How Do You Defend the Big Blind?
Wider than most people play it. Facing an open, the solver defends on average 53.5 of 169 hands from the big blind — and the deeper your stack, the more: 46.8 up to 12 big blinds, 63.9 above 25. The reason is the discount: you have already paid.
The number
469 spots in our library show the big blind facing an open. Counted per spot is how many of the 169 hands the solver mostly does not fold, then averaged.
| Your stack | Hands defended | Spots |
|---|---|---|
| up to 12 big blinds | 46.8 | 50 |
| 12–25 big blinds | 53.5 | 273 |
| over 25 big blinds | 63.9 | 146 |
What that looks like
The chart shows the hands defended in the majority of those spots at 12 to 25 big blinds — that is 36 of them.
Always in — 36 hands
The 36 in the chart and the 53.5 in the table answer two different questions: 36 hands are defended in the majority of ALL spots, 53.5 are defended in the AVERAGE spot. The difference is the part that depends on the situation — on the opponent, on their seat, on the size of their raise.
Why the big blind plays so wide
You have already posted the big blind. When somebody raises to two big blinds, calling costs you only one more — so you get twice the pot for half the price. That discount makes hands playable which would be playable nowhere else.
And it grows with the stack: at 40 big blinds enough is left after calling to win something after the flop. At ten, the flop is almost the end — then showdown value counts again, and the range narrows.
That is also why the big blind does not contradict the article on position. It never opens — it answers. And you may answer with more hands than you would open.
Where this answer stops
The numbers average across all opening seats. Against an open from an early seat you defend tighter than against one from the button — and against a large raise tighter than against a small one. The average says how wide it goes, not how wide against whom.
All of this is preflop, in tournaments with a payout ladder. And defending does not always mean calling: in many of these spots the right answer is a re-raise.