We recently covered the strategy for defending BB on low-card boards with 100bb, and now we will discuss tournament scenarios.
In this article, we will analyze examples of both dry and connected flops with a 40bb stack and see how to adjust in various situations.
Defending BB on Dry Low-Card Boards – 9s5h2c
We will use the PeakGTO solver to analyze low-card flop textures in situations where you call from the BB vs the BTN open and see a dry flop with all low cards.
Key assumptions about the hand:
- We are playing 40bb deep with 12.5% ante
- Our opponent raise from the BTN
- SB folds, and we call from the BB
- We check to preflop raiser and face a bet
To kick things off, let’s look at the 9s5h2c example.
In this situation, you will mostly face a large c-bet, so you will only need to defend 46% of the time. This will include calling with 36% of the hands and check-raising 10% of your holdings.
As you can see from the PeakGTO breakdown, we will continue with all hands that have any equity by calling and will mostly raise our top pairs, along with some gutshots.
Our strategy remains largely unchanged when the stacks drop to 20bb.
We are still defending a similar amount of hands, just check-raise a bit more aggressively, and are ready to commit with most of our top pairs. Other than that, we still keep calling with any pair and broadway overcards, making this a fairly easy spot to play.
Key takeaways
- Check your entire range from the Big Blind
- Defend over around half of your hands with both 40bb and 20bb stacks
- Check-raise more aggressively when stacks become shorter with your top pairs
- Call all hands that are a pair or better, and your strongest overcards
C-Betting On Connected Low-Card Boards OOP – 8h7h5d
Key assumptions about the hand:
- We are playing 40bb deep with 12.5% ante
- Our opponent raise from the BTN
- SB folds, and we call from the BB
- We check to preflop raiser and face a bet
While on connected boards, you could have a leading range, but you will still be checking with most of your range. Therefore, we concentrate on breaking down this situation. Let’s look at the 8h7h5d example.
Your opponent should mostly use two-thirds pot size c-bets, and in these situations, we need to defend around 55% of the hands. We will be calling 42% and check-raising 13% of the time.
The game theory optimal strategy is fairly evenly distributed between the hands we continue.
We will be check raising made hands like straights and two pairs, and mixing this in with occasional draws. Additionally, we will be calling nearly all 8x and 7x hands and letting go of the weakest combinations with the bottom pair.
When the stacks drop to 20bb, your opponent will almost exclusively stick to a small c-bet.
Since you will be getting much better odds in this situation, you will need to defend a wider range according to the MDF strategy. To be more precise, you will need to defend 68% of the hands.
This will include calling 45% and raising 23% of the time, which is a very aggressive strategy.
You should be ready to put your tournament poker life on the line and check-raise with all your top pairs or stronger hands, and balance this out with some open-ended straight draws. For calling, you should continue with all one-pair hands that do not raise on the flop, and most of your flush draws.
Key takeaways
- You can have a leading range on connected boards, but you should still check most of your hands
- Defend around 55% of the time with 40bb and mostly lean to calling
- Check-raise much more aggressively when stacks go down to 20bb, and be ready to commit with top pairs
