How to defend blinds (SB and BB) correctly: Stop giving away money

Most beginners approach playing from the blinds with frustration, viewing them as an inevitable tax to participate in a hand.

Our editorial team regularly reminds players: an important truth is that over the long run, small and big blind positions will always be in the negative, even for top professionals.

❕ Your goal is not to make these positions profitable, but to minimize losses by keeping your winrate within -30 bb/100 in the big blind and -15 bb/100 in the small blind.

💡 A key defense factor is the open-raise size and the aggressor's position. The math of the game dictates that against large sizing, your pot odds and implied odds drop dramatically.

In such situations, you need to fold weak offsuit hands (such as K6o or A3o), but keep suited starters, as they realize equity much better post-flop. If a player opens from early position (UTG) ahead of you, whose range contains only about 17% of the best hands, your defense range must become extremely tight.

🛡️ A massive leak for many poker players that we often see when analyzing databases is calling too wide in the big blind when a raiser and another caller have already entered the pot. You might think you are getting an amazing price, but in reality your reverse implied odds skyrocket.

In such multiway pots, you should defend with hands that can make the strong nuts (for example, K♥️2♥️ is better than T♣️2♣️ because it gives you a chance to hit a higher flush) and avoid hands like J♠️T♦️, which will often be dominated.

🔥 Defense charts cannot be universal, as the game structure fundamentally changes the approach. In micro-stakes cash games, the hidden tax of a high room commission (rake) forces you to play significantly tighter.

In tournaments (MTT), the situation is the opposite: the presence of antes gives you fantastic pot odds, allowing you to defend the big blind even with trash like K♦️2♠️ against a min-raise.

Additionally, with shorter stacks, it is harder for opponents to push you out with a bluff, allowing you to realize equity better.

🎯 The small blind (SB) is an unfavorable position because you have to act first on the postflop, which is why it is better to resort to 3-betting more often here.

However, on the big blind, it is also important not to forget about aggression, adding low-frequency 3-bets with hands like 6♠️5♠️ or A♦️4♦️ to your range. This allows you to seize the initiative, take down the pot preflop, and push out opponent hands that would dominate you on a simple call.

🚀 Your well-calibrated defense charts and understanding of pot odds will only begin to yield maximum profit when you play against opponents making glaring postflop mistakes.

It is precisely such player pools that are currently concentrated in private mobile alliances (PPPoker, ClubGG), where USA and Asian recreational players love to open with massive sizings and stack off with weak pairs.

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