Defending from the Blinds

[DJAbacus]

It's come to my attention that I need to defend more from the blinds.

My Fold BB to BTN steal is a whopping 83%, mainly because I'm very conscious of 'not wanting to play OOP' so I'm not calling with hands like QTo, J8s etc.....Apparently it should be nearer 65%.

Shall I just widen my calling range in the BB and 3bet AJ+ KQ+ TT+ vs unknowns as a default as adjust to knowns from there?

[Renton]

You should defend with hands that are profitable for you to defend based on your skill level, so I wouldn't jump to 65% right away.

For a 3bb open you should, at a minimum, be defending the following from the BB vs the BU with 100bb stacks:

22+ A9o+ A2s+ KTo+ K8s+ QTo+ Q9s+ JTo+ J8s+ T9s T8s 98s 97s 87s 76s 65s

This is 25% of hands and should get you started. You can add to this once you get more comfortable with postflop play, and if you're uncomfortable flatting with some of those hands, you can try 3-betting them instead. The small suited connectors are best for this.

[DJAbacus]

Ok, that's great advice thanks. I'm very comfortable with my PF play atm but looking for ways to improve. This seems a nice place to start and I'll come back to you with my defend SB vs BTN and BB vs BTN later. I would just like a session with that range. Brilliant thanks, feel better about that now.

[Timlagor]

I'm going to guess you have a HUD: check the steal stat for your CO/Btn aggressor. If it isn't high don't defend light -you only need to defend when they're actually attacking (stealing)! his fold-to-3-Bet-% is also very useful in telling you how to defend.

You also don't actually need to defend as wide as you might think to get those percentages because the hands that reach the stealing point are the ones where lots of other people hold low cards ..leaving more high cards for you.

80% is something of a magic number as Btn can take the pot 2/3 uncontested if both blinds fold 80% to his steals which makes them auto-profitable at 3BB (well 64% is close enough).

It's also probably not a huge leak anyway whereas playing too many can be.

[acg123]

I'm going to guess you have a HUD: check the steal stat for your CO/Btn aggressor. If it isn't high don't defend light -you only need to defend when they're actually attacking (stealing)! his fold-to-3-Bet-% is also very useful in telling you how to defend.

You also don't actually need to defend as wide as you might think to get those percentages because the hands that reach the stealing point are the ones where lots of other people hold low cards ..leaving more high cards for you.

80% is something of a magic number as Btn can take the pot 2/3 uncontested if both blinds fold 80% to his steals which makes them auto-profitable at 3BB (well 64% is close enough).

It's also probably not a huge leak anyway whereas playing too many can be.

more fold to re-steal though. fold to 3bet includes all positions. def. check your HUD for villain steal% anything 30% and above is exploitable. especially if his fold to resteal is high. if villains a reg keep an eye on his 4b vs resteal as some regs will get tricky once there on to what your doing.