Overdefending the Big Blind
Big blinds are fun for those of us who are selective about which hole cards they’ll play. Since you’re already in the pot, the flop is free if you don’t get raised. It’s kind of thrilling for online poker nerds-you wouldn’t normally play these cards, but it’s nice to feel like a reckless player every now and then.
The problem for people who share my affection for the big blind arises when they sit down at a more aggressive table. At an aggressive poker online table, someone’s likely to raise the hand pre-flop, so that flop that you were looking forward to won’t be happening unless you’ve got a good starting hand. This can become trouble for online poker players who get so attached to their big blinds that they start defending them, even though their hands aren’t worth the original bet. If you get raised on the big blind, the free hand is over and it’s time to start reconsidering your hand.
If the blinds get raised, your knee-jerk reaction can be to call it and at least see the flop. I mean, you’ve already got some cash invested, so you might as well, right? Wrong. Remember-unless you got some good hole cards, the big blind is only appealing because it’s ‘free’.
