushing here, seeing as he will only need to be a 40% favourite to call, even by ICM. So you'd need a pretty tight range...

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

Made a mistake there. It's actually closer to 45%. Sorry!

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

Thanks, I haven't done one of these by hand. Maybe I'll start with this one.

You're saying that the odds he'll be getting combined with ICM say that he needs to win only 45% of hands to come out ahead (prize pool equity)?

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

Yeah, so I guess it depends what he reads you to have, as well as his cards; it's a very tricky one to answer for re-raises. But when he does call, you need to win the other 55% (which makes sense really). It really depends how loose his raising range is..

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

Well, part of the question was really what a typical raising range would be. Maybe you can't answer that for the $27s. Is this one of those things that changes significantly from level to level?

And, in a backwards sort of way, I am wondering what the "right" raising range is. I tend to raise very freely in this situation. Perhaps too freely.

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

Way tighter than just 'raising very freely', that's for sure. That's definitely a leak, against a stack that has you covered, and won't even be that much affected should he call and lose, in terms of Equity.

It changes from player to player, not just level to level.

Re: PS $27 turbo: Defending blinds
 

There must be some raising range-pushing back range-calling range combination that cannot be improved upon: an equilibrium. Knowing this equilibrium and how to exploit situations where we expect our opponents to deviate from that equilibrium would appear to be useful. I'm not sure how to go about finding that equilibrium, though I may give a little trial and error a shot a bit later.