Blind defense is probably one of the most frustrating concepts for new no limit hold em players. The problem is they just always seem to lose money from the blinds. Well, guess what, that's supposed to happen! We all lose money from the blinds. Think about it, you're already trying to beat the other players, beat the rake, and overcome the cost of the money you're paying to the blinds. And now you're supposed to accomplish all of this from out of position? Ha! Yea right.

Your goal when playing from the blinds is to lose as little money as possible. Now this doesn't mean turn into a weak-tight little scaredy-nit. You're going to lose as little money as possible by playing smart and picking your spots very carefully. Position is all important in no limit. Remember that above all else. Every hand you play from the blinds (except BB vs SB confrontations) will be played with you acting first every street the entire hand. Your opponents will get to see what play you make before deciding theirs. It's a HUGE disadvantage so remember that when picking your spots. By picking your spots I mean deciding when to defend your blinds and with what cards to do so.

People tend to over-defend their blinds in no limit. Every round of blinds is such a small part of your stack that you don't need to worry about being "blinded out." In cash games you're under no pressure to "make a move" or double-up. You have all day long to build that stack so just wait until the right spot comes. People get so worked up over defending this 1 or 1/2 of a big blind that they completely overlook the fact that a single river bet of 30BBs is equal to twenty orbits worth of blinds. So why go through all the trouble and expense of playing a marginal hand out of position? Don't do it just because you don't want people to think you're a little wimp and can't defend your blinds. This is poker and in poker there is no pride or proving anything, there is only money.

When you do decide to defend your blinds it's not going to be because you think someone is trying to mess with you. It's going to be because you think your hand is beating the majority of the opponent's range. What does this mean? Well, if there is an opponent who is exceptionally loose with his button raises, you're going to take advantage of his wide range by 3-betting him with a wider range yourself. This doesn't mean 3-betting with a bunch of random garbage, it means 3-betting him with hands that you think are beating the majority of his range. Naturally the looser this opponent is, the more hands you will have that are beating his range.

A good example is if every single time a certain opponent is on the button and it folds to him, he goes for a steal. I mean every single time. This can get annoying but do not react with a frustration play by just jamming a huge raise out there with your face all red and that big vein sticking out on your forehead. Instead, you let him steal when you have garbage and you put in a 3-bet whenever you have a somewhat decent hand. What is a somewhat decent hand? In this case, it depends on how the opponent in question handles pots that have been 3-bet. First, does he always fold to 3-bets? If so, you can widen your range and steal some of his money. In fact, you're not even really defending your blind so much as taking advantage of his easily exploitable tendency to raise too often but fold to 3-bets.

If the opponent in question likes to tangle with you and stick around after preflop 3-bets, it's going to be a lot harder to play against him out of position. In this case, you need the added advantage of strong cards to make up for your weak position. This means waiting for stronger hands before you put in that 3-bet. If this opponent puts a lot of pressure on you after the flop, he's going to make it really hard for you to play marginal hands profitably from out of position.

I'd like to use an example to show what I'm talking about. Let's say you're up against an opponent who steals very often and will stick around post-flop if you try to defend. You're in the small blind with AJo and the guy attempts yet another button steal. You figure AJo is ahead of his range (and it probably is) so you put in a 3-bet. The opponent calls and you take a flop. Right now you're already in a tough situation. You are playing a bloated pot out of position with a speculative hand against an opponent who will try and pressure you into folds post-flop. Your poor position has just compensated for the likelihood that your hand is beating his range.

The flop comes 8JQ and you lead out with a continuation bet, figuring your 2nd pair is good against his wide range of hands. Instead of just folding like you would have liked, the opponent just calls. The turn brings a 5 which may or may not complete a flush draw, it doesn't really matter at this point because any decent bet from you will pretty much commit you to the pot, and if you check the opponent could bet with anything and take a huge pot from you without a showdown. See how ugly this can get? I'm not saying to always fold AJo to button raises; I'm saying you need to correctly adjust to your opponents.

Now I wish I could just come up with a handy little list of hands you're supposed to defend with for you to print out and tape to your monitor but unfortunately I can't do that. It depends so much on the table dynamics - who your opponents are, what they think about you, how they play post-flop, that there is no easy list. It takes experience to get really good at picking your spots. If you're not too sure of how to play from the blinds, just tighten up and wait for good hands. The blinds are a tiny part of your stack and you're supposed to play extra tight from the blinds anyways.

Ok fine, I'll give you a little more than that. Just saying it depends all the time is the easy way out. Against the opponent we were just talking about, the one who steals all the time and sticks around after the flop, I'd tighten my range considerably. I'd 3-bet him with pocket pairs 88+, AQo+ and the occasional small suited connector just to mix it up - but not very often. Yes this range is pretty tight but playing the blinds is one of my weaknesses so I avoid getting into big pots with marginal hands. The good thing is that I recognize this and save myself a lot of trouble. I suspect more people should be doing the same.

Don't obsess about defending your blinds. Don't "defend" them unless you have a good reason. This reason can be because you have a strong hand or the opponent is showing an exploitable tendency; just don't arbitrarily decide when to defend. You need to have a reason for every play you make in poker.