Playing From the Big Blind

It's very difficult to play well from the big blind; in fact, it's one of the positions (along with the small blind) from which it is impossible to show a profit over a large number of hands. That's because you are forced to put in a blind, out of position, with a random hand. It's not possible to overcome this disadvantage, but what you can do is minimize how much you lose from this position.



A common trap that many players fall into is trying to defend the blind that they are forced to put out. Defending it from time to time is fine, but be careful not to get into the mindset that it is your blind and you need to protect it. As I discussed in many earlier columns, you want to be playing as few hands when out of position as possible, so you want to be rarely, if ever, calling raises out of position from your big blind. The 99 blinds in your stack are far more important than the one you are forced to put on the table.



The one type of hand that is easy to play after the flop is a small pocket pair; your hand is so strong if you hit your set that it negates the positional disadvantage. However, this is so widely known that for a large number of regulars, when they cold-call a raise from the blinds, they nearly always will have some sort of pair. This is a bad situation to be in, as it's always bad to have your range so clearly defined. There is also the problem that because people raise with such a wide range now (especially from late position), it is very likely that even if you do hit your set, you probably will not get paid off. This does mean, though, that you can profitably play on even if you don't hit your set, by calling their continuation-bets on some flops, or turning your hand into a bluff by raising.



So, if you are going to call raises when out of position, it's a good idea to do it with a lot of pairs, but also with some other hands for balancing reasons (they also might have a slightly positive expected value in themselves). You should be very wary of calling raises with offsuit Broadway cards that are easily dominated, like K-J offsuit or Q-J offsuit. They are dangerous because they have reverse implied odds; it's very easy to make a second-best hand. The worse a player plays after the flop, the more hands you should be happy to call with. Also, think about what type of mistakes a player makes after the flop, and how that should affect your calling range. If he is the type to constantly bet far too little, you can call with a lot of drawing-type hands, like 8-7 suited. If he is the type to bet massively and without regard to his holding, you want hands that can make a strong top pair, like K-J offsuit or K-Q offsuit.







Often, however, a better move than calling is to three-bet. In fact, against a competent opponent who's raising from the cutoff or button, I generally have a strategy of three-betting or folding any hand. Note that I'm talking about heads-up pots; I may elect to call with other hands in a multiway pot. Your pot odds are much better and the chance of someone flopping something to pay you off with increases. When you three-bet, you take back the initiative and make it hard for your opponent to win unless he has a great hand or decides to make a bluff that will risk his entire stack.



You need to be aware, however, that most players do not enjoy being three-bet and will start to play back at you if you do it to them often enough. We will have a detailed discussion of three-betting in a future column.



So, up to this point, we have discussed what happens if it is raised before it gets to you. That makes sense, because in today's aggressive games, that is by far the most common scenario. Another common scenario is that it is folded to the small blind, who raises. Most tight-aggressive players will raise with a very wide range here, assuming (correctly) that it is very unlikely for you to have a good hand. You should take advantage of your positional advantage here, and call more often than in other situations. One common move that you can make if you call preflop, to take the pot away from him easily at a later stage, is float (call with nothing) and then bet the turn if he checks to you. You also can three-bet, although that takes away your positional advantage somewhat (and gives him a chance to four-bet and end the hand).



If the small blind limps, I would raise with a very wide range. He has shown a huge amount of weakness by just limping into an unopened pot, and you can use your positional advantage later in the hand to either bluff or value-bet well.



What also can happen is that players other than the small blind limp into the pot, giving you the choice of checking or raising. What you do here should depend a lot on your post-flop abilities, and the standard of the opposition. Raising preflop from bad position with mediocre hands can lead to a lot of tricky situations in which bad players may stack themselves. There is no harm in checking medium-strength hands and electing to play a small pot unless you flop huge. However, if you think you have a good edge over your opponents, I would advise a more aggressive approach. Be wary of raising with hands that are easily dominated. So, in a situation against multiple limpers, I would much rather raise 5-3 suited than A-5 offsuit, even though A-5 offsuit is technically a much stronger hand. When raising from the blinds, it's a good idea to raise a bit more than normal, because you are going to be out of position.



Lastly, after the flop in multiway limped pots, you often are forced into some semi-tricky situations, like flopping top pair with no kicker, or middle pair. The best way to play these hands depends on a number of factors, but always be aware that your opponents' hand ranges are stronger than yours preflop, so their hands will tend to be stronger than yours after the flop, as well. When out of position, you are sometimes better off just check-folding!



Daragh Thomas has made a living from poker over the last three years. He also coaches other players and writes extensively on the boards.ie poker forum, under the name hectorjelly.