Defending Your Blinds Against a LAG
The LAG's steal-and-barrel machine runs on your blinds, and folding your way out surrenders orbit after orbit. The defense is wider, meaner, and board-smarter than against any other stealer.
From Poker Ascent: 110,000+ drills across 10 skills, graded against the player type you are facing.
Defend wide, but with playable hands
Their steal range is enormous, so your defense grows: suited hands, connected hands, every broadway. The difference from the maniac defense: LAGs CAN fold postflop, so playability and fold-equity hands stay in your defends here.
Check-raise the boards that hit you and miss them
Low connected flops (7-6-3, 8-5-4) smash a blind-defense range and brick a steal range; check-raising these against a LAG c-bet prints because their c-bet frequency ignores the board. This is the single best counter-punch against a LAG and most players never throw it.
Call down the sizings, not the streets
Their normal barrels are stuffed with air, their overbets are not. Out of position this discipline matters double. Top pair calls three normal barrels; the sudden pot-plus turn bomb is your exit.
Worked hand
Worked hand
LAG raises the cutoff, you defend 8♠ 7♠ in the big blind. Flop 7♦ 5♣ 2♥: you check, they bet, you check-raise. They fold ace-king face up, annoyed. The same line with the same hand against a nit c-bet is a leak (their range hit that flop); against a LAG it is the play. Player first, cards second.
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The mistakes that cost you
- Folding every blind and calling it discipline.
- Check-raise bluffing high dry boards (those hit the LAG's steals).
- Calling turn overbets with one pair out of frustration.
Practice beating the LAG
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