For clarity I'm talking about playing where I don't have reads on any players. Default ranges are fine, but they change as I get to know the players at my table.
So I'm familiar with the concept of possition regarding opening range. That I should open only very strong hands from UTG and can open much wider from BTN. This makes perfect sense as you want to play marginal hands some of the time but want to increase the chance of doing so in possition. To account for this I raise 4x UTG, 2.5x BTN and 3x MP & CO.
Then comes the small blind. Some sites advise opening an even wider range than from the BTN. As much as 47.5% on upswing poker for example. I get it that this is because there is only one player left to act and they will very likely fold.
I have two questsions:
What raise size should I be going for when opening from the small blind.
And what on earth do I do when I raise hands like 63s or Q4o and get flat called. Then I have to play out of possition with a grabage hand. Is it ok to just give up and check fold?
^
You'll easily get yourself into way more trouble trying to steal a blind with 63% pfr than just letting it go the majority of the time. Tbh if bb underfolds (everyone at ss?) You should be tightening up from that GTO range anyway
In the micros you can probably make money opening >50% of hands in the SB, but do a lot of check-folding on the flop if/when you get called. You should give up quite often for a few reasons:
1. Most of your EV comes from stealing (no flop) vs nitregs, so their defending ranges are strong, so you won't be at a range advantage post-flop in general.
2. Playing OOP with wide ranges is tricky to say the least. It's often best to give up early and often in spots where you're gonna get floated a lot.
3. Even at equilibrium, with both players using wide ranges, the BB will "realize" more equity, and your c-betting frequency should be very low (less than 40%) in SBvBB, except on boards that are good for your range like Axxr, Kxx, two Broadways and a brick with no FD (like JT4r), and low paired boards with no OESDs or FDs (like 722r). You wouldn't be making a huge mistake if you checked your entire range on flops like Q96tt, or Txxtt, 9xx, 875 etc. (You can check-call or check-raise your best made hands and draws on the boards that are better for villain's range).
Cliffs: Try stealing a lot, but don't put any more money in the pot post-flop unless you have some real equity.
I agree with arty but look to find boards that you can c-bet a lot and do really well because people once again overfold them BUT be aware this is an exploit and more competent players quickly exploit you for doing it. It's debatable how often you find these competent players I'd argue a lot less than you'd think.
