Do you ever believe the button?

Forget the game type of stakes for a moment. When you are BB do you ever believe the button when they raise? Is it just me or does it seem like 80%+ of the time when you are BB the button raises.

I know this is standard play, raising in late position to steal blinds. My question is, when you are BB and the button raises, whats your reaction?

When in the BB its important to remember that peoples opening ranges widen as their position gets later. However you also have to remember that flat-calling leaves you OOP for the rest of the hand. My thought process is pretty simple, with a good starting hand, 99+, AQ+ im probably re-raising and see where i stand. With a good drawing hand like 78s and marginal hands ect ill flat it and see a flop. However this is also very opponent based. If a guy with stats like 50/30 ill be willing to see flops with a much wider range of hands. However if a guy on the button with stats like 10/5 raises and im holding A10os im probably folding.

Fold majority and let them have your blinds. If they're doing it a lot start light 3-betting them (although you open yourself to a light 4-bet and unless you're going to shove light there's no way to counter that, apart from just not 3-betting as light). In general you don't want to be playing HU in a raised pot oop too much, so there's nothing wrong with just folding the BB with most of your holdings. You're going to make most of your money in position, not from HU confrontations when you're oop.

What ranges are you flatting with zach? Just curious, as it seems you pretty much want to raise or fold? So does that mean that flatting the raise with drawing hands is generally just going to lead to trouble?

custo80 said:

Forget the game type of stakes for a moment. When you are BB do you ever believe the button when they raise? Is it just me or does it seem like 80%+ of the time when you are BB the button raises.

I know this is standard play, raising in late position to steal blinds. My question is, when you are BB and the button raises, whats your reaction?

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My reaction depends on the cards I have in my hand.

If I have garbage I fold.

I I have decent cards I call

If I have good cards I raise

If I have a monster I raise all in..

fcumred said:

If I have a monster I raise all in..

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This has to be very situational otherwise your are missing soooo much value by playing your big hands like this. Why push a villain off a hand that you have him crushed with. We want to extract lots of $$$ with hands like this.

Jagsti said:

This has to be very situational otherwise your are missing soooo much value by playing your big hands like this. Why push a villain off a hand that you have him crushed with. We want to extract lots of $$$ with hands like this.

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Possibly so...

It does send a message to him though that you mess about with my blinds and I am gonna cream ya.

It all depends I guess on the player.

If I think they are daft enough to call then I'll do it..

ajrobin said:

What ranges are you flatting with zach? Just curious, as it seems you pretty much want to raise or fold? So does that mean that flatting the raise with drawing hands is generally just going to lead to trouble?

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idk it really depends on the opponent. In general playing drawing hands HU oop are going to end up in you getting pushed off the best hand too often and not getting value when you do hit. But if they're super aggressive you can even call flop bets and sometimes even turn/river bets (usually not all 3) with mid pocket pairs even when overs come, just because it's usually the best hand. And the other thing is as mentioned if someone's going to 4-bet you light you could start flatting them more. Generally it won't be a winning proposition but if they're doing it super light and you can outplay them postflop then this is a good way to get them to stop stealing (although if they're going to 4-bet you light usually they're good enough that it's not going to be easy to outplay them postflop).

Just in general though I think people lose more money worrying about their blinds getting stolen and defending them with elaborate maneuvers oop than they would if they'd just give up and let the button have them.

A light 3-bet here and there should counter any advantage they had (since every time you're successful, assuming 3x raise, they have to steal blinds twice to make up for it, and of course the times you actually do have a hand help you even more).

I am less likely to raise on the button online then I am in a live game. I find online opponents expect a button raise and will call out of spite more often then in a live game.

Instead of playing back at a button raiser who is stealing your blinds, try stealing blinds yourself. The guy has to be stealing your blinds a lot before defending them with junky hands out of position becomes profitable.

Defending your button on the other hand, should be done with vigor!

I find it easier to steal the blinds from the button if there is one limper in the hand. Being willing to raise with a limper in the pot must make your bet seem more credible.

I love it when the button has been raising me everytime I get the big blind and all of sudden get decent pocket cards. The reraise seems to shock them. That happens a time or two they quit doing it.

dependening on the amount of the raise and the player. Also what I am holding plays in because you know the button is capeable of making raise with a weak hand. Be prepaired for the button to play there position after making call so go from there.