9c8c blind defense at 3/6

[dark_horse]

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UTG+1 in this hand is a possible 2+2er. His handle is similar to a 2+2 handle, and he's been playing pretty tight preflop.

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A tight-playing 2+2er is not likely trying to steal from EP. I would not consider this to be a blind defense hand.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with how you played it. But, it's not a blind defense hand in the traditional sense of the term.

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Where does it say he was in EP? He only said it was folded around to hero. Could mean villian was in the CO and he opened from there.

[Bluffoon]

Seems like an expensive way to play a hand you can't showdown if you miss.

[mtdoak]

Why are you defending your blind against a UTG+1 raiser? He's not raising to steal your blind...he's raising for value and to thin the field.

[imported_leader]

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UTG+1 in this hand is a possible 2+2er. His handle is similar to a 2+2 handle, and he's been playing pretty tight preflop.

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A tight-playing 2+2er is not likely trying to steal from EP. I would not consider this to be a blind defense hand.

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with how you played it. But, it's not a blind defense hand in the traditional sense of the term.

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Where does it say he was in EP? He only said it was folded around to hero. Could mean villian was in the CO and he opened from there.

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I'm not picking on you but.

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UTG+1 openraises.

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[thejameser]

it does help to read the posts doesn't it?

[Aces McGee]

As crunchy1 pointed out, this is not a steal situation. I mis-spoke in my post, and I apologize. I should've said that I find myself playing a lot of heads up pots recently.

That being said, I don't think calling out of the BB with a medium suited connector in a pretty tight and aggressive game (as the 3/6 seems to be these days) is wrong. [EDIT: what I mean by that is that because of the game conditions, UTG+1` might be raising just a tad lighter. It's probably irrelevant. I actually don't think it's incorrect to call heads up with 98s out of the blind here against anyone but an absolute rock]

-McGee

[madscout]

I like the preflop call much better if someone else comes with to pad the pot. As it is you are playing a marginal (preflop) hand against an early position raiser in a small pot. I like postflop however. If you get raised on the turn, I'd call and see the river and then check fold UI. If I get called on the turn, I am also lost on the river if I don't improve... check fold? I can't see villain folding a medium/big pocket pair... if he called you on the turn I think he has to call you on the river.

~mad

edit: I just noticed that villain could be on AKh / AQh / etc... not sure how this changes things.

[private joker]

This seems like overly FPS. You have 9-high, and the pot isn't big on the flop -- yet. Just check and call the flop and turn (your pair outs might be as good as the straight outs), and fold the river UI.

[nolanfan34]

OK, this is a good hand, I like it. Some thoughts, after reading the responses so far.

I don't care if villain was UTG+1, I still call this a blind defense. Live, the best way to do it is to scream "I DEFEND MY BLIND!" as you throw the chips into the middle.

Seriously though, getting 3.5-1, it's a very easy call from the BB. Especially since against a possible 2+2er, it's going to be a little bit easier to play post-flop based on the likely range of hands he's raising from UTG+1.

On the flop, I think I kind of like betting out better. Some of this though is influenced by already knowing the turn card. With two hearts on board, I think if you bet and he raises as expected, that you're setting yourself up better for a big semi-bluff on the turn if another T, or any heart comes on the turn.

Against a better player, you may take it down with a check-raise more often than just the bet out on the turn. That T is an awesome card, and if you check-raise, he's going to have a very hard time continuing if he just has overcards. I think you have to be willing to fire again on the river though if a 4th heart, A or K doesn't hit.

Conversely, since the turn is now somewhat scary, you may get a free card by checking, if the villain "avoids" the check-raise.

Anyway, on this board, when top pair doubles up, and the flush hits, I think a turn check-raise has a better chance of taking it down right there. Since by betting out you're often going to get raised again by an overpair anyway, and you can't fold really, I'd rather be the aggressor when putting in 2-bets. If he 3-bets, I guess I hold on for dear life and click call.

[dark_horse]

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This seems like overly FPS. You have 9-high, and the pot isn't big on the flop -- yet. Just check and call the flop and turn (your pair outs might be as good as the straight outs), and fold the river UI.

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What's FPS mean? I really like this post because it reminds us to think in not so complicated terms sometimes. I think a lot of us lately are playing these mad aggressive games to counter each other's TAG style, and what ends up happening is we are spewing chips with draws. At least that's what I've noticed about my own play lately. Too aggressive with draws in TAG-heavy games. The line in this post is actually kind of refreshing.

I would always call a PF raise with a middle suited connector like this one in a heads up game, so I can see someone looking at this situation the same way, as it's folded to you in the BB, but the only difference is that it was raised from early position. In a heads up game someone's position doesn't give info about the nature of their raise. But that's all obvious so why am I writing this.. uhm, back to the tv.

p.s. Sorry about my "where does it say villian is in EP" post. That was the donk post of the week (hopefully).