When the Small Blind should call the Big with a marginal hand
In a low limit game if there have been no raises in front of you and there are several players who have called the Big Blind, it is usually wise to call the bet if you are in the small blind. Since you already have something invested and you can probably get in cheap, pot odds usually make it worthwhile to call the bet. You may get lucky on the flop. However, if there has been a raise put in you need to be more careful before calling.
I want to caution players against calling in the small blind with several players in the pot with certain holdings. Even though you are getting what appears to be great pot odds lets examine this further. If you are dealt j6 offsuit or something like that you are about 2 percent to flop 2 pair(using your 2 cards). The pot is certainly not laying those prices and since it is multy way, you are much more likely to run into a set or a jack with a higher kicker and get in a lot of trouble. Furthermore, you are playing a multi way pot out of position. Just thought I would give a different perspective on this but as always a lot depends on the situation.
Comment by Andrew Batkin — February 7, 2009 @ 11:20 am