Playing the Big Blind well
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,373
One of the toughest situations in modern NLH tournaments is playing the Big Blind because of both extra ante money and the small first-in raises.
And this spot very important.
Do you have advice for this spot?
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 35
defending a bling can cost you a lot of blinds
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 255
Don’t focus much on defending the BB. Instead work on attacking the BB of others, particularly when you have position. The thing to protect is your button, so invest your defending chips there instead.
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 6,061
Once you have submitted the BB ante you have to let go of thinking it is your money. Its not. Its now in the pot and it represents an equal ante from every player just like when you are not the BB.
What you do have to consider is that if there is an ante, the BB should be defended more frequently than if there isn't an ante against similar raise sizes.
The other thing to keep in mind is that raises from Early position (EP) like UTG and UTG+1 are typically much stronger than raises from other positions. And that the range of the raiser becomes wider the closer to the BTN. So I defend much wider the closer to the BTN the raise comes from.
The huge benefit of calling small raises from the BB is that you are acting last unlike when you are in the SB and are vulnerable to a BB 3-bet.
