Playing in the blinds in LHE

In the latest issue of card player magazine there are two articles on playing hands out
of the blinds in LHE. These articles are back to back at cardplayer.com, and are
a few pages apart in hardcopy.

The first by Barry Tanenbaum. Barry has written lots of very good stuff about
LHE and is a fine teacher of the game. For starters Barry states the obvious
which is over your poker career you will lose money in the blinds. No amount of
post flop skill can make up for putting money in a pot without looking at your
hand. "You cannot make money by playing a mediocre hand from out of position
against a good player with a better hand". Fair enough. He goes on further to
say defend is the second most disastrous word in gambling. To sum his article up
Does the value of your hand combined with the price the pot is offering you
provide a positive expectation? If yes, play; if not, fold. Defending has
nothing to do with it.


Turn the page and you will find:

Matt Mantros "Defending Blinds" Defending frequently from the big blind in limit
hold em is a better play than most players think. Mantros article goes on to say
that it is +EV to defend your blind. He makes arguments for calling with J3
offsuit and like hands. He makes some clear points that your table image will
improve by defending frequently.



Now the obvious contradiction here is the use of the word defend, which is
semantics basically and not that relevant. The act of calling bets out of
position with poor hands is not semantics though. Take a hand like 25 offsuit,
in the big blind. Your 2-1 on most hands, and 4-1 on pairs higher than a 5.
Thats if the pot is heads up though your 25 vs ak offsuit your 66-33 basically,
and not getting the price. Add one caller to the mix and if the player just has
a hand like 99 your down to a 6-1 dog. The pot is giving 5.5 or so.(or so for
the jackpot drop in my bm game)

AKo 39.8%
99 46.5%
25o 13.7%

So your a 6.3 dog and should muck. If the 25 were suited though your a 4.5-1 dog
and a clear call.


Even adding another caller with 77 your a 7-1 dog and your getting 7.7 on your
money.

My question is this, on these situations that are so very close what in hell do
you do. These articles have two very different ways of thinking, and I am
certain that I play the blinds horribly.