Small Blind - is it hard to play?

[Blartman]

I've been playing poker online (and weekly at a local venue) for some time now, and had ups and downs, but have never really analysed my play to the extent that most people on here do.

Due to the recommendations on here, I recently downloaded PokerTracker and have put in my hand histories for the past 5 days. I've played over 400 hands, and have amassed a small profit, mainly from $2/$4 limit.

However, PT position stats has highlighted the fact that, although I'm fairly even on most positions (with BB and Button being way ahead though) I'm bleeding money from the small blind.

I've checked my stats and I've mainly played pocket pairs and high-suited connectors (with the odd steal attempt) from this position, but have still got thumped with them.

Is SB that much more difficult to play?

I'm leaning towards folding it regardless....!

[mdob]

Well, the problem with all this is that you don't have enough hands. You shouldn't be concerned about your overall winrate with only 400 hands-- look for at least, say, 5000 before you can begin to draw any conclusions. To look at it seat by seat is ridiculous. You only have 40 hands in the small blind. Just think how much you'd have won there if two more big pots you played in got pushed your way.

That being said, after you play many more hands, you'll probably see that the BB is your biggest loser and the SB is second. Just think of all those hands you have to put money into the pot with that you never would in any other position. Plus, even if you hit the flop a bit, you're out of position the entire hand.

[LImitPlayer]

You will not win money from the SB and BB over the long run

[Harv72b]

The SB is the most difficult position to play from, simply because you will never have position on your opponent(s) postflop. But, because you are often being offered very good preflop pot odds, you end up playing a lot of hands from this position. As LP said, you just plain aren't going to show a longterm profit from either blind--the combination of playing weaker starting hands from out of position and of simply being forced to put the blind bet in (those blinds do add up) conspire to make these positions losers. No matter how well you play.

That said, 400 hands is less than nothing from a statistical perspective.

[Blartman]

OK, good advice. Thanks for that.

I realise 400 hands is not a major number, but I have played countless hands and just wondered (now that I have analysed it) if that's where I've been going wrong.

Now you pointed out that SB and BB are paid for regardless of how poor the cards are, it makes sense.

Thanks for putting things into perpective.

[gh9801]

Even 50k hands is a small sample size, 400 hands means nothing. In the long run you should be losing from SB and Bb, for example