Small Blind vs Big Blind - advice

[mattiebumpo]

Hello CC friends,

I am working on studying Small Blind (SB) vs Big Blind (BB) spots in tournament poker. What is your best advice on each of these positions?

Some of the spots I want to look at are these:

• When it is limped to you in the SB or BB
• When it is folded to you in the SB or BB
• When facing a raise in the SB or BB

Thanks!

 

[0546474]

I think there is no big secret and the standard play in these positions goes something like this: When your opponent is limping too often from SB to BB, you should protect your big blind from such players by raising to 3-3.5bb with a fairly wide range of hands. very effective and in most cases, if your opponent doesn't have a good hand, he will simply fold!!!
If your opponent plays tight and allows you to steal his blinds, you raise 2.5-3bb from the small blind with a wide range of hands, but if your opponent defends too aggressively, you should narrow your raising range!!!
Also, your range and spectrum depend on the stage of the tournament and the number of chips. There is absolutely no point in trying to steal the blinds at the very beginning of the tournament when their value is small!!!

 

[mattiebumpo]

I think there is no big secret and the standard play in these positions goes something like this: When your opponent is limping too often from SB to BB, you should protect your big blind from such players by raising to 3-3.5bb with a fairly wide range of hands. very effective and in most cases, if your opponent doesn't have a good hand, he will simply fold!!!
If your opponent plays tight and allows you to steal his blinds, you raise 2.5-3bb from the small blind with a wide range of hands, but if your opponent defends too aggressively, you should narrow your raising range!!!
Also, your range and spectrum depend on the stage of the tournament and the number of chips. There is absolutely no point in trying to steal the blinds at the very beginning of the tournament when their value is small!!!

Thank you for the thoughtful response! I appreciate your advice. I think I may be overcomplicating it because I seem to have a tendency to lose money in those positions.

 

[Marshmalo1994]

Hey! I'm starting to use gtowizard, it has a lot of free tools that you could use. Is a little bit hard to understand at first, but there's a lot of tutorials, in case you need it.
Edit: maybe the most important thing to say is that you can simulate scenarios

 

[mattiebumpo]

Hey! I'm starting to use gtowizard, it has a lot of free tools that you could use. Is a little bit hard to understand at first, but there's a lot of tutorials, in case you need it.
Edit: maybe the most important thing to say is that you can simulate scenarios

Thank you! I will check out the free tools offered by GTO Wizard...I am a little intimidated by GTO but I know I should try to learn more about it.

 

[mattiebumpo]

Hey! I'm starting to use gtowizard, it has a lot of free tools that you could use. Is a little bit hard to understand at first, but there's a lot of tutorials, in case you need it.
Edit: maybe the most important thing to say is that you can simulate scenarios

I just tried the quiz. It is awesome! Only 10 free hands per day...I will try to make it a daily habit. Thanks for the great suggestion!

 

[Marshmalo1994]

I just tried the quiz. It is awesome! Only 10 free hands per day...I will try to make it a daily habit. Thanks for the great suggestion!

Also you can simulate scenarios. The free option is limited to 8 players, and just a few post flop situations pero day or per month

 

[hilary antonik filho]

80% of the time I fold the hands in SB, in BB the percentages are much higher as long as the cards are in my favor, I only fold the BB in all in

 

[mattiebumpo]

80% of the time I fold the hands in SB, in BB the percentages are much higher as long as the cards are in my favor, I only fold the BB in all in

Thanks. I wasn't sure if I was folding too often in the SB or trying to hard to defend. I think I also fold too often in the BB.

 

[mattiebumpo]

What do you think of these ranges, if the SB calls (20BB stack sizes)?

 

[eetenor]

If you want to evaluate this for understanding the underlying why and not just implementation then you want to include the charts for what SB does when we raise and jam to get a better idea of the why?