Small Blind: what's the best pre-flop strategy?

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Small Blind: what's the best pre-flop strategy?
When you're in the Small Blind, how do you usually play?
Do you prefer to be more aggressive and raise when you have a decent hand? Or do you like to just call the blind and see the flop?
And when someone has already raised before it gets to you: do you call, 3-bet, or just fold?
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
 
When I'm in the Small Blind, I tend to be pretty cautious. A decent hand is usually a fold for me, but if I have a strong hand pre-flop, I prefer to call rather than raise, whether someone has already raised or not. The main reason is that a strong hand pre-flop doesn't guarantee a strong hand after the flop. I prefer to see what the board brings before committing too many chips. From the Small Blind, I'll also be out of position after the flop, so I don't like building a big pot unless I have a really strong reason to do so. Of course, stack sizes, the opponent and the raise size can change the decision, but generally, I prefer to keep the pot under control, see the flop and then decide how strong my hand really is
 
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JhonnyThe357 said:
Small Blind: what's the best pre-flop strategy?
When you're in the Small Blind, how do you usually play?
Do you prefer to be more aggressive and raise when you have a decent hand? Or do you like to just call the blind and see the flop?
And when someone has already raised before it gets to you: do you call, 3-bet, or just fold?
🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
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SB is the worst post-flop seat, so you generally want to be tight and play for pot control, but it depends on the action to you. It's a great spot to steal from when it folds to you or when there is 1 limper, which also makes it a great spot to jam wide in icm in the same situations. You can often get very good pot odds from both SB and BB especially in multiway pots so you can defend wide with all of your speculative hands like mid suited connectors or gappers, suited Aces and low pocket pair set mines, so long as your stack can afford the check-fold flop when you whiff.

As for straight up opening value, you want to be tight.
 
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In the SB, I usually prefer a more aggressive strategy because calling gives the BB a chance to see the flop cheaply. If I have a playable hand, I often raise rather than limp. When someone raises before me, I look at their position, sizing and range. I 3-bet my strongest hands and some bluffs, call with hands that play well postflop, and fold the weaker ones. The effective stack size and ICM are also very important in tournaments.
 
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Being in the Small Blind is easily my least favorite position because you have to play the rest of the hand first to act.
If everyone folds to me, I rarely just call the blind. I prefer to raise with any decent hand because calling usually lets the Big Blind see a free flop or raise me out of the pot. I'd rather take control early.

If someone else raises before it gets to me, I usually just fold my weaker hands. Calling a raise from the Small Blind feels like a trap because you're out of position for the whole hand. If I have a premium hand, I like to 3-bet to put the pressure back on them. But as an average player, if I don't have a clear plan or a strong hand, folding from the Small Blind saves me a lot of chips!
 
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fzap1983 said:
When I'm in the Small Blind, I tend to be pretty cautious. A decent hand is usually a fold for me, but if I have a strong hand pre-flop, I prefer to call rather than raise, whether someone has already raised or not. The main reason is that a strong hand pre-flop doesn't guarantee a strong hand after the flop. I prefer to see what the board brings before committing too many chips. From the Small Blind, I'll also be out of position after the flop, so I don't like building a big pot unless I have a really strong reason to do so. Of course, stack sizes, the opponent and the raise size can change the decision, but generally, I prefer to keep the pot under control, see the flop and then decide how strong my hand really is
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The Small Blind is my worst position. Besides being the first to act post-flop, I’m almost always tempted to just call the 0.5 BB—even with a terrible hand—when there hasn't been a raise from anyone. This is especially true in the late stages of a tournament, where every blind counts.🤦🏽‍♂️
 
Semprini said:
SB is the worst post-flop seat, so you generally want to be tight and play for pot control, but it depends on the action to you. It's a great spot to steal from when it folds to you or when there is 1 limper, which also makes it a great spot to jam wide in icm in the same situations. You can often get very good pot odds from both SB and BB especially in multiway pots so you can defend wide with all of your speculative hands like mid suited connectors or gappers, suited Aces and low pocket pair set mines, so long as your stack can afford the check-fold flop when you whiff.

As for straight up opening value, you want to be tight.
Click to expand...
The worst part is when I fail to top up that last 0.5 BB—meaning I fold the hand, even without any raises from the others—and then the flop comes out great for me, but I'm already out of the hand.😅
 
didi58xx said:
Being in the Small Blind is easily my least favorite position because you have to play the rest of the hand first to act.
If everyone folds to me, I rarely just call the blind. I prefer to raise with any decent hand because calling usually lets the Big Blind see a free flop or raise me out of the pot. I'd rather take control early.

If someone else raises before it gets to me, I usually just fold my weaker hands. Calling a raise from the Small Blind feels like a trap because you're out of position for the whole hand. If I have a premium hand, I like to 3-bet to put the pressure back on them. But as an average player, if I don't have a clear plan or a strong hand, folding from the Small Blind saves me a lot of chips!
Click to expand...
I lost the Silver tournament on 888poker today; I was in second place, close to the bubble, when I played my A-Q against an opponent holding Q-Q, and the flop came out 5-6-Q. 🤦🏽‍♂️ He checked, I bet, and he raised. Since I had already committed 75% of my stack, I had to call the all-in.
 
JhonnyThe357 said:
The Small Blind is my worst position. Besides being the first to act post-flop, I’m almost always tempted to just call the 0.5 BB—even with a terrible hand—when there hasn't been a raise from anyone. This is especially true in the late stages of a tournament, where every blind counts.🤦🏽‍♂️
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I actually see it a little differently. When nobody raises and I have a reasonable hand, I think completing the Small Blind can be interesting because I'm only putting in another 0.5 BB to see the flop. Depending on what comes, a hand that looked average pre-flop can become very strong without having to invest many chips. Of course, a lot of the time you won't hit anything on the flop, and then you have to be willing to let the hand go. I also think it's important to look beyond just your cards and the board. Stack sizes, how many players are in the pot, the opponents you're facing and how they have been playing can all change the decision. For me, the Small Blind isn't necessarily a position where I always want to fold. If I can see a flop cheaply with a reasonable hand and the situation is favorable, I don't mind completing and seeing what happens.
 
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fzap1983 said:
I actually see it a little differently. When nobody raises and I have a reasonable hand, I think completing the Small Blind can be interesting because I'm only putting in another 0.5 BB to see the flop. Depending on what comes, a hand that looked average pre-flop can become very strong without having to invest many chips. Of course, a lot of the time you won't hit anything on the flop, and then you have to be willing to let the hand go. I also think it's important to look beyond just your cards and the board. Stack sizes, how many players are in the pot, the opponents you're facing and how they have been playing can all change the decision. For me, the Small Blind isn't necessarily a position where I always want to fold. If I can see a flop cheaply with a reasonable hand and the situation is favorable, I don't mind completing and seeing what happens.
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I agree with you; the dilemma I face is when you're in the final stage of the tournament, for example, with a short stack.
 
Call with not that good hands. Raise with pair or cards like AK AQ J10 suited.
 
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I prefer not to play with them, but if I need chips or have good cards, I vary my game depending on what I need.
 
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For me, the Small Blind is mostly a raise-or-fold position rather than a position where I want to call a lot.


If everyone folds to me, I prefer raising with a reasonably wide range because I don't want to give the Big Blind a cheap flop.
If someone has already raised, I usually 3-bet my stronger hands and some bluffs, while folding the weaker hands. Calling can be used with certain hands, but playing out of position makes it tricky.

The biggest mistake I see is completing/calling too many hands just because you've already put in the blind.

Being out of position is expensive, so I'd rather be selective and aggressive than passively defend too much.
 
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small blind is hardest spot for me i play too passively i know i should raise more but i find so many times myself on spot where i just call because my brain Automatically says play safe because you are out of position
 
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