Big Blind Defense: How to Play From the Big Blind

You play the big blind more than any other position, and how you defend it has a big impact on your win rate. The two opposite mistakes — folding too much and calling too much — are both common and both costly. Here's how to defend correctly.

Why you defend wider than you think

When you're in the big blind facing a raise, you've already invested the big blind, and you're getting a discount to continue (you only have to call the difference). That price means you can profitably continue with a wide range — much wider than you'd play from other positions. Over-folding the big blind is one of the most common leaks in poker, handing aggressive openers free money hand after hand.

What changes your defending range

• The raise size: the smaller the open, the better your price, so the wider you defend. Against a large raise, tighten up.
• Position of the raiser: defend wider against late-position steals (the button and cutoff open wide and weak) and tighter against early-position raises (which are strong).
• Who's behind: in multiway situations, tighten, since more players can wake up with a hand.

Call or 3-bet?

Split your continuing hands into two groups:

• 3-bet your strong hands for value, plus a balanced selection of bluffs — hands that play well when called and block the raiser's strong continuing hands.
• Call with the wide band of hands that are worth seeing a flop with but aren't strong enough to re-raise.

A common structure is to 3-bet a polarized range (value plus bluffs) and call with the middle, since you'll be out of position postflop.

Surviving out of position

You'll be out of position after defending, so play accordingly: continue more carefully postflop, keep some strong hands in your checking range, use check-raises to fight back, and don't bloat pots with marginal hands.

The takeaway

Defend the big blind wide — you've already invested and you're getting a price — but adjust for raise size, the opener's position, and players behind. 3-bet your strong hands and bluffs, call with the middle, and play disciplined out of position. Correct big-blind defense, played thousands of times, is a major piece of a winning game.