888poker: 5 Tips on Defending the Big Blind
888poker ambassador Ian Simpson takes you to school in the latest Made to Play strategy video from the online poker platform. Below, he lists five top tips on when you should defend your big blind, which take into account aspects such as position, raise sizes, stack depths and ICM.
Big Blind Defence Position
Position is key when defending your big blind. If your opponent opens from early position, they've done so with up to eight players to act after them. Therefore, their range is stronger than if someone raised your big blind from late position.
Against an under-the-gun raiser, you defend your big blind less often than you do against a button raiser. You'll need a stronger hand to go up against your opponent's stronger range.
A hand like 10♣7♦ looks like a decent hand to defend your big blind with, but Simpson states he would only do so against someone in late position and not against an under-the-gun raiser. It just doesn't have enough equity against an early position player's more robust range.
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Big Blind Defence Raising
Defending your big blind doesn't mean just calling; it means three-betting as well. The later the position your opponent raised from, the more you should be three-betting, both as bluffs and for value. The earlier the position of your opponent, the tighter their range has to be because they've got so many players left to act after them.
You'll be three-betting less against an early position raiser since you'll be up against a stronger set of hands. When you face an opponent from late positions, they can be playing more hands since there are fewer people left to beat. This allows you to three-bet more often since you are against a weaker range.
For example, against a late position open, a hand like A♠J♠ is a value three-bet but against an opponent from early position, it is often better to just call from the big blind as they have fewer weaker hands that can call your value range.
Big Blind Defence Raise Size
You'll face a number of different raised sizes while defending your big blind. The smaller your opponent raises, the more hands you get to play. The larger the raise size means you get to play fewer hands.
A hand like J♠2♠ is a fine hand to defend against a minimum raise, but if your big blind is raising to 3.5 big blinds, then it becomes a fold because you're getting a worse price. You should also three-bet less often against larger raise sizes, as you'll be up against a stronger raise of hands in that situation.
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Big Blind Defence Stack Size
How deep you are playing is a big factor in how wide you'll defend your big blind. Suited hands like 9♠2♠ have decent implied odds at 30-60 big blind stack depths for when they make a flush and end up getting paid by two pair.
However, when you are below 15 big blinds, the implied odds just aren't there. This makes the worst-suited hands not worth defending in many spots. There also comes the tipping point at very deep stacks where the worst-suited hands actually have reverse implied odds.
This is because if your flush gets into a situation where 200 big blinds are going into the middle, your opponent will likely have your flush dominated, and they won't be paying you off with two pairs and the like as they would be when stacks are shallower.
Big Blind Defence ICM
ICM, or the Independent Chip Model, is an important concept in tournament poker. Simplified, the model demonstrates how important survivability is in tournament poker. It's a disaster to bust just before the payouts in a tournament. Some middling stacks are often forced to play tight and wait for short stacks to bust to avoid being eliminated before them.
This means we have to defend our big blind much tighter. Without ICM considerations, a hand like A♦2♠ would make a fine hand to defend by raising or calling. However, if you're approaching the money bubble, you might be better off folding a marginal hand like this while you wait for the short stacks to bust.
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Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum's proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
