Four Dogs
Legend
Silver Level
The question comes up every now and then as to how completing the small blind bet effects your EV. There's always someone, usually Twizzybop, who thinks that dispite your favorable pot odds, calling the 1/2 bet on the small blind is the most donkish play imaginable, aside from the limp call of course. For some reason he takes the SB call as a personal affont. Perhaps he considers those who practice it as charlatans with no real right or business participating in a pot more justly reserved for those who paid the full price.
Then there are those of us who believe that whenever your getting 3,5,7 or 9:1 pot odds, you should take it, regardless of hand or position. I am one of those. However, I also believe that other variables must be taken into consideration. Your own post flop skills for one and the aggressiveness or lack thereof of the other players at the table, particularly the big blind.
Up until now, this philosophy has been based soley on my gut feelings with little empirical evidence to back it up. I don't use Poker Tracker, but I do retain all my hand histories, so I went back to the beginning of the year and have begun a spread sheet containing each of the hands I played or folded from the small blind to get a rough idea of how profitable or unprofitable the SB call is (for me). Here are the preliminary results.
In order to compare apples to apples I stuck to NL .05/.10 tables. In the first 3 sessions of Data entered I was the SB 22 times. Of those 22 SB hands, I folded 4. That puts me firmly in the play anything camp. Of the remaining 18 hands, I raised 5 times, limped 11 times and called a raise 2 times. The total winning of the 3 sessions from just the small blind was $1.50 = $0.07/hand. In short, I was able to win back my 1/2 bet with a $0.02 profit.
I realize that 3 random sessions is strictly anacdotal, and I am by no means encouraging anyone to play outside their comfort zone. But I do feel strongly, that with caution and discipline, entering the pot with strong pot odds may not be the donk play that some will have you believe. That being said I am open criticism and would appreciate hearing from anyone with corroborating or contradicting experience. Twizzy, lets see your hand histories.
Then there are those of us who believe that whenever your getting 3,5,7 or 9:1 pot odds, you should take it, regardless of hand or position. I am one of those. However, I also believe that other variables must be taken into consideration. Your own post flop skills for one and the aggressiveness or lack thereof of the other players at the table, particularly the big blind.
Up until now, this philosophy has been based soley on my gut feelings with little empirical evidence to back it up. I don't use Poker Tracker, but I do retain all my hand histories, so I went back to the beginning of the year and have begun a spread sheet containing each of the hands I played or folded from the small blind to get a rough idea of how profitable or unprofitable the SB call is (for me). Here are the preliminary results.
In order to compare apples to apples I stuck to NL .05/.10 tables. In the first 3 sessions of Data entered I was the SB 22 times. Of those 22 SB hands, I folded 4. That puts me firmly in the play anything camp. Of the remaining 18 hands, I raised 5 times, limped 11 times and called a raise 2 times. The total winning of the 3 sessions from just the small blind was $1.50 = $0.07/hand. In short, I was able to win back my 1/2 bet with a $0.02 profit.
I realize that 3 random sessions is strictly anacdotal, and I am by no means encouraging anyone to play outside their comfort zone. But I do feel strongly, that with caution and discipline, entering the pot with strong pot odds may not be the donk play that some will have you believe. That being said I am open criticism and would appreciate hearing from anyone with corroborating or contradicting experience. Twizzy, lets see your hand histories.