1-2 NL, B&M

I think I've been calling too many raises from the blinds with weak hands during these cash games.

The typical initial bet at these games ranges from 7-17 dollars preflop and it's just generally fishy.

I have a pretty high winrate, but I'm curious as to whether or not I should be defending my blinds as much as I have been.

I'll play most any suited connectors, hands like J9 suited, Ax suited, Q8 suited, sometimes one gapped suited connectors.

Keep in mind that a lot of people are raising in this game with K9, QJ, Ace rag, etc.

I'm rarely raising from the blinds without a premium hand as there tends to be AT LEAST four to the flop and I just end up pricing myself into tough flop situations.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Stack sizes play a factor. Generally, I don't mind letting go of my blinds unless people are making a point of stealing them. Unless you feel you have a significant postflop edge and good pot odds, it's just not worth it to go in with a worse hand OOP.

Blind defense is much more important in tournaments and short-handed situations.

Is it really worth calling an extra $5-$15 dollars with a marginal hand when you only have $1 or $2 invested so far?

I can see the argument for suited connectors or Axs if there are 3 or 4 who have already called but calling that raises that big when you will be OOP in the hand generally isn't worth it I find.

Short handed it becomes more of an issue but even than I don't think blind stealing/defending accounts for much of anyones winrate in NL full ring games.

I see your point about letting go of the blinds.

The average pot last night was somewhere around 50-60 dollars.

Average chip stacks were right around 400-500 dollars.

I kind of figured I was bleeding money a bit by making these calls.

So, to reaffirm, suited connectors, small pocket pairs, Ax suited are "okay" to call from the blinds in multi-way pots, but stay away from junk like Q8, J9, 75, etc.?



EDIT: I know a lot of this probably seems real elementary, but, I'm trying to make the transition from online tournament play to B&M cash games and tighten up my game in the process. Everyone's advice is much appreciated.

The whole point to what makes a blind defense a bad call is if you're playing a hand that's likely to be dominated.

Ah4h is a great blind hand, because people won't put you on a nut flush draw out of the blinds if you hit it. Things can become problematic if you flop an ace, lead out, and the raiser raises you with a better kicker.

To me, ask yourself why are you playing the hand, and is there a good chance the hand is dominated. I've noticed I do a lot better if I play suited connectors or one-gappers FOR STRAIGHTS AND FLUSHES ONLY, and don't go crazy pushing wa/wb situations when I flop a pair (or even top pair or two pair).

With suited aces, play them for nut flush draws only, and don't go crazy and break your stack to find out your kicker is no good.

And be VERY, VERY careful of good-ish trap hands like AJo and KQo.

And more than ANYTHING, the most important thing to whether or not you should call are the odds you're getting. Toss a perfectly good 8s7s to be heads up with a raiser, but call with 6h4h if you're about to be 6-way.

That's about the best I got... hope it helps.

Are you playing at Prarie Meadows?

curious also?

soooted connectors are usually fine to call here, based on chip stacks, but play them postflop for 2p and draws pretty much exclusively. but DON'T get wedded to Ax (yes, even suited), KT, etc, in these sorts of hands, which are much more easily dominated by legit "stealing" hands than suited connectors/gappers. feel free to play A2s, A3s, etc, but play it like a suited connector and don't feel bad about tosssing it if an ace flops.

in NL cash games with relatively deep stacks, you're looking to surprise people to get all their money, and you do that with low sets and suited connectors after your straightforward opponents raise and give away their hands. blind defense isn't really that important, considering the stack size--just play these things like you would with any other hand OOP. try to see a relatively cheap flop with sneaky hands if your villains have enough dough to make the implied odds big enough.

also, i miss iowa. you should make a trip down to meskwaki in tama (or, as my friends and i used to endearingly refer to it, the skwak) on a wednesday for the weekly tournament. it's full of dead money.

agree, i go there 2-3 times a month

I play at PM very regularly, but haven't this last week due to scheduling issues with my job and kids... damn priorities

I'll have to start asking around for people who post on FCP

I'm usually playing the 1/2 NL and sometimes 3/6 or 4/8 if they get that going, but everyone is more interested in NL these days and the 3/6 there is scary, so I stick to NL.

I only play the 1-2 NL

sometimes the thursday night $115 buy in tournament also.

I played it once, I hate thier blind structures. I was in the 560 tournament 2 weeks ago, finished 12th. The 300/600 to 500/1000 blind jump made it a horrible all in fest.

Dpends a lot on where the raise comes from, and how many are in the pot.

I defend liberally against what I perceive as a steal. IE, a button or SB open-raise from someone who has shown down weak cards before, or from someone who always raises late/sb first in. I defend liberally in a multi-way pot, especially closing the action. I DONT defend with weak hands against an EP raise, and I dont defend heads-up or 3-way (unless I smell a steal) with a drawing hand like low to middle suited connectors. I do play a lot more weak aces and kings heads up or 3-way in the blinds. 3.5 - 8.5 bb is a lot to pay to defend your blinds IMO.