Playing the Blinds in Limit Hold'em - Part II

More people are concerned about reacting to steal-raises than any other aspect of play in the blinds, judging by the questions students ask. And that's expected. You are sitting in a nice limit hold'em game in the big blind. Everyone folds to the button, who raises. The small blind folds. You hold something mediocre, say, J-9, K-5, or 8-6 suited. It feels wimpy to throw this not so terrible hand away, and it feels a bit foolish to call a raise with this cheese. What should you do?



The same, of course, holds true for the small blind, who not only has to put in more money than the big blind, but also has to worry about the big blind waking up with a hand and about being out of position to two players.



On the other hand, so many players on the button will raise with a wide variety of hands (and a few with any hand) that laying down what easily could be the best hand when getting odds to call does not sit well with most players. What should you do?



What Is A Steal-Raise? To get started here, we have to define a steal-raise. First, we assume a full ring game (eight or more players). If the game is shorthanded, a host of other considerations will apply that we won't discuss in this series.



All of the players must have folded to the player on the button or the player on his right (the cutoff), who raises. In general, this raise will be made with a variety of hands in an attempt to get the blinds to fold or to gain the post-flop initiative and force the blinds to make a hand to continue after the flop.



The Cardinal Rule: We must start with what I call the cardinal rule for play in the blinds against any raise, but particularly against a steal-raise. Here it is: The better the player who raised, the fewer hands you should play.



What a dangerous rule! When I tell students this rule, they relax right away and start playing too many hands. After all, the guy who raised is never very good, according to the blinds. Please be realistic about this.



We need to talk about one more aspect of steal-raises here. Some players don't make them. In fact, some players don't even make value raises from late position. They just play tight. Against them, it is sheer folly to play mediocre hands when they raise from late position, since they don't reduce their raising standards. They are never stealing. Thus, we have a corollary to the cardinal rule: The tighter the player who raised, the fewer hands you should play.



There is one additional quick rule that we need to consider. Most players treat steal-raises from the cutoff and raises from the button as the same animal, but this is not so. While some players will raise with almost any two cards from the button, the same players raising from the cutoff will need to have some values, as they need to be aware that they are vulnerable to a reraise by the button. So, we can concoct a third rule: Play fewer hands against a steal-raiser in the cutoff than one from the button.



Keep these rules in mind as we continue this discussion. I can't repeat them each time we discuss hand selection, but they still must dominate your thoughts and actions.



Play from the small blind: I will devote the remainder of this column to the small blind. Which hands should the small blind play, and how should he play them?



The default play from the small blind is to reraise any hand he is going to play. This is consistent with the fact that the small blind's play follows the criteria set forth for a raise-or-fold situation in my Jan. 28, 2005, column (Vol. 18/No. 2).



You can find it at CardPlayer.com, but here is a quick recap:



• The pot must be multiway.

• There must be a bet or raise before you.

• There must be no intervening callers.

• You must have reason to believe you have the best hand, or are choosing to represent the best hand.

• There must be players yet to act.



This is sometimes painful for the small blind, as there will be hands he would like to play, but not to which he would like to commit at least three bets preflop from out of position. If the small blind calls the steal-raise, the big blind is getting odds of 5-1 to call. If the small blind reraises, the big blind must call two more bets with only six in the pot (3-1), and face the possibility of a reraise from the original raiser. Obviously, this cuts way down on the hands the big blind will play. If the small blind gets the big blind to fold, there will dead money in the pot, the big blind will not be able to draw out or flop a miracle, and the small blind will be out of position to only one player rather than two. These are powerful reasons for the small blind to put in that raise.



In general, the small blind should play any hand with which he would open-raise if he were in late-middle position. Your criteria for this action could be different than mine, but this probably means pairs down to 6-6, any two Broadway cards (A, K, Q, J, 10), any suited ace, and offsuit aces down to A-9. If you want to add more hands (perhaps because it is a game in which the button is really pounding your blind round after round), 10-9 suited, K-9 suited, Q-9 suited, and 9-8 suited may be added, as well as A-8. Three-betting with these hands may get you some strange looks, but if you are going to play them for a raise, you need to at least represent power. You can tighten up this list by eliminating the queen-high hands, K-10, J-10, 7-7, 6-6, and A-9.



Are there exceptions to the-small-blind-should-reraise scenario? Yes, a few:



• If the big blind plays terribly, you might not want to raise him out, especially if he will chase incorrectly, call raises with inadequate values, never bluff, and pay off on the river with the second-best hand.

• In live play, if you see the big blind ready to fold before you play, calling and seeing the flop is often a good idea, as it helps convince the steal-raiser that you do have a big hand when you three-bet.

• If the steal-raiser is highly aggressive (he bets the flop and turn, and perhaps the river, with any two cards) and the game indicates that he will get frequent chances to be the first in, you may want to slow-play a few good hands to slow him down.



But, unless you can really justify a call on strategic considerations, you should reraise or fold from the small blind.



Conclusion: The small blind needs to be highly selective, as he must cope with two players holding unknown hands, and one of them already has represented strength. If he plays, he should try to get heads up with dead money in the pot and the initiative in his court to help compensate for the loss of position.



Next time, I will discuss play from the big blind after a steal-raise.

Barry offers poker lessons tailored to the specific strengths and weaknesses of the individual student. Please visit his web site at http://www.barrytanenbaum.com/ or e-mail him at [email protected]. Part I of this series can be found at http://www.cardplayer.com/.