question Cutoff opens are getting silly lately — how wide are you defending the big blind?

Been playing a fair bit of low to mid-stakes lately and this spot keeps coming up... cutoff opens, button folds, small blind gets out of the way, and I’m sitting there in the big blind wondering how loose I really should be getting.

A few years back I was probably overfolding and not giving it much thought. These days it feels like plenty of decent players are opening heaps from late position, especially online, so just chucking everything away seems a bit weak. But then if you start defending too wide, you end up in a bunch of annoying postflop spots out of position with hands that look pretty enough pre and then turn into a bloody headache by the turn.

I’m mostly talking about those fringe hands — suited gappers, weak suited aces, offsuit broadways that aren’t exactly premiums, little pocket pairs when stacks aren’t super deep. Are you lot mostly calling those, mixing in more 3-bets, or still keeping it pretty tight because rake and position make life rough enough already?

Also keen to hear if your answer changes a lot between live and online. Live 1/3 and 2/5 feels different to me because people open wide but don’t always pressure enough after the flop, while online some regs will make you pay for every tiny mistake. Curious where everyone’s drawing the line here, mate.

I reckon a lot of players have swung too far the other way and started defending with hands that are just burning money in normal games. Rake smashes the bottom of the range, and out of position you end up making second pair and hating life. If the cutoff is just clicking buttons, sure, peel a bit more. Against anyone decent, I'm dumping more of the cute suited stuff than most people admit.

Best shortcut I found was sorting the fringe hands by how easy they are to play on ugly flops. Small pairs and some suited aces are pretty clear, those ugly offsuit broadways were the ones torching me. I mostly bin those now or turn a few into 3-bets when the opener is clearly nicking it.

Ivy WildWheel wrote >

Live 1/3 and 2/5 feels different to me because people open wide but don’t always pressure enough after the flop, while online some regs will make you pay for every tiny mistake.

Yep, that's been my experience too. Live you get shown way more passive lines, so the blind kind of realizes itself. Online you check twice and people start stabbing everything, which makes those marginal continues feel way worse.

What sizing are you seeing most from cutoff? My answer changes a fair bit if it's a smaller open versus one of those chunkier live opens, and same with stack depth. Also curious if you're ever leading low paired boards there or just staying check-heavy and letting them hang themselves.

At my local on a Friday arvo I went through a phase of peeling way too wide because it felt weak to keep folding the blind. Ended up in heaps of miserable spots with baby pairs where I'd miss, fold, then remember the one time I flopped a set and tell myself it was all good lol. Still curious where people cut those off when the opener isn't the sort to pay you when you finally hit.