Poker Basics: Defending

Most players are not defending their Big Blind anywhere near enough so this is a skill all newbies should get their head around.

Defending refers to the act of calling an opening raise when you are the Big Blind. An open raise is an aggressive actor and considered 'offence' and therefore the act of calling the Big Blind is considered 'defence'. 

If you do not defend often enough you become easy to exploit, so it is important to defend the Big Blind often in poker. Defending does not refer to when you call an open shove in the Big Blind, it assumes post flop play will happen. 

When you defend the Big Blind you have to play out of position (unless defending vs the Small Blind) so it often means you have to play passive post flop, but it is still more profitable to defend than to let your opponent run you over. 

One of the most common spots in poker

First of all defending is profitable because you get to close the action as the Big Blind against a single opponent, so you get to see the flop without having to worry about action behind you. It is also profitable because you get a good immediate price on your call, assuming your opponent opened for a small amount, because you have already invested one big blind. 

It is important for new players to learn how to defend their Big Blind frequently, as many players do not do this enough and can be easily exploited as a result. For example, this is a GTO defending range vs the Button in a 100 big blind cash game:

This is a very wide range and includes hands as weak as 52s and 76o. Defending ranges are even wider in MTTs because the antes make it more profitable to call. This is what we called a 'capped' range meaning all the top preflop hands are missing because they would have been 3-bet before the flop. 

It may go against your instincts to call with hands like 52s but you are making a mistake if you don't. Practice defending a wider range, it is one of the most important skills in poker because it comes up so often. 

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