blonde poker forum

Against a seemingly straightforward player, what are your starting hand standardsto defend your blinds at different stages of tournaments?

How does that change against an "At It" merchant?

Does it change if the raise is from the button with no action before him?

personally i think defending your blinds can get you into all sorts of problems, some folks really do feel they are abliged to do this.
If i have a good enough hand i will play it in any position and i am always willing to give up my blind no problem, i'll get it back ;D
If i steal somebody elses blind that has previously taken mine i might just say "that's what happens when you nick mine, what goes around comes around"  ::)
Ian

I never worry about defending my blind unless someone on the table is a serial stealer, then I like to make a big re raise with total crap and show if he passes, it can pay big dividends later in the game if you pick up a monster in the bb

In the latter stages of a tourney I think its essential to defend your blinds against a serial raiser or button raise.  Most of the time they will be raising hands that aren't good enough to call a big raise with, so a lot of the time defending will take the pot down.  I think this definately more than makes up for the times when they have a genuine hand and you get your chips in behind.  Still, even when this happens, a couple of live cards and the odds won't be so bad.