Ranges vs. position

I'm studying pre-flop ranges. What hands do you play in the position right after the Big Blind? Do you follow a fixed range or do you adapt according to the players at the table?

The seat to the left of the big blind is the under-the-gun (UtG). This is the weakest seat at the table (in my opinion). My opening range here is very tight. It's the tightest seat as far as I'm concerned. I easily fold QTo here very very often, especially in 9-ring. In 6-max I might open it a little. I go weeks between limping this seat. I probably only limp this as a final table ICM (short stack) trap with AA or KK and ONLY AA or KK.

Any Villain who limp-calls me from UtG I am attack! attack! attack!-ing on the flop (if I have iso) because he's obviously a complete fish of epic proportion.

It's important to understand that learning to choose the right starting hands for your hand is essential from the very beginning. Starting hand charts can help with this.Ranges in poker are the foundation for developing sound betting tactics. They are used against a specific opponent, taking into account their individual characteristics.

Our opening range from LP (late position - CO cutoff and BT button) can be wide. We can open low pocket pairs, any suited A, sometimes any A if the table is really weak. Heck maybe even K-rag-suited. That would be really big balls but my motto: when playing at a table of fish, commit atrocity from the button. If you are a newer player practicing this strategy maybe not go quite so wide until you are more comfortable playing aggressive with a wide range. Our EP (early position - SB BB UtG) opening range will be very tight. Our MP (middle position - all seats between UtG and CO) will be a bit looser than EP but significantly tighter than LP.

Remember that all of the crap at the bottom of our LP opening range is FOLDED if someone opens before us.

If we open A7s from the BT and UtG limp-calls we likely have a hand that competes with him. and since we have position, we also have the option to c-bet bluff this dude when he checks the flop to us. 90%ish chance (depending on how call-y he is) that he has nothing and folds. Abuse position. : )

But be careful if the SB or BB defends. Now if SB or BB is a fish, we probably have the same situation as if the UtG limp-calls (UtG limp-calling is 100% a fish!), but if SB or BB is a good player, he will often only defend tight and A7s is in trouble here. So just beware of that.

embaixador said:

What hands do you play in the position right after the Big Blind?

Click to expand...

Just the simple fact that you are asking this question makes you smarter than half the players in the freerolls and micros. So many times you see someone make a totally fishy play out of position and you check his profile and his site account is 10 years old. 10 years of freerolls and micros and he hasn't learned position. (!!!)

Keep studying and practicing and you will beat all of them, guaranteed.

I start with a solid default range from UTG since it's one of the earliest positions, but I definitely adjust based on the table. If the players behind me are tight, I'll open a little wider. If there are aggressive 3-bettors or a lot of loose callers, I tighten up and stick to stronger hands. Having a baseline range is important, but being able to adapt is what makes it profitable.

UtG is the worst seat at the table as far as I'm concerned. I detest sitting UtG. At at 9-seat table we can probably fold anything that isn't prime and maybe limp mid pocket pair 77 88 99, MAYBE.

Don't get me wrong, when we watch pros at wsop they are not playing that tight, but these are top pros vs top pros. Everyone at that table has a balanced game. GTO UtG is not that tight. However, we're playing micros and freerolls. Nobody at this table has a balanced game and if we're unlucky maybe 1 or 2 Villains will be ranging us or watching our frequency at all, so it's totally okay to be crazy tight. We exploit, exploit, exploit.

When we play from a weak seat (and it doesn't get any weaker than UtG) we have a significant disadvantage. To compensate for that disadvantage we must have strong cards. We can do this safely because we exploit the fact that Villain is not paying attention to our range or frequency and is likely to call behind with all kinds of weaker hands. ; )

Semprini said:

The seat to the left of the big blind is the under-the-gun (UtG). This is the weakest seat at the table (in my opinion). My opening range here is very tight. It's the tightest seat as far as I'm concerned. I easily fold QTo here very very often, especially in 9-ring. In 6-max I might open it a little. I go weeks between limping this seat. I probably only limp this as a final table ICM (short stack) trap with AA or KK and ONLY AA or KK.

Any Villain who limp-calls me from UtG I am attack! attack! attack!-ing on the flop (if I have iso) because he's obviously a complete fish of epic proportion.

Click to expand...

I agree that UTG should generally be our tightest opening range, especially at full-ring tables. I also think it's important to adjust based on the table. If the players behind are passive, we can sometimes open a little wider, while against aggressive 3-bettors it's usually better to stay disciplined. Having solid default ranges is great, but being able to adapt is what makes the difference.

dreamer13 said:

It's important to understand that learning to choose the right starting hands for your hand is essential from the very beginning. Starting hand charts can help with this.Ranges in poker are the foundation for developing sound betting tactics. They are used against a specific opponent, taking into account their individual characteristics.

Click to expand...

Well said. I think preflop ranges are the foundation of a good poker strategy, but they shouldn't be followed blindly. Once we understand the standard ranges, we can make profitable adjustments based on stack sizes, table dynamics, and our opponents' tendencies. In poker, adapting is just as important as knowing the charts.