Friday, June 16, 2017



5 Poker Tournament Myths Way Too Many Players Believe

Bad, know-it-all regulars love to give people a tough time over defending from the big blind with a short stack.
You flat their open in the big blind with something like T-9o, hit a pair on the flop, go all-in, and double up. They reluctantly pass you the chips, and say ”well played” in an obviously sarcastic tone. Their judgemental brain just doesn’t understand your pre-flop play.
An alarming amount of people seem to think that you should never flat an open if you have less than a specific amount of big blinds. Many people probably believe this because it was written in ancient poker books published around 1998. Guys, don’t trust poker training material from 1998.
(The same book has all kinds of weird gibberish about “red zones” and other random terms – I’d advice you to ignore all that and rely on more modern wisdom instead.)
Nowadays, most people use a much smaller open-raise size than people did in 1998. When you’re in the big blind facing a minraise open, you need just ~20% raw equity to continue (most hands have at least 30% against most opening ranges).
You may be thinking: “But I don’t get to realize all of that equity, because I have to fold so many flops.” That’s true. You don’t realize all of that equity, but you will certainly realize enough of it to justify a defend with playable hands. 
Realizing equity when out of position is easier with a short stack because there is little room to maneuver. Consider: the cutoff minraises, you have 6 big blinds in the and defend holding T8. You’re virtually never going to make a mistake post-flop – if you hit something, you’re going all-in. If the flop gives you two undercards and no draw, you check-fold, saving those last few big blinds.
If you have 30 big blinds, however, it’s a bit tougher to realize your equity due to the threat of multi-street pressure from your in position opponent. As your stack gets shorter, it becomes easier to play your hand post-flop and realize equity.
Big blind defense with a short stack is a complex and crucial topic, and you can learn more about it with my article The Ultimate Guide to Big Blind Defense.

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Saturday!