Defending My Blind

If you've read much of my blog, you know that I am not a fan of trying to defend the blinds, for the most part at least. If I'm in the blind with garbage, and the action folds to a late player who raises to steal with garbage of his own, I'm perfectly fine letting him have my blind. Usually. I figure that I can win it back later, either from him or from some other player, with my ordinary tight game.

But just for fun (and something different), I decided to defend with a hand lately, and it worked out pretty well.

At a $2/$5 game, action folded to the cutoff, who raised to $15. The button folded. I was in the small blind with Ace of Hearts, Jack of Clubs. Believe it or not, I will frequently fold this hand from just about any position if there's action. It's such a trouble hand. But I decided to play it this time. I called the raise; the big blind folded, and we went to the flop.

The flop came Jack of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, Seven of Spades. Based on my read of my opponent, I felt that I probably had the best hand, with middle pair. (He'd need to have a Queen or a higher pair to be safe ... or a flopped set). I checked, intending to call whatever got bet.

He put out $25, and I called.

The turn was the Ten of Clubs. There were plenty of draws out there, but I was still optimistic. I checked again; he bet $55 and I smooth-called. I could tell he was a bit nervous about the fact that I was still playing along.

The river was a brick -- the Three of Hearts -- and I sprang my trap. I bet $90, basically bluffing with the best hand. He folded quite quickly. I don't know what he had, probably nothing or close to nothing. I had about $185 in the way of a decent-sized pot. So defending my blind actually worked out here.