Against loose big blinds tighten up, Against nitty big blinds a raise with anytwo cards can be profitable. It also does not take into account opening for a raise from the small blind. However, when he is facing a raise he may not check, he must either fold his hand, call the raise (completing his initial bet to the full amount of the raise), or reraise. In no-limit holdem can we simplify this by stating whether it is pre-flop or post flop you must double the big blind to raise and double any subsequent raise excluding "all in" bets? It also does not take into account opening for a raise from the small blind. Player B in the big blind only has 8x the size of the big blind in her stack. – Paul Apr 20 '18 at 13:58 Playing the Blinds in Hold'em Hand Selection from the Small Blind. The big blind can exploit a small blind caller by squeezing, as the small blind’s range appears ‘capped’ to medium strength hands. CA refers to Calling Any raise. That's the disadvantage of being a big blind. If we have to fold the majority of our hands, we have constructed the opening range wrong, and the big blind player can profitably raise back with weak hands. For example, if you raise pre-flop from early position, you can usually assume that your opponent isn’t playing a hand like 2-4 suited from the positions right behind you. If you always start out with a strong hand, you have a much greater chance of winning money from poker. Can a small blind only call or fold? How Much Should You Raise Preflop in Zoom? This is why it is extremely important to add 1BB per limper when raising preflop. I had to only call the BB. Indeed, depending on who is sitting in the big blind, this can be the correct play. If everyone else folds before the flop, including the small blind, then the big blind not only wins his blind bet back, but also collects the small blind's initial bet. So in this example if my standard preflop raise size is 3x and I see 4 limpers, then I am going to make it 7x the big blind. In fact, most players will increase their earnings by resolving never again to raise before the flop from the small blind position. Decide which strategy you feel most confident using and go from there: Raise or fold; The first is a simple raise or fold strategy from the small blind. PRO ANSWER: In a $5-5 cash game we are dealt pocket eights in the Small Blind. Put differently: how many players have entered the hand without raising? The player in the small blind should want to 3-bet their entire value range to build a pot and isolate the pre-flop raiser. You are getting a discount to call, and you have all the information about how the pot has developed unless the big blind happens to raise. This player then shoves all-in, putting player A to a decision. You can play some additional hands from the small blind if the pot was not raised and the conditions are right. This strategy has two notable benefits: simplicity and a relatively high chance of winning the pot pre-flop. If, for example, everybody folds to our opening raise, but the big blind player re-raises pot, we have to come up with a correct folding range. That's the disadvantage of being a big blind. The Classic 3x. The button is the best pre-flop position, and the further you are from the button, the worse your position. How to play before the flop overview. UTG limps for $5, it folds to the Cutoff who raises to $25 and action is on us. Is this right? Say you're in a tournament, the blinds are 100/200, and someone raises to 500 from the cutoff. There are two different approaches that can be taken from the small blind, both of which can be successful when executed properly. This leads to spots where ‘restealing’ pre-flop becomes a profitable play. In the chart named "Calling from the small blind without any pre-flop raises", you learn with which hands you should call from the small blind with no previous raiser. Open the small blind with a very wide range until given a reason not to. Think, though, about what it means to call a preflop raise from the small blind. If you are getting 4 callers when you raise preflop then you are doing it wrong! If the villain is not paying attention, is distracted, or is a particularly tight and nitty player, you can and should steal liberally against them. We have observed that this is a very loose table with a lot of preflop calling.