progressBB defense vs UTG open at 24 BB
8-max MTT · ante 12.5 % · Under the Gun opens, small blind folds · chip EV
How the BB defends at 24 BB
Facing a Under the Gun open to 2 BB (small blind folds) with 24 big blinds, the big blind folds only 28% of hands, calls 66%, 3-bets to 6.5 BB with 2.3% and goes all-in with 4.5%. The big blind already has one blind in the pot and closes the action, so it gets a good price.
Always 3-bet: AA, AQs.
Always all-in: AKo, KK, JJ, TT, 99, 44.
Folded: K6o, K5o, K4o, K3o, K2o, Q7o, Q6o, Q5o, Q4o, Q3o, Q2o, J6o and 17 more.
Against other openers at 24 BB the big blind continues with: vs BTN 88%, vs CO 84%, vs HJ 79%, vs LJ 77%, vs UTG+1 74%. The later the opener, the wider its range, and the more the big blind defends.
Closest decisions (the book continues with them only part of the time): 95o 40%, K7o 62%, Q8o 38%, T6o 80%. These are the hands worth drilling, because a small change in the opponents or the stack flips them.
What changes around 24 BB
The book continues with 72% of hands here, 73% at 23 BB and 73% at 25 BB. Going from 23 BB to 24 BB, no hand crosses the 50% line; only the frequencies shift. With the extra chips some former all-ins become small raises: AKs.
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Numbers come from the progressGTO solution book (v14, chip EV, 8-max, ante 12.5 %): our own equilibrium computation with a modelled postflop. It is an approximation, not an exact solution, and it keeps improving. Hover or tap a hand to see its exact frequencies.
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