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60-Minute Master: Spin & Go Part 6, Opening from the Small Blind

This lesson will focus on opening from the Small Blind. This means the Button has folded and we’re heads up against the Big Blind.

From the chart below, we can see that the range of hands we can shove in the Small Blind is much wider than the range of hands we shove from the Button. If you need to review or haven’t read the lesson on Button play, you can read it here.

So why do we open wider in the Small Blind than we do on the Button? The answer is because we only need to get through one player (the Big Blind) instead of two. Let’s take a look at the chart.

OPEN/SHOVE CHART SMALL BLIND VS BIG BLIND

Below is the chart for our actions in the Small Blind when the Button folds.

  • Blue = Shove all stack sizes 
  • Yellow = Shove all stack sizes less than 12BB effective
  • Red = Shove all stack sizes less than 6BB effective 
EXAMPLE SITUATIONS You have the chart, now let’s take a look at some example situations. First example. We’re in the Small Blind with a 10BB stack and look down at 66. The Big Blind also has a 10BB stack. If we open for a standard raise and get a fold, that’s fine. But if called, we’re going to be in an awkward position postflop unless we spike a set, since chances are the flop will not look so good for a hand like 66. Because of this, we decide to shove preflop. This allows us to better realize our fold equity while maintaining decent pot equity when called. So we shove. Another example. Again, we’re in the Small Blind but this time our stack is 5BB and we hold 43s. The Big Blind has us covered. Now it may be tempting to shove here but we should actually fold. Here’s why. Any raise size here is going to give the Big Blind a decent price to call with a wide range and 43s just isn’t going to stack up well versus his continuing range. We’re going to have to get lucky when called. Also, while our stack is dwindling, we still have 5BB left to play with and will be on the Button next hand with the chance to add 1.5BB to our stack with hopefully a better hand than 43s. So in this situation, we fold. One more example. It’s the first hand of a Spin & Go and we get dealt AA in the Small Blind. All stacks are equal, minus the blinds, as everyone started with 500 chips. We’ve posted our small blind (starting blinds are 10/20) so we have 490 chips for 24.5BBs. If Button folds, can we shove here? Of course, as it’s always going to be +EV should we get called. But chances are we won’t as we’re only up against the Big Blind and chances are he doesn’t have a strong enough hand to call. Instead, we can open raise to something like 2.5BB or we can limp and hopefully trap the Big Blind should he flop something decent. Of course this contradicts the chart above, however, not everything is a simple cut and dry situation. Sometimes it pays to think outside the box instead of blindly following the charts.

QUIZ TIME!

Study the chart above before answering the following questions. The answers can be found below the banner.

Questions:

  1. At what stack size do we fold pocket pairs?
  2. How low does the BB stack have to be to shove weak offsuit Jacks like J6o and below?
  3. The BTN folds and we have 92o. The BB has 2.5 BBs. Do we fold?
  4. The BTN folds and we look at one card. It’s an ace. Do we need to see the other card?

Answers

  1. None. We shove all pocket pairs
  2. It must be 6BB and lower
  3. We shove. We shove all hands at effective stacks of 3BB and less
  4. We do not need to see the other card in this spot. We shove all aces in this situation at any stack size.
POSTFLOP THEORY: LET’S PLAY A HAND Here is an example of Small Blind postflop play heads up against the Big Blind. The blinds are at 10/20. We’re in the Small Blind with 7s6h and have 647 chips, or 32.35BB. The Big Blind is a recreational player with 540 chips, or 27BB. Button folded. We decide to limp, Big Blind checks his option, and we go to the flop. The board is Ah 8s 6h. Our opponent doesn’t have much Ace-x hands in his checking range preflop, we actually have more, and therefore he will typically be over folding in this spot. So we decide to bet half pot, which is 20 into 40, or 1BB into 2BB. Big Blind calls however and the turn is the Js. Still, we should be making a double barrel here. We do this to make him fold his random floats on the flop, or weak hands and draws that may not continue versus another bet. We do block some of his gutshot draws, however, that doesn’t mean we still shouldn’t be betting the turn, as we only have a 7-high and a gutshot ourselves. So we prefer he fold. The pot is now 80 and we decide to bet 50, which is around 2/3 pot. This sizing will help us realize more fold equity, as his range is mostly weak or marginal at best. Big Blind calls again however, so no we can deduce that he has quite a few flush draws, 8x, 4x, some Jx that floated the flop, maybe even some Kx and the very occasional Ax. The river is the 5s and we get lucky by completing our inside straight. This is a very clear value bet here but remember, his range is weak so we don’t want to blow him out of the pot. We should also remember that our opponent is a recreational player and will look us up if we choose our bet sizing accordingly. So we decide to bet 135 into a pot of 180, which he will be forced to call with even some of his 8x hands. However, our opponent decides to shove the river. Now while it’s possible he rivered a backdoor flush draw, this is a situation where we beat all of his value bets, except for a backdoor flush of course. Because of this, we have no reason to fold in this case and have an easy call. So we make the call and he flips over 3h2c for a lower straight. Now obviously he made a huge mistake on the turn as he’s just burning money, and as it turns out, we were actually value betting the turn with 7-high! Surely this won’t always be the case, and we did get a bit lucky, but this hand is a great example of taking advantage of a recreational player’s tendencies and their weak range. Some players make the mistake of just folding in this spot, forgetting that the game is 3-handed and it’s extremely hard for anyone to have much of anything. In the next lesson, we will discuss how to play in the Big Blind against the Button, including calling shoves, as well as re-shove ranges of our own. Click the link below to advance to the next lesson.

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