How many players do I need in the pot to be calling from big blind?

[homedog]

At a six handed table is it worth it for me to call 1 bet as the big blind if middle position has raised and the small blind calls?

I usually fold my rags here but there were a series of hands today where I would have hit trips, etc and it got me wondering if I'm playing too tight.

I can see value in that for 1 more small bet I have the potential to win alot. But I'm also trying to be more disciplined in not bleeding away chips.

[AlmightyJay]

Don't be results oriented. Just because you folded hands that would have flopped big hands doesn't mean you should play them all the time. If you fold 72o UTG and the flop comes 777, are you going to start playing 72o all the time?

You can play a bit looser in the BB in the face of a raise than in other positions, but you should still be tight. Be more liberal with suited cards especially. Implied odds are big for those. But don't start playing rags.

[RiverDood]

Most of the time, folding junk still is the right play. The best preflop odds you can ever be offered at 6-max would be 11:1 -- invest one more small bet to have a shot at a pot of 12 SBs. More often, the proposition to stay in won't be quite so good.

Your odds of flop magic on a totally junky hand aren't ever quite that good. If you've got 63o, etc., there's about a 4% or 5% chance of a flop miracle such as two pair; trips; made straight; quads, etc. By far the most common within that range is two pair, which is not always going to win.

So to play these hands profitably, you need to be confident that you won't face a reraise to stay in the pot preflop; that if you get lucky you'll extract lots more bets out of the other players, and that your suddenly improved hand will hold up.

Ironically, your chances may be a little better with "obvious junk" such as 85, than with one-card hands, such as K3. In the first example, both your cards are likely to be live. In the second example, the K is likely dominated.

In an extremely loose 10-player game, it's probablyworth completing the SB against eight limpers, no matter how feeble your hand. But in six-max, it's an invitation to trouble. For example, what do you do if you play 85 and the flop comes 862? You've got top pair and a very thin straight draw. You might be ahead for now. You'll almost certainly be behind at the turn. Do you have the discipline to let it go?

[ZenMusician]

[ QUOTE ]
You can play a bit looser in the BB in the face of a raise than in other positions...

[/ QUOTE ]

Be careful giving this advice!

Remember Ed's point that calling with 88 is far superior than AJo.
You cannot call a legitimate raise for even one bet when the threat
of domination is that menacing. That said, I may prefer to RR with
88...

-ZEN

you have more equity with the big blind when there are fewer player. You may find the following starting chart useful. As always, this will vary based on who is at your table, who raised, your post-flop play comfort, etc.

http://www.darksun.lunarpages.com/poker/#resources

Something else you will want to keep in mind is that your going to be out of postion on the flop so you need to be a strong post flop player to be playing hands like you described for a rasie if you cacth middle pair on a flop like 4 8 10 rainbow what are you going to do.

Sneakychicken