Post for david...

[worm33]

Lots of different theroies around. My theory as a 95% live player is the variance part. If you could tell me that by defending my blind as suggested could bring my bb/hour win from 2 to 2.2, but I would only win in 70% of my sessions compared to 85, I would take 85% and 2bb. I think a lot of people feel this way.

If you were an internet player, playing 6 tables of 30-60 at once, playing 9 times as many hands as i do at once, then I could see how if you could limit your losses in your bb by .10bb it could make a difference. Weather or not defending with 10-7o is a whole different matter.

I also 100% disagree that a good solid player who doesnt defend his bb very often could not beat the 1-2 games at commerce and the 80-160 at the bellagio.

I like most 2+2er's defend my bb situationly. I play with a lot of bad players and if the 3 worst ones are in the pot, theres not many hands im goona fold. If the worst player in the game open raises on the button, im not goona fold very much. If the SB open raises, you basicly have to pry the cards from my hand. But 10-7o against a well playing CO? No thanks.

[Your Mom]

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I think both responses here have said the same thing cryptically: variance may be the only difference when looking at defending with these marginal hands in a vacuum, but defending your blind frequently in these seemingly 0 EV situations will add EV in a meta-game sense.

[/ QUOTE ]

agreed. and you should post more.

[bicyclekick]

I've been trying to defend looser than I used to (in the last 3 live session) and one thing I'm sure of is it leads to a lot more 'tough' situations postflop. I dont really have any way of measuring the success of these loose calls...but I've been posting good results. So I guess I really don't have a ton to add.

[HiatusOver]

Bike what is your FBB-to steal # for 2005?

[bicyclekick]

[ QUOTE ]
Bike what is your FBB-to steal # for 2005?

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54.48 folded in bb, 81.06 in sb.

How bout you?

[HiatusOver]

58 in BB, 78 in SB

[James282]

FWIW, my fold BB to raise is 49. I'm firmly in the defend more camp for several reasons, most of which have already been mentioned. One that has been ommitted is, defending loosely is very likely to set simple minded opponents on tilt.

It is also extremely likely that if your opponents have very tight ideas about blind play that they will be very likely to underestimate the rest of your playing abilities, which aside from drastically overestimating your abilities, is the best image you can have most of the time.
-James

[elysium]

hi steve

your relative position and the liklihood of getting raised from behind is a very important factor. in almost every example you listed, if the UTG wasn't the initial raiser, then folding would be correct.

assuming that the UTG is the raiser; the odds will almost always determine what you do from the BB. even with a few as just 2 other opponents for example, your small pair from the BB will be getting correct odds to call. with 3 opponents in there, you're getting correct to call with many additional hands. however, there are exceptions.

if you have a dominated hand like AJo, you do better to fold, even with 3 or more opponents and your call closing the action. KQo would also be a fold here. T9o in this same spot is a call, but not if just 2 opponents are in there. but you could call with 56s in almost every instance that your call closed.

if you are heads-up against a UTG raiser, opponent knowledge kicks in. just be sure that you do fold the AJo and the other dominated hands when the UTG raiser is a solid player.

from the SB, you are slightly more likely to play some of those same dopminated hands that you would fold from the BB, and slightly less likely to play the small suited connectors. almost never play the small connectors and worse.

[catlover]

Well . . .

a lot of people are saying they think they have been too tight defending their blinds.

This is a nice start.

But what we really need is ranges. What is worth defending with vs. a button raise if the SB folds? A cutoff raise? How much does it matter what the stakes are [affecting the proportional impact of the rake], and how big the SB was?

Better yet, we need ranges backed by hard data. But hard data are hard to come by.

[stoxtrader]

even if you had ranges vs ranges - of stealer vs defense, that would still only give you a hot and cold sim. But that would be a good place to start.