Ed MillerPRACTICAL BLIND

PLAY

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Always focus fi rst on the big picturePlay from outside the blinds is focused on identifying

exploitable opportunitiesPlay from the blinds has a dual focus

Defending Identifying exploitable opportunities

WHAT’S THE GOAL OF BLIND PLAY?

Many years ago I used to think of “blind defense” as a fallacy. The blind money is a sunk cost. Is the hand +EV? Don’t “defend” a -EV hand.

Old logic not wrong, but I embrace the idea of defense more now.

IS DEFENDING REAL?

The most eff ective way to defend a blind is to 3-bet it.

Strong, mathematically-rooted preflop strategies 3-bet a lot against potential steal-raises.

So, yes, defend your blinds. By 3-betting a lot. (And calling too.)

DEFENSE ENCOURAGES PROPER AGGRESSION

People often try to steal with wide ranges.People suck at playing wide ranges where they don’t

hit the flop hard very often.Allows you to overdefend your blinds (both 3-bets and

calls) beyond the mathematical ranges.

WHAT EXPLOITABLE OPPORTUNITIES

Yes I am.But this is a special situation. In most cases where people are playing OOP, they are

up against relatively strong ranges. They limp and get raised behind. They raise and get 3-bet behind. With many $2-$5 opponents, these actions rep strong

preflop ranges.Steal raise ranges are completely diff erent.

ED, YOU’RE TELLING ME TO PLAY OOP?

As always, the postflop concepts are more important than specific preflop range construction.

Errors we are trying to exploit Too narrow two- and three-barreling ranges (I.e., too much

“giving up”) Too much fit-or-fold against a 3-bet Not enough 4-betting preflop

POSTFLOP CONCEPTS

Not enough 4-betting preflop 3-bet more!

Too much fi t-or-fold against a 3-bet 3-bet more! C-bet and bet turn a lot Check, defend against a bet (call or check-raise), and bet at

least once

HOW TO EXPLOIT THESE ERRORS?

Too narrow two- and three-barreling ranges Call more preflop. Don’t fold to the first bet often. Give few free showdowns

HOW TO EXPLOIT THESE ERRORS? (CONT.)

Don’t be afraid to fold your blinds in cash games. Without antes, and with big (e.g., 4x or more) preflop raises, it’s rarely a big mistake to fold. (Tournaments are very diff erent.)

Against non-steal raises, adopt a defensive outlook.Against steal raises, when you decide to play, be an

enormous pain in the ass.

THREE SIMPLE RULES

Make them show you twice.One limp. Aggro button makes it $25. You call with

QsJs. Limper folds.Possible flops: Kd7d7s. 7d3s2c. Td8s2c. AhTh4c.

Ts7h2d.On all these flops, you are going to be a pain in the

ass.Check-call flop. Check turn and respond. To a big bet

size, consider folding. To a check, auto-bet river. To a small bet, consider a check-raise.

If they bet turn big, they have “shown you twice.” Otherwise, it’s a green light to steal.

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 1

Why does this work? Stealing ranges are very wide, which means on any flop

type, the range will be weak. Most people at the level play too passively and fold too

much in these steal vs. blind situations. Therefore, most opponents will assume that your range is

strong when you play back. This assumption, plus their wide range to begin with, will

give them folding ranges that are large enough to attack in most board runouts.

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 1 (CONT.)

Some flops will be particularly terrible for your hand. Th9h on AsKs3c. QsJs on 8h7h5h.

Feel free to give up on these flops. Assuming your calling range preflop is good, you won’t get too many of these dreadful flops.

You want at least some equity if called. An overcard, a gutshot, backdoor draws… something. Having 10% extra equity is huge.

WHEN NOT TO BE A PAIN IN THE ASS

You call preflop and check the flop. Against one or two opponents, it gets checked back/around.

Bet turn, bet river. I believe—at least in Vegas $2-$5 games—this is

automatic profi t on most boards. If someone steal-raises and then checks back the flop, they simply will not call down turn and river bets often enough to prevent an auto-profi t.

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 2

You can check-raise the flop. I like to have a hand that can turn into a big hand >10% of

the time to do this. A gutshot. Bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw.

Generally not naked overcards or an unimproved pocket pair.

You can donk bet. WARNING: Donk betting is tricky. It’s hard to get your

ranges right, and many people attack donk bets.

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 3

3-bet Preflop! I tend to do this with premiums, weak suited hands, a

few off suit hands with card removal value, and some small pocket pairs.

Examples of hands I often 3-bet against steal raises: 99, AQo, K5s, Q8s, 54s, A9o, 44

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 4

After your 3-bet gets called, you can either bet or check flop. I do both a lot.

Against fi t-or-fold types, I just bet flop and usually turn.

Lots of people will call the 3-bet wide, but then fi t-or-fold really tight by the turn bet.

If they are stealing wide, calling the 3-bet wide, and fi t-or-folding by the turn, you can just 3-bet, bet, bet and it’s basically auto-profi t.

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 4 (CONT.)

Against players who fold more to the 3-bet, or who are smarter postflop, you need to check the flop a lot.

Check good hands (overpairs), bad hands (that you plan to fold), and some of the hand types you check-called in the fi rst part.

Same options checking after a 3-bet you have as checking after calling preflop.

BEING A PAIN IN THE ASS – PART 5

All $2-$5 with $1,000 stacks. Button opens for $20.Small blind with 8h6h. 3-bet to $70. Button calls.Flop Qh7d3s. Against fi t-or-fold button, bet $80 on

flop. If called, you’re probably up against a queen or unimproved pocket pair.

Bet $200 on turn into any overcard, heart, or T-thru-8s and 6-thru-4s. Possibly bet other cards except for a queen.

SOME EXAMPLES

8h6h on Qh7d3s board.Check flop. If checked back, bet turn ($80) and river

($200). If button bets, call. Check turn. If button bets big,

fold (except if you have legit draw). If button checks back, bet river BIG ($300+). If button bets small, consider check-raising overcards, hearts, T-thru-8s and 6-thru-4s.

If button is very tight against 3-bets (i.e., you are surprised he called), then consider check-folding flop.

OTHER LINES

KdJs in the big blind. Button opens $20. You call.Flop AhTh5d. Check flop. If checked through, bet turn ($30) and river ($100,

possibly $150+ if you can get him off an ace with that bet).

If button bets, call. Check turn. If checked through, bet river. Fold to a big bet, consider check-raising a small bet.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Check-raise flop. Might get you into trouble if your opponent assumes you

have a flush draw b/c few value hands that didn’t 3-bet preflop want to check-raise.

Works fine against fit-or-fold types.Donk bet.

Danger. This is exactly the strength of hand many people will expect to see if you donk bet.

OTHER LINES

Ks5s in the big blind. Button opens $20. You 3-bet to $65. He calls.

Flop Th9h7c.Against fi t-or-fold type, you can consider bet flop, bet

turn. (But don’t ever bet flop and check turn. That’s burning money on this flop.)

Against everyone else, check-fold.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Don’t bank on implied odds against a steal raise. It’s hard to get steal raisers to really pay you off because they so often brick off.

Fold most of your blinds. In cash games with no antes and big preflop raises, playing the blinds is not very attractive. Fold most of the off suit hands and the total junk suited stuff like 93s.

Be very careful against non-steal raises. Now you are out of position against a legit range. Bad spot.

SOME CAVEATS

Like with everything in poker, find the weakness, devise a plan, and stick to it.

I tend to try to exploit players stealing with weak ranges who don’t know how to play those ranges postflop.

This leads me to try to get folds—particularly on the turn. My plan from the blinds is to gather information and then steal as much as possible.

STICK TO THE PLAN

This video I hope is food for thought, but obviously it’s just the beginning.

Ask questions or post hands in the forum for more information about playing blinds.

SCRATCHING THE SURFACE