Message Board : Calling pre-flop with less than stellar hands

1st Q:  15*3 (2 Limpers + big blind) = $45 = $10 you already have in the pot so pot = $55.  It's $5 back to you so you are getting 55 to 5 for a call or 11:1

2nd Q:  The main concept at play here is the small blind is 2/3's the big blind so it's VERY cheap to enter the pot.  If you don't get slapped upside the head with the deck you can drop it and only be out $5.  You're not looking to flop a 4 or a 7.  You're looking for 2 pair or better.

Ah, I should have been more specific on q#1…I probaly sounded like a dunce there. I didn't mean to make it sound like I didnt understand pot odds.

I probally should have left q1 out and just asked q2. That's really what I wanted to get at.

So, if this were true, then wouldn't it be right to call more hands from the blinds then overall if enough players are in? As long as…

…I understand that I am looking to drop hands real quick if they arent gangbusters on the flop? Kinda like small pocket pairs?

…I play better post flop than most of my opponents?

thanks

 thatjimguy

So, if this were true, then wouldn't it be right to call more hands from the blinds then overall if enough players are in? As long as…

…I understand that I am looking to drop hands real quick if they arent gangbusters on the flop? Kinda like small pocket pairs?

…I play better post flop than most of my opponents?

Yes, in fact that's why the preflop charts are much looser for the small blind in SSHE.  It has you playing any two suited cards.  Two random suited cards aren't profitable from anywhere else on the table but they are from the small blind for 1 bet.  They do gain value the more people enter the pot, just not enough to make them profitable.

With the worst hand possible in the small blind vs. any random holding (big blind) is 32o and has 32.1% equity preflop.  On a typical table your completion will be 25% of the pot for a 7% equity edge.  However that assumes that your big blind foe will never raise so playing every hand in this spot isn't optimal.

It's a little different out of the big blind facing a raise because even the loosest of villians don't raise every hand so the range is considerably tighter decreasing your equity.  Even if you knew your opponent would only raise with AA you could still make the call with a few hands.  JTs has about 21% equity vs AA.  You would be taking slightly the worst of it with a call but should make that up easily with implied odds.

Blind defense is tricky but the discount you get from already being invested makes a lot of hands that wouldn't be playable playable.

Hope I didn't go to mathy on you, I tend to do that.