30 Nov 2025 Beginner This material is for beginner players open raise SB steal Playing from the small blind (SB) is one of the most difficult parts of No-Limit Texas Hold’em. If you check your results by position in a tracking program (for example, Hand2Note), you will see that SB is a losing seat for almost every player. Even the best players in the world lose money from SB and BB. This has always been true, and it will always be true. You have to accept it. Our goal in SB is not to win a lot. Our goal is to lose less, and by doing so, increase our total profit from all other positions. Why Playng in SB Is a Problem? The main reason SB is so difficult is simple: You will be out of position on every postflop street. Your opponent will always act after you. This gives the opponent more information and forces you to make decisions with incomplete information. Playing out of position creates tricky situations: It makes pots larger than they should be. It makes bluffing harder. It creates confusion with medium-strength hands. Because of this, a strong SB strategy usually means: fold more play fewer marginal hands enter pots only with hands that have good potential At lower stakes you should not have a limping range from SB at all. The rake is very high at these limits, and limping with marginal hands creates many small pots where the rake eats a large part of your expected profit. Raising or folding is almost always the best strategy. If someone has already opened before you, then your SB strategy becomes 3-bet only. Imortant: Cold-calling from the SB is almost always losing. You will play the entire hand out of position with a capped range, while the opener keeps the advantage. Cold-calling creates too many difficult postflop spots and burns money in the long run. So in these situations the correct approach is simple: fold or 3-bet — no calls. Choose Your SB Hands Carefully Good hand selection is the key to losing less from SB. SB is a losing position, but this does not mean you must fold every hand. You can still play profitable poker — but only with hands that are strong enough to balance your positional disadvantage. Your range must be tighter than in any other position. You should avoid weak offsuit hands, weak Kx, weak Qx, and most disconnected trash hands. You want hands that either hit big or miss completely — so your decisions become easier. Common Beginner Mistake in SB The biggest mistake beginners make in SB is thinking: “I already put 0.5bb in the pot, so I should see the flop.” This logic is dangerous. Yes, the pot odds are good. But the losses come after the flop — not before it. Calling with a weak hand means you will often hit a weak pair, or a second-best hand, and you will feel committed to continue. You will pay money on several streets just to find out that you are beaten. Never feel tied to the pot just because you already paid the blind. You should also keep in mind that the optimal SB steal range against BB is usually around 40-45%. This is a solid baseline for most players. However, your range can become wider if the BB is tight, passive, or a recreational player. Against these opponents, stealing more often becomes very profitable, because they fold too much or defend poorly after the flop. Conclusion SB is a losing seat in poker. You will never make it profitable. But you can make it less losing. To do this, you must: play fewer hands toss weak and marginal hands avoid calling just because the pot odds look good enter pots with hands that have strong potential be ready to fold when the situation becomes unclear Do not expect your hand to perform well from this position. Every opponent has positional advantage against you. You will save a lot of money long-term if you fold more often instead of defending too wide. Playing tight, disciplined poker in the small blind will increase your total win rate across all other positions — and this is the real goal.
