The Guide to Pre-Flop (Day 6 Course Discussion)

johnmaltz19 said:

Raising 2x preflop usually goes multiway pot. My question is what is really the effective sizing against loose agressive players?

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

Good question. I recommend basing raise-size mostly on effective stack instead of opponent type.

For example, if an opponent is very aggressive, he may shove with a wide range with a 20bb stack. Min-raising has you lose the least when you're raise-folding against this type of player.

Also keep in mind that it's not a disaster if you get called. For example, if you min-raise on the button and a loose player calls from the big blind, then you're heads-up in position with overlay from the small blind and antes. Plus you have the betting lead.

Click to expand...

johnmaltz19 said:

This is very useful! Before I had no idea about raising I just do it no matter their stack sizes are... But is it the same with the cash games?

Click to expand...

Katie Dozier said:

At the risk of answering on Collin’s behalf, yes it is the same The difference is that most of the time, cash will be played with deeper effective stacks than tournaments tend to be once the money approaches (and beyond).

Click to expand...

johnmaltz19 said:

I hope Collin agrees with you lol. I love watching you guys on youtube hope you upload more contents there.

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

Good question. I recommend basing raise-size mostly on effective stack instead of opponent type.

For example, if an opponent is very aggressive, he may shove with a wide range with a 20bb stack. Min-raising has you lose the least when you're raise-folding against this type of player.

Also keep in mind that it's not a disaster if you get called. For example, if you min-raise on the button and a loose player calls from the big blind, then you're heads-up in position with overlay from the small blind and antes. Plus you have the betting lead.

Click to expand...

birdman666 said:

I have seen more than 3 different pre-flop ranges in official guides of Cardchat. Of all them, Collins range seems to be the loosest one (the one from the workbook).
Any comments about that? Which range do you prefer?

Click to expand...

Pichman189 said:

Your advice is very important to me. preflop play changes depending on the stage of the tournament towards the end of the tournament, more and more players go all-in. How can I avoid losing chips if I feel that the card is not entering and the blinds are getting bigger? this is the situation at the final table today. blinds 75000 150000. Player A from position UPG goes all-in-pair of nines, from position MO goes all-in-pair of tens and I from the button go all-in-pair of threes. flop - 2 8 3. turn-9, river king. and there are many such examples. does it mean that I played correctly? the pot was 10,000,000 in chips, the first place at that time had 6,000,000 in chips, I had 3,000,000. the question is, when there are few chips left and the blinds are very high, do we all-in on a very wide range including 2 2+? suited connectors and any two pictures?

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

Let me answer these two questions Pichman!

1. No, it doesn't mean that you played correctly when you hit the 3. This is called "results-oriented thinking" and you want to decide if a pre-flop play was profitable independent of what community cards ended up coming.

2. Yes, you can usually shove first in with the magic range of 22+ A2s+ JTs+ and related hands when stacks are short. Hands like JTo are also going to be good to shove or at least close most of the time with 10bb or less.

Hope that helps!

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

Let me answer these two questions Pichman!

1. No, it doesn't mean that you played correctly when you hit the 3. This is called "results-oriented thinking" and you want to decide if a pre-flop play was profitable independent of what community cards ended up coming.

2. Yes, you can usually shove first in with the magic range of 22+ A2s+ JTs+ and related hands when stacks are short. Hands like JTo are also going to be good to shove or at least close most of the time with 10bb or less.

Hope that helps!

Click to expand...

Pichman189 said:

It is known that the strongest pocket pair is 2 aces. But how do you play 6max preflop if it's the final table and you only have 10 big blinds, widen your all-in range?
With the magic range of 22+ A2s+ JTs+?
Please tell me about the psychology of online poker. How to make the opponent fold his hand especially in the final? For him to throw off his two queens or jacks. Is psychological pressure possible in online poker?

Click to expand...

Pichman189 said:

Is a pause important when playing online poker?
Could this be used as a bluff trick for example?
The opinion of a professional is interesting. Maybe all-in preflop after a long pause with 2 5 for everyone to fold?)

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

You should generally keep the same range. The reason is because the ranges are already based on position. So for example, if you're the cutoff with 10bb, you should shove a similar range from this position if it's 9-handed or 6-max.




It's possible that type of trick will work, but be careful if you're systematically making the same type of pauses since it's possible that good players will catch on.

Click to expand...

Pichman189 said:

Thanks, what other tricks can there be in poker besides pause during the game? Its very interesting.I think very few people ask this question. But for me, the psychological aspect is very important in poker, especially during preflop pushing.

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

Tricks can be good, like trying to use reverse tells live on occasion, but for the most part you want to rely on solid fundamentals and perceptive play instead of tricks.

With that said, if you find some that are working and opponents aren't catching on, then go for it!

Click to expand...

Pichman189 said:

I think online poker tricks don't work as well as offline poker. And the most important thing is to play poker using the fundamentals, sometimes resorting to bluffing. I often hear ABC poker strategy, what is it? Is this a game based on the fundamental principles of poker or is it something else and a narrow direction in poker?

Click to expand...

Collin Moshman said:

To answer the question in your previous post, yes effective stack is very important both pre-flop and post-flop.

In terms of ABC strategy, it just means solid poker and not doing anything fancy. For example, this would mean playing a tight-aggressive strategy for the most part, value betting strong hands, c-betting dry flops when you've missed, etc.

Click to expand...

Pichman189 said:

Thank you for answers.

I feel like I've become better and more confident thanks to your course. And in addition I want to say thank you for your professional answers and your competence.

I got to this forum by accident and now I do not regret it a bit. Even if my knowledge of English is not perfect, I am gaining most understanding of poker exactly from your course, although I studied books in my native Russian.
Briefly, clearly, understandably, and also such great support from you and Katie!!!

Last question about preflop: If I got a pocket pair preflop, can I hide the strength of my hand so that my opponents think I have nothing and just call? Or is slow play a bad trick? Better raise 3bet+1 bet for each call on preflop for example with pair of Jacks?

Click to expand...

Edgerik said:

Interesting video, I refresh my knowledge of playing pre-flop.

Click to expand...