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It’s only in more recent times that players have fully begun to understand the importance of defending their big-blind aggressively.
It was commonly considered correct play to simply fold a huge percentage of hands from the big-blind since we would be out of position postflop. If we could travel back in time a number of years and ask what the average defending range from the Big Blind against a Button open would look like, we’d usually get shown something like this:
Only about 10.56% of poker hands were considered defensible against the BTN. Even hands like KTo were considered too weak to defend because they could potentially be “dominated”. Suited-connectors were a complete no-no. It was just a commonly accepted fact that we should never play suited-connectors out of the blinds.
Modern Cold-Calling
Thinking back, the tightness of the average player’s blind defence range is somewhat laughable. Most of us would never dream of defending so tight just because we are out of position. Naturally, we don’t want to minimise the importance of position. It’s a huge disadvantage being out of position, but this doesn’t automatically mean that we want to simply start folding everything.
In fact, it’s correct to defend with a reasonably wide range of holdings in the Big Blind despite our positional disadvantage. This is because:
We get a better price to call (already 1bb invested)
We are closing the action (no danger of being squeezed/overcalled)
If we are facing late-position, they are potentially opening a very wide range of hands
Let’s take a quick look at a more modern approach to blind defence in the same situation, Big Blind vs BTN cold-call.
The difference is very dramatic. This chart represents a 31.5% flatting range, which is roughly 3 times as wide as was initially thought correct to defend.
However, it’s also important to remember that the farther we go back in time, the more players had a tendency to make super large open-raises by today’s standards. At some point in time, it was considered standard to literally make a 4bb open from every position, including the button. These days, if we see someone making a 4bb open-raise from the button, we automatically assume that they are a weaker player. It has become so standard to see 3bb, 2.5bb, 2.2bb or even min-opens.
Therefore, raise amounts should also be factored in when we account for the differences in modern defending ranges. The cold-calling range above is designed against a 2.5bb open. The difference in open-raise sizing has a fairly dramatic effect on what is considered a correct defending frequency.
Let’s imagine we now face a 2bb open-raise from BTN, our cold-calling range should start to look something more like this:
Our defending is roughly around the 50% range. A small change of just 0.5bb to the size of the opener has affected the range we must defend by almost 20%! For this reason attempting to come up with a complete strategy for preflop defence is so complicated. We need to make huge adjustments to our poker strategy based on the size of the open-raise.
Postflop Play
The increased frequency with which we are now cold-calling may give us a few postflop headaches. And especially so, if we are not used to playing with a range much wider than previously.
Simply being aware of the possible lines that are available postflop, and when we can use them, gives us a huge advantage. Let’s examine of a few:
Check-Raising
One of the ways we compensate for having a wider cold-calling range is to make sure we are a little tougher with our range postflop. Assuming we just adopted a fit-or-fold strategy postflop, it would no longer be correct for us to defend a wider range preflop. We’d just be laying a whole bunch of extra chips on the line for our opponent to collect.
One of the ways we can defend our wider preflop range is by aggressively check-raising flops where we have potential. It’s considered correct to check-raise bluff twice as many flops as we check-raise for value. In other words, most of the time when we check-raise the flop, we should be bluffing.
The best types of hands to use are those which have the potential to make a strong 5-card hand by the river. Straight-draws, flush-draws, and good back-door draws are all good candidates. We’ll talk more about check-raising later on this in the article.
Floating
This play is another option for defending on the flop when facing a cbet. In terms of made hands, we should employ a strategy similar to the following:
2-pair or better – Check-call 3 streets (assuming we don’t check-raise) Top Pair – Call 2 streets, fold river 2nd Pair Good Kicker – Call 2 streets, fold river 2nd Pair, average or bad kicker – Call 1 street, fold turn Bottom Pair – Call 1 street, fold turn. (Sometimes check/raise bluff if good backdoors)
Assuming we float with some type of draw, it is very important to understand the reasons for doing this. Imagine the following scenario:
UTG (100 big blinds)
MP (100 big blinds)
CO (100 big blinds)
BTN (100 big blinds) Villain
SB (100 big blinds)
BB (100 big blinds) Hero
Hero is dealt
UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, BTN opens to 2.5bb, SB folds, Hero calls 1.5bb in the BB.
Flop (5.5bb)
BTN cbets 4bb, Hero calls 4bb
We have the lower end of a gutshot. Therefore, we should nearly always call here. But why? Are we even getting the right pot-odds?
Well, actually, not really. We are investing 4bb into a total pot of 13.5bb which means we need to hit on the turn.
4/13.5= 29.6%
So, how often do we actually hit? We have 4 outs (ignoring for a minute that some are tainted), which means we will hit our gutter around 8% (4% * 2) of the time on the turn.
Hmm…We don’t get the direct pot-odds, so we have to rely on our implied odds here. How are our implied odds looking? Actually, not really that great either. Firstly, we are only going to hit about 16% of the time by the river, and even if we hit we are not going to have the nuts.
We have the lower end of the straight, and also some of our outs are tainted because they are clubs. Even if we hit one of our cleaner outs on the turn, there is still the possibility that a third club can fall on the river, damaging our implied-odds.
Okay, so our pot odds are bad, our implied odds are bad. Why are we even calling?
To help us answer this question, let’s start by defining what a “float” is in poker.
Calling a marginal hand, with the intention of taking the pot away on a later street.
Not many people realise this, but the main reason why we absolutely have to call is because this hand makes a decent bluff on later streets. The fact that it can sometimes turn or river a semi-strong hand is simply an added bonus. Let’s see how the hand plays out.
UTG (100 big blinds)
MP (100 big blinds)
CO (100 big blinds)
BTN (100 big blinds) Villain
SB (100 big blinds)
BB (100 big blinds) Hero
Hero is dealt
UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, BTN opens to 2.5bb, SB folds, Hero calls 1.5bb in the BB.
Flop (5.5bb)
Hero checks, BTN cbets 4bb, Hero calls 4bb
Turn (13.5bb)
Hero checks, BTN checks back.
River (13.5bb)
Hero bets 8bb, BTN folds.
Now that we have a way to win the hand without needing to improve, the flop call starts to become +EV. If we ever float a marginal hand and then don’t take the relevant bluffing opportunity when it presents itself, it’s actually better that we don’t float the hand in the first place.
We are not saying that we need to always turn our hand into a bluff on a later street, but here our opponent showed weakness with his turn check, presenting us with a clear opportunity to take the pot away from him. This type of line is referred to as a River Probe. It’s also possible for us to use a similar line on the turn.
Turn Probes
The truth is that we make the majority of our money, not when our opponent fires a continuation bet, but when he checks back. Assuming we cold-call in the blinds OOP and our opponent does not fire a cbet, we should immediately look for good spots to take the pot away from him.
Let’s look at a similar hand, but with a key difference. Our opponent decides that he doesn’t even want to cbet the flop.
UTG (100 big blinds)
MP (100 big blinds)
CO (100 big blinds)
BTN (100 big blinds) Villain
SB (100 big blinds)
BB (100 big blinds) Hero
Hero is dealt
UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, BTN opens to 2.5bb, SB folds, Hero calls 1.5bb in the big blind.
Flop (5.5bb)
Hero checks, BTN checks back
Turn (5.5bb)
Hero bets 4bb, BTN folds
Here we can see what is known as a Turn Probe. Our opponent signals weakness by checking back the flop, and we take advantage of this by leading the turn as a semi-bluff. Note that, although we picked up a gutshot in this example, versus many opponents at the lower limits it is not even necessary for us to turn equity in order to use this line. It’s profitable versus the majority of opponents to bet any two cards here.
But what if our opponent calls our turn probe?
UTG (100 big blinds)
MP (100 big blinds)
CO (100 big blinds)
BTN (100 big blinds) Villain
SB (100 big blinds)
BB (100 big blinds) Hero
Hero is dealt
UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, BTN opens to 2.5bb, SB folds, Hero calls 1.5bb in the BB.
Flop (5.5bb)
Hero checks, BTN checks back
Turn (5.5bb)
Hero bets 4bb, BTN calls
River (13.5bb)
Hero bets 9bb, BTN folds
At the lower limit games, we can often make automatic profit by simply firing two streets as a bluff, any time our opponent checks back the flop. This doesn’t necessarily mean we should always fire. However, we should think about our opponents range and our specific holding.
In this case, there are a number of draws that our opponent can turn which are now easy folds for them on the river. Some of these busted draws even beat our hand, such as QJ high for example which turned an open ended straight draw.
As such:
Our opponent has hands in their range they can fold
We have only a small amount of showdown value
It usually makes sense to turn our hand into a bluff here.
Putting it Together
There are naturally other lines that we can use when defending our big-blind postflop, but we have covered the main ones.
Check/call flop followed by check/raise turn can be a line that’s worth experimenting with, both as a bluff and for value.
Also, the slightly unorthodox check/call flop, donk-bet turn can be highly effective in the right situation.
As an extension of this, it’s also possible to take a check/call flop, check/call turn, donk river line as a bluff and for value.
These will usually be slightly more advanced lines, however. It’s recommended we first become proficient with our preflop defending ranges and the other 3 postflop lines which were mentioned first:
With this no-limit hold’em tip we’re focusing largely on preflop strategy, in particular the very useful move to “steal” the blinds, as well as to “resteal” which is a move that can be tried in response to stealing.
What is Stealing?
Stealing refers to an opening raise made before the flop, usually from a player in late position and most often with a weak starting hand. Those latter details are what technically make the raise a “steal”, given that the player isn’t really raising based on hand strength and is mostly hoping not to be called and win the small and big blinds (and antes, if in play) without having to see a flop.
However, any late position opening raise can be described as a “steal” attempt regardless of the player’s actual cards. A player might open-raise with a good hand and watch everyone fold in response, and that will still be looked upon as “stealing.” It’s a “position play” that often works for a couple of reasons.
One is the fact that when open-raising from late position, there are relatively few players left in the hand who might call or reraise — indeed, a steal attempt from the button only needs to get through the small and big blinds to be successful. The other reason late-position preflop steals often work is that many players in the blinds aren’t inclined to call raises and be forced to play hands from out of position after the flop.
Technically speaking, a player can be trying to steal from any position, although for the most part it’s a play made by those in late positions — i.e., the hijack seat, the cutoff, and the button. When folded to in these positions, you should always at least consider whether or not you can raise to steal the blinds before tossing away even the weakest starting hands.
Reasons to Try Stealing the Blinds
In no-limit hold’em, if you restrict yourself only to raising before the flop with premium or so-called “top 10” starting hands, you won’t be raising very much at all. That alone should be one motivation to try blind steals every now and then — it gets you involved in hands more often as the aggressor and (often) in position, both of which are generally more profitable ways to play.
Even if you happen to get called by a player in either the small or big blind when trying to steal, you’re still in a good position to win a pot without a showdown.
Say you open with a raise from the button with a random “trash” hand like and get called by the big blind. The flop comes and your opponent checks, and you make a continuation bet. Without a king, queen, or seven — or perhaps a pocket pair or a straight draw — your opponent will often be folding, earning you an even bigger pot than just the blinds you’d originally been hoping to steal.
Attempting blind steals every so often also will help affect your image going forward, earning you action during those other hands when you actually have strong starters and want your preflop raises to be called. If you’re inclined to play a tight style (maybe even too tight), blind stealing is a relatively easy way to start incorporating occasional, low-risk bluffs into your game. Sometimes your steal attempts will fail, but that, too, can be a positive as it shows the table you don’t restrict yourself to betting only when you “have it”, thereby making it more likely you’ll get callers on those occasions when you are betting or raising with strong hands.
Players who understand the effectiveness of blind stealing instinctively know that someone open-raising from late position can have a wide variety of possible starting hands — that is, a relatively wide “range”. Thus not only are you setting yourself up to play a hand in position and as the aggressor, but with a hard-to-pinpoint range, too, making it even less attractive for opponents to call you from the blinds to see flops.
Blind Stealing: Cash Games vs. Tournaments
So far we’ve been characterizing the blind steal as a relatively low-risk way to earn small pots uncontested, or perhaps slightly bigger pots without having to go to showdowns in those cases when your preflop raise gets called, but you then take down hands after continuation betting and getting folds.
The math of the situation shows how a blind steal doesn’t have to work every time to be profitable. Say the blinds are $1/$2 and you’ve raised to $5 as a steal attempt — that is, you’re betting $5 in an attempt to win $3. If the blind steal works two out of three times, you win $6 and lose $5, coming out a buck ahead.
That said, blind stealing in cash games usually isn’t as smart an idea as in tournaments, especially in deeper-stacked cash games where the amount of the blinds is small compared to the total stacks. In such cases, taking even small risks to win small pots isn’t so important to do, and can actually get you into trouble losing bigger pots as you find yourself involved in hands postflop with weak holdings.
Meanwhile in tournaments blind stealing is an important, even necessary play to incorporate into your game. Unlike in cash games, in tournaments the blinds increase as the tournament proceeds, making them all the more inviting to try to steal. Also, the addition of antes can make it even more profitable to steal while also reducing the need to be successful with your steals as frequently.
Imagine you’re in a full ring (nine-handed), no-limit hold’em tournament and the blinds are 1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante. That means there is already 5,700 in the middle before the cards are even dealt. Say you open with a min-raise to 4,000 from the button — that steal attempt only needs to work a little over half the time to be profitable for you.
Early in tournaments the blinds are usually small relative to stack sizes, which tends to make blind stealing less vital to try early on. If you have a starting stack of 100 big blinds, a successful steal in the first level only nets you 1.5 big blinds or a tiny 1.5 percent increase to your stack. (However, that doesn’t mean you should never try to steal early in a tournament, as it can still work to affect your image in a positive way later on.)
Restealing: From Late Position or the Blinds
Okay, so we’ve established that stealing can be profitable and there are several reasons in favor of trying to steal the blinds on occasion. Other smart players know this, too, and thus correctly view with suspicion some of those late-position opening raises.
Enter restealing.
The “resteal” is yet another bluff, in this case a reraise over a preflop opening raise that is similarly intended to win the pot right then and there. The rewards are even greater when restealing, earning the blinds (and antes, if there are any) and the amount of the original raise if successful.
If a player has raised from the hijack, another might try to resteal from the cutoff or button. Similarly an opening raise from the cutoff might be met with a reraise from the button. These resteals from a later position can be especially effective, benefited by that same power of position described above.
Restealing can also be attempted from the blinds (from out of position), and in fact that’s where you’ll see restealing happening most frequently. Players who don’t fold their blinds to raises are described as “defending” their blinds, and can do so either by calling or by reraising. Sometimes the reraise is a “resteal” attempt — that is, when the player in the blinds is bluffing with a less-than-strong hand in order to win the pot without going any further.
When going for a straight steal, you do want to be mindful of the remaining players left to act and what their tendencies are, understanding that against tighter players, steals are going to work more often.
When restealing it’s even more important to have a good read on your opponent. Specifically, you want to have a strong, well-founded impression that your opponent is capable of stealing, thus making it more likely that late-position opening raise is being done with a weak hand. Your reraise, then, becomes difficult for that player to call.
Imagine that situation up above and a player raising from the button with . When you reraise from the blinds, that player isn’t very likely going to call with such a poor hand. Generally speaking you want your reraise to be big enough to make loose calls with poor or even somewhat speculative hands incorrect.
Your own image is important here, too. If you’ve shown yourself to be a reasonably disciplined player who doesn’t get out of line that often, restealing is more likely going to work for you. But if your image is that of a loose-aggressive player who bluffs a lot, the resteal might not be smart to try.
Like with stealing, you can be called when restealing then still win a pot with a continuation bet after your opponent misses the flop, thus earning you even more chips (and without having to have made a hand).
Whether playing poker online or live, learn how to incorporate both stealing and restealing into your preflop strategy, opening up your game and earning you chips without having to depend on getting cards and showing down winners to do so.
and your opponent checks, and you make a continuation bet. Without a king, queen, or seven — or perhaps a pocket pair or a straight draw — your opponent will often be folding, earning you an even bigger pot than just the blinds you’d originally been hoping to steal.