Defending the Big Blind in Poker Tournaments

One of the most common situations you will encounter in poker tournaments is defending your big blind. There are a lot of factors that come into how you proceed, and these tips will help you navigate the problem.

Position

If your opponent opens from early position, they’ve done so with 8 other players left to act after them. Their range therefore is stronger than if someone raised your big blind from late position.

Against an under the gun raiser you defend your big blind less often than you do against a button raiser as you need a stronger hand to go up against your opponents stronger range.

A hand like T7 off suit looks like a decent hand to defend your big blind with, but I would only do so against a late position player and not against an under the gun raiser as it will not have enough equity against an early positions more robust range.

Learning how to defend your big blind in tournaments is very important, and if you want to know what other factors to consider when deciding if your hand is good enough to go to battle, be sure to visit the 888poker Magazine to read the full article.