Puzzles
#15
MDF
Advanced
MTT, 40bb effective

The 75% your range does not contain

One flop decision in the big blind against a small c-bet. MDF says defend 75%, the arithmetic behind that 75% is correct, and you should still fold — because the calculation was never about your cards.

  1. Flop

Hand info

Seats
BB vs UTG
Street
Flop
Pot
7.3 bb
Effective stack
37.5 bb
Villain bet
1.8 bb
To call
1.8 bb

MTT, single raised pot, no ante. Blinds 0.5 / 1.

Pot7.3 BB
HERO ·BB
CHECK35 BB behind
1.8
UTG
BET33.2 BB behind
HJ
FOLD
CO
FOLD
D
BTN
FOLD
SB
FOLD

FLOP · 37.5BB EFFECTIVE

FLOP · BB CHECKS · UTG BETS 1.8BB

6-max table. Hero is BB with 37.5 big blinds effective. FLOP: Ah, Qd, 3s. FLOP · BB CHECKS · UTG BETS 1.8BB. Hero holds 9h and 6h.

Hand history

Pre-flop

  • UTGRaises to 2.5 bb
  • HJFolds
  • COFolds
  • BTNFolds
  • SBFolds
  • BBCalls 1.5 bb

Flop

  • A♥ Q♦ 3♠ — pot 5.5 bb
  • BBChecks
  • UTGBets 1.8 bb (1/3 pot)

You defended your big blind against an UTG open and the flop is A♥ Q♦ 3♠ — ace-high and rainbow. You check, and UTG bets 1.8bb: one third of the pot, the smallest real bet in the game. You hold 9♥ 6♥ — no pair, no straight draw, and three hearts to a backdoor flush. There is 7.3bb in the middle and 1.8bb to call, with 37.5bb behind. Against this size, minimum defence frequency says the big blind defends 75% of the time.

MDF says defend 75%. What do you actually do with this hand?