I'd like to start up a discussion on what I think must be a massive subject on defending the blinds. Lets start off specific then see if it expands to more general.

Situation - Late in MTT:

Possibly 10-20 away from the prizes. You're the player in the BB with an average or just less than average stack.

Table is playing fairly tight. Every time it gets folded round to the button (who has an above average stack), he raises. The SB doesn't defend. Losing the blinds can now make a difference to you overall position quite dramatically. You wouldn't ordinarily play your pocket holding unless you got a free flop. What do you do?

1. Fold and wait for a better moment letting this possible stealing carry on

2. Call - You have no idea of the BB holding pre flop. Unless you get lucky are you betting the flop?

3. Re Raise - This play is surely hoping the Button will fold pre flop. If Button calls you surely have to bet the flop even if you miss it otherwise whats the point? You're not gonna call if he re raises post flop as you can't really afford the chips.

4. All in - Reckless?

I know any of the above are viable options dependent on reads etc, but what are peoples general strategies for these kinds of situation.

Assuming M= 10-20 ish
You ask yourself

1] has he got a high PP - the odds are against this as blind attacks are the norm at this point.

2] You grit your teeth. If the cards you have are better than Q7 Then you aim for mid pair...

I occasionally employ the f*** off bet (technical terminology there) .. with a mid (even low pp) I will all-in if he is trying it on.. This actually works. (unless he calls with AA of couse).. PPl tend to get worried about an all-in happy BB so its not only the late attacker you suppress.. If the blinds are about to go up it can be worth doing this..

From another post but the following applies to this thread.

I was playing a SnG (3 table) yesterday and was at the final table. 2nd chip leader was just apounding on me when I was in the blinds. We were still at 7 and 2 off the money when he came apounding (2xBB = 800) again when I was in the small blind w/ With my stack at or about 4th or 5th (about 3500) I would usually just weather the beating untill I caught a real good hand to pound back but I figured enough is enough and decided to push back - All-in.

Of course I expected the jerk to fold but nope - he called and turned over . I damn near shit myself! Then I flopped a flush draw and completed on the turn to busted his aces! Oh yeah and he stopped pounding on me after that too . Then I went on to win that tournament just to put the cherry on the sundae!
Edit:
P.S: Oh ya and this was on Pokerstars!

How much emphasis can you put on the reads of a person in this situaution?

If the player is TAG open play then the first couple of times he does it you let him steal the blinds because you figure he must have a hand.

But then your read on the player becomes the fact that he is always raising in position. Unless you have seen him showdown a weak hand elsewhere do you continue to give him credit for holding a hand every time?

Personally, I think it's the TAG that really make good with stealing the blinds. I play very tight/moderately aggressive and frequently steal the blinds from the button or the cutoff. I do this even more if the blinds have played with me for a while...hoping they remember how tight I am.

Additionally, I never limp or raise small with my good hands from late position. I make my normal 4XBB raise hoping that the blinds will think I am stealing.

On the other side of the coin, I SUCK at defending the blinds. I just don't feel comfortable aggressively playing a hand that I normally play at all. So, my game still has a lot of room for improvement.

Blind defense is tough, and sometimes overrated.

I'm a big believer that sometimes just calling a couple of raises that I think are steals is better than making one big reraise. If they know you'll call a raise, they're much more likely to back off.

Of course I do use reraises as well. My rule of thumb is that the tighter the player raising my blind is, the looser my reraising requirements are (sometimes any 2 cards if they're tight enough). Against loose players, I typically just employ a calling strategy unless I have a fairly decent holding like A-x, K-x, QT, or PP.

If I just call (as against a loose opponent), I will usually fire on the flop, and reraise if raised (them raising your initial bet is almost a given at times, you have to be prepared to come over the top).

That being said, if you defend your blinds too much, you leave yourself wide open to a massive beat when the CO or Button picks up a monster.

All that being said, I'm not a big defender of my blinds unless I feel like I can't afford to lose them or have my opponent win them (when it gets down to 3-4 in a SNG for instance).

Remember, the $ isn't yours anymore, it's in the pot. Focus on stealing more blinds, and don't try so hard to defend yours.