Defending Your Poker Blind
When you are in the small or big blind in a full ring poker game, you find yourself at the mercy of seven other poker players. They have all seen their cards before making a move, and you are in the precarious position of having committed money to the pot without having looked at your hole cards. This is a very matter-of-fact way of looking at a familiar situation you deal with countless times every time you play poker. In a friendly game, you may defend your big blind often, but if you are playing in a serious poker game, you should take more consideration before playing the hand.
The blinds are meant to induce action, and when you defend your blind to a raise with a weak hand, you are giving action in a situation where you otherwise would have probably folded. Your opponent knows this, and knows the likelihood of you having a strong hand is small, so he will relentlessly continuation bet you, leaving you with the same decision to make every time you miss the flop. Calling from the blind is a very weak move, and is a losing play in the long run. Only multiway pots give correct odds for you to call a small raise preflop from the blind. It leaves open the possibility of check raising and trapping opponents in the middle when you do make a strong hand on the flop. Heads up situations from the blinds are incredibly difficult to play profitably, as you are out of position against a preflop raiser who will follow up on their aggression, leaving you in a difficult spot. Either reraise a preflop raise with a monster hand, or tell a story and run a bluff this kind of raise. If not, just fold your blind and don’t get involved.
If you are going to mix it up from the blinds, play aggressively and have a hand worthy of showdown, because more often than not you will have to show it down against an aggressor. Playing out of the blinds is very difficult to do profitably over the long run, so do not hesitate to fold preflop and wait until you are in position against a blind, and then go for the kill.
