Important BB defense question

[beachbum]

If I've got a hand like A5, Q9, K6s, or say T9, I'm defending these hands against your usual 20%-30% ASB players. I'd rather play HU against the blind stealer with these kind of hands. However the SB often gets in the way. Whether it's right or wrong, I'm more inclined to fold when the SB calls here rather than when he calls. If he calls I'd rather play a hand like 68s or 33 where my implied odds are higher.

With hands like these (A5, Q9, K6s, or say T9) how does the SB calling influence your decision to defend? Obviously it depends on how bad the SB is. But still, I really don't want to play A5 even getting 5:1 facing a preflop raise.

What do you guys think?

[DaSpade]

Getting 5:1, I am completing with Ax, Q9, Txs+, 45+ connectors, 8T+ one gappers. I am interested to know others opinion too.

[The Truth]

If its suited you need to be playing it. I agree with mucking some hands whent he sb calls you would call when the sb folds. Ofsuit big/little combos etc.


blake

[Stinkybeaver]

This has to do a lot with SB. If Sb is taggy or decent I'm more inclined to fold them prefered HU hands. If his silly donk I don't fold but I'm more causious as to how I approach a mediocre flop for my hand.

[StellarWind]

Hands with two useful cards need to be played. Valuing a hand like 86s higher than Q9o for 3-handed play seems very wrong. Flushes and straights don't come up very often and rarely win big pots anyway. These battles are about making one pair and having it stand up. That's a lot more likely to happen if your potential pairs are of decent size. Implied odds in this situation tend to consist of Q9 taking money from 86 when the flop comes 963. Or maybe the showdown is between your pair and the opener's big-little with paired kicker. Either way, the extra pair-over-pair pots that Q9 wins but small connectors would have lost are important pots because both sides will pay for a showdown and someone may even put a raise in someplace. The final pot will be around 8 BB and that's a big swing. The hands where only one player makes a pair (so Q9 and 86 have the same chance) are generally over faster and much less juicy.

When SB calls in front of me I play a lot more hands with two useful cards but no showdown value because the pot is bigger and it is more worthwhile to try and flop something. But I am less inclined to play a bad ace because the possibility of winning unimproved is mostly gone and what remains is a one-card hand with domination issues.

[Stinkybeaver]

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But I am less inclined to play a bad ace because the possibility of winning unimproved is mostly gone and what remains is a one-card hand with domination issues.

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Never thought of this myself. But I like it.

[Cerril]

If you're going to be HU, you can defend fairly liberally, but not too liberally. Bad aces are alright, most kings, most suited queens, two cards nine or higher, pairs 44+. I don't like hands with a 2 or 3 because of how little they do for your hand.

You need to be fairly liberal, but against a 20-30% ASB you can actually be pretty tight. The standards I gave (tighter than yours) are more appropriate for 60%+ ASB. So trim down to better aces, better kings, Q9+, TJ, and pairs 55 or 66+ at least. 20-30% ASB means he's got pretty loose blind stealing standards (much tighter than ideal, which - though situation dependent - should often be closer to 40-45%). Don't reraise against someone like this, who isn't likely to be making a play with junk, unless you have a hand that's likely to be best (A7, KQ, 77, and maybe for deception with some lower suited connectors like T9s or JTs). No point in putting money in without being ahead unless they're easy to manipulate postflop with pure aggression. As was mentioned, you aren't getting much in the way of implied odds even if your opponent has a 100% WSD

If the SB calls, unless he's a complete idiot, he's probably got a better hand still. You're looking at dropping anything that you wouldn't normally defend multiway, but also dropping hands that only have multiway value (pairs 66 or smaller, small suited connectors, suited big-little). Reraise only with genuine strength. If the SB defends most (60%) of the time, you can probably get away with playing more suited aces and pairs, especially if he tends to play in a straightforward manner postflop.

ASB 20-30 is closer to what you'd see in a full ring game than the hyper aggro players of 6-max, so the key is not to be so loose that his steal raises are for value.

[Victor]

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If the SB calls....pairs 66 or smaller

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so you fold a pair getting 5:1 and closing the action? you are leaving a ton of money on the table imo. just play for set value and you will show a nice profit.

in fact, i play any pair hu to a steal from the bb due to the showdown value.

i am showing a profit with all my pairs at this point according to pt.