So How Do you Play the Big Blind?

So how do you play the big blind, and what exactly is a protector? One answer takes about a minute, the other takes about a lifetime.

First, what is a protector? Put simply, a protector is someone who calls most pre-flop raises when they are a blind, particularly the big blind, no matter what they are holding. Generally speaking, there are more protectors in tournaments than in cash games as tournament pot odds often dictate playing cards that would rarely see the light of the river in cash games. The world’s staunchest protector right now is probably Phil Ivey.

Second, how do you play the big blind? Ultimately, this is a question that should be phrased “How do I play this big blind” which takes into account the multitudes of variables present at each different table, but for the sake of laying out some basic strategies, we’ll go through a common situation.

You are the big blind, you have 1000 in chips in front of you, blinds are 10-20, no ante yet, and there are 300 people left out of a 350 person no re-buy field. The table folds around to the button who raises to 60, the small blind folds. With the 60 chip bet, and the 10-20 blinds, that means that there are already 90 chips in the pot. As the big blind, if you call the additional 40, the flop would be the next thing that happens – no one else could raise or re-raise behind you.

Before you even look at your cards, you should be prepared to, at the very least, call, if not re-raise. You would be getting 9 to 4 on your money, meaning that for every 9 chips in the pot, you have to put in 4 to hang around. 9 to 4 is a little bit better than 2 to 1, and just about every pro in the world would tell you to call off anything which is less than 8% of your stack for 2 to 1 odds. And you’re already doing better than 2 to 1, so, mathematically speaking, you’re in business.

You check your cards, Jack-Nine of spades, suited connectors; now let’s size up this raise. Nothing reeks of a bluff more than a raise on the button, as most people, especially in a tournament, recognize that the only way to win is to take pots your cards wouldn’t give you. And the most common place to steal pots is from the button, where you are the last to act after the flop, and the most able to prey on others’ weaknesses. So a simple raise to 60, which is 3 times the big blind, from the button could easily be a bluff. Of course, as is always the case, it could also be a pair of aces.

A good re-raise here could very well be in order to determine exactly what this bettor has, and push them off of a marginal hand. If there are already 90 in the pot, 60 of which belong to the bettor, you have to raise enough that for them to call, mathematically, they could not be bluffing. If you just raise another 60 to 120 total, that would put 190 in the pot; they would be calling 19 to 6 on their money, better than 3 to 1! Somewhere around a 180 to 240 chip re-raise would definitely put the bettor to a decision, especially if they have a similarly sized stack to yours. Presumably, only a premium hand like Queens, Kings, Aces, or AK could call that kind of a raise, so I could very easily squelch a bluff and push a marginal hand like A10 or Sixes out with my measly J9.

While I would re-raise here to snuff out a bluff, you might not feel comfortable re-raising with a less-than-stellar hand like that. Fine, don’t re-raise, you have to remain comfortable at the poker table if you want to win. If you want to get better and win more, then you’ll have to come out of your comfort zone enough that eventually, you’ll have a different, bigger comfort zone. Either way, more of your chips should definitely be going into that pot to, at least, see the flop.

RULE: If the call is better than 2 to 1 on your money, less than 8% of your stack, pre flop, and you’re the big blind, you should be comfortable no matter what.

No one likes to raise Phil Ivey’s blind. Everyone knows that he is not only reluctant to give up his blind, he is very ready to re-raise with just about any two cards under the sun. This makes Phil a feared protector, and in a tournament, there is no better bettor than a feared one.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-gambling-articles/so-how-do-you-play-the-big-blind-338071.html

This article was published courtesy of PokerSourceOnline.com.
Poker Source Online (www.pokersourceonline.com) is one of the most popular poker communities on the net, offering free gifts, money and freerolls to members since 2004. We are proud to offer 24/7 online support. PSO is available in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian.