Playing from the Small Blind: A Strategy Article by AVP Resident Pro Benton Blakeman

Today I'd like to talk a little about playing from the small blind in no limit hold em. I get a lot of questions about what hands to complete the bet with, which hands to call raises with, and what hands to three bet with. I'll try to cover these topics today.

Playing from the small blind is a tricky thing. We already have half a bet in the pot and it looks like we're getting great odds to call with pretty much any two cards- but are we really? Well, I am definitely more of a feel based player than math, so I'd rather not break down numbers, but I can expand on the subject after playing several million hands in my poker career. Calling the other half of a bet from the small blind with any two cards is definitely a mistake. Not from a math point of view per say, but from a hand strength/positional point of view. Tossing in the extra half a bet can easily lead to playing a terrible hand out of position, flopping a piece and getting stuck in the hand for several more bets. In general, I'd advocate using caution when completing from the small blind.

Let's looks at what hands we should be playing.

First, we'll talk about when there is no raise and no limpers-
It's folded around to us in the small blind. Often, for those unfamiliar with poker in the casinos, you may be asked to "chop," which simply means that both you and the big blind take your blinds back, fold your hand, and move on to the next hand. A lot of "pros" say that they never chop, but honestly I'm not one of them. Sure I feel like i have an edge, but I think my bigger edge comes from moving on to the next hand and having the
dealer give the fish at the table new cards to play with. Now, if you or your opponent don't chop, then I would advocate a raise or fold strategy. I'd open raise all playable hands into the big blind, including all pairs, all hands with 2 face cards, any hand with an Ace, all hands that have a face card with any other card suited, any suited connectors, suited 1, 2, or 3,
gappers, any unsuited connectors, and some unsuited one gappers down to 7-5 off suit.

Playing from the small blind with limpers-
I'd play all pairs, all hands with 2 face cards, any hand with an Ace, all hands that have a face card with any other card suited, any suited connectors, suited 1, 2, or 3, gappers, any unsuited connectors, and some unsuited one gappers for the most part. If there is only one limper I'd tend to fold the bottom part of this range, but also raise with some of the medium strong hands like JTs, KJs, ATo. I would also raise my premium
hands like JJ+, AK, and AQ. In some instances vs thinking players I would mix in raising with some suited connectors to balance my preflop raising
range.

Playing from the small blind when there is an early position raise-
When a player in early position raises I would be very selective with what hands I'd call with from the small blind. If there are one or no callers I would only call pocket pairs 77-JJ and high ranking suited Broadway's like KQs and AQs. I would also call AKo and AKs about 60-70% of the time and 3 bet it the rest of the time. I would call or 3 bet QQ-AA depending on the villain. If there is a raise and two or more callers I'd call all pocket pairs, all connecting suited Broadways, all suited aces, and suited connectors. I'd 3 bet my big pairs and sometimes AK, with. The very random suited connect thrown in (if opponents are paying attention) for
balance.

Playing from the small blind when there is a late position raise-
When a player in late position raises I would still be pretty selective with hands that I call with, resorting to the same hand ranks as I mentioned in the above paragraph. What I would change here is my 3 betting range. If there is a late position raiser and no callers, I would 3 bet a lot of my suited connectors and suited one gappers, as well as some of my offsuit Broadway's like KQ, KJ, and QJ that I'd rather play with the lead than check calling all the way, some hands that contain an Ace suited because the Ace is a blocker to our opponent having a hand like AK, as well as any pair that I would be willing to 5 bet all in if our opponent 4 bets us. I would also 3 bet AK and AQ if I'm willing to get all in preflop if the villain 4 bets me.

If there is a late position raise (from the hi-jack) and both the cutoff and button call, I'd 3 bet a more polarized range of precisely value hands that I'm willing to get all in with, and pure squeeze hands that I wasn't planning on calling the preflop raise with. These hands would include but aren't limited to an Ace with an off suit card (because the Ace is a blocker) and suited 1 or two gappers that I would normally fold like T7s,
or 53s.

I hope this helps clear up what hands to play preflop from the small blind and how to play them. I'm sure there are some scenarios that I forgot to mention, so please leave all questions in the forum and let's discuss them!

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