UTG tips

the most awkward moments I face in poker is playing UTG and the big blind
how to play from this position especially preflop?
I'd really appreciate informed opinion on this matter

Hi my friend .... in the UTG position you should always play carefully ... select your hands well with which you are going to enter the spot ... in the first hands only play the premiun ... and then analyze your opponents you can try to open your range in that position ...!

My advice is to How play in UTG the best thing I can say is study your table and all your opponents if you are in a table everyone is raising and doing easy all in.. this table will easy play any range of hand coz their range will be worst than yours... but if you are in a table extremely Tight when everyone is folding and just playing strong hands you should play just monsters in UTG (AA KK QQ JJ TT AK) if you get re raise whit this range you will play more safety. But every sing hand his different and every player alado the best you can do have a read and information on your opponents and know what kind spot you are. All the best in the future! Good luck! Never give up!

playing while being UTG proves extremely complicated. A statement that is true for all early positions, including full-handed tables (nine or ten players). Even with a first-rate hand, finding the first to speak is particularly difficult! A difficulty increased by the fact that being the first to act preflop will open the coast to the following players and exponentially each time an opponent will consider interesting to follow. So even with aces or kings, it will be common in cash game or during the first levels of a tournament to be opposed to several opponents who will benefit from the advantage of the position.

here is a table of starting hands to raise in UTG position



Big blind This is the position that allows you to play more hands! This is also the best pre-flop position because you are the last to speak. Players in Big Blind position frequently create accidents by winning shots with very weak hands. but this remains the least profitable position in the long run. Even if you are the last to speak pre-flop, you are still forced to post your big blind and you are out of position for all other pre-flop betting rounds. It's better to just defend the big blind most of the time.

The Out of Position Blues

AAJovheart said:

the most awkward moments I face in poker is playing UTG and the big blind
how to play from this position especially preflop?
I'd really appreciate informed opinion on this matter

Click to expand...

Thank you for posting.

Both situations are very similar, you are having trouble playing post flop out of position.
This could be due to a lack of experience playing every street. It is not uncommon for players to have to play all the way to the river in as little as 10% of the hands they play. Players are not used to using pot control bets and checks, value bets and checks and bluff bets and check raises vs an opponent who acts last and is willing to play all streets.

You my not have experience with understanding range advantage vs hand strength. If not look for it as it is a very effective tool.
Here is a basic example: Hero 8s9s BB Villain XX MP--Flop 345 rainbow- Your hand strength is weak but your range advantage on this board is strong. You can check raise -bluff bet - bluff bet this board and expect good players to fold at some point.

Here are two articles that may answer some questions for you.

The first is a basic what to think about when playing the BB
https://www.pokerlistings.com/10-more-essential-hold-em-moves-defending-the-blinds

The second is the more advanced range ideas.
https://upswingpoker.com/nut-range-positional-advantage/

Hope this helps.
If you have any questions just "Quote and Post" and I will respond when I get notified.

eetenor said:

Thank you for posting.

Both situations are very similar, you are having trouble playing post flop out of position.
This could be due to a lack of experience playing every street. It is not uncommon for players to have to play all the way to the river in as little as 10% of the hands they play. Players are not used to using pot control bets and checks, value bets and checks and bluff bets and check raises vs an opponent who acts last and is willing to play all streets.

You my not have experience with understanding range advantage vs hand strength. If not look for it as it is a very effective tool.
Here is a basic example: Hero 8s9s BB Villain XX MP--Flop 345 rainbow- Your hand strength is weak but your range advantage on this board is strong. You can check raise -bluff bet - bluff bet this board and expect good players to fold at some point.

Here are two articles that may answer some questions for you.

The first is a basic what to think about when playing the BB
https://www.pokerlistings.com/10-more-essential-hold-em-moves-defending-the-blinds

The second is the more advanced range ideas.
https://upswingpoker.com/nut-range-positional-advantage/

Hope this helps.
If you have any questions just "Quote and Post" and I will respond when I get notified.

Click to expand...

that was very helpful
I don't know if that's good for microstakes as it seems too advanced !?

Dailon Arroyo Blandon said:

Hi my friend .... in the UTG position you should always play carefully ... select your hands well with which you are going to enter the spot ... in the first hands only play the premiun ... and then analyze your opponents you can try to open your range in that position ...!

Click to expand...

yes I have a preflop 6 max ranges from the upswing page and I play accordingly!
thank you )

Micro Stakes Range reading

AAJovheart said:

that was very helpful
I don't know if that's good for microstakes as it seems too advanced !?

Click to expand...

Thank you for responding.

Micro stakes players do not fold hands, so seldom can you convince them to fold based on what you might have, i.e. range advantage.

Range reading helps in micro stakes when identifying dangerous boards for probable two pair hands gut shot draws etc... held by the villains.

For example: You raise pre and get one caller from sb.

Flop is J87
That flop is great for a standard SB call. If the SB starts being tricky or aggressive we can be mostly sure that a standard SB has 2 Pair + and act accordingly.

Another example of using range in micros would be when you know a player plays any Ace.
Flop comes 234 Micro players will chase the five and may have hit the 2 3 or 4 to go with the Ace. We can pot value bet on flop and turn and fold to a five or ace on river if we have KK-77 for the any ace player.

As you study ranges you will get better at identifying boards you want to pot control and bet fold on as well as boards you can get max value on flop and turn but still avoid big river losing calls.
Even micro stakes players play their hands in recognizable patterns on certain boards.

A very effective tool out of position vs weak players is the bet fold. Experiment with your player pool with the smallest size bet you can make that will cause your villains to call you mostly but only raise you when you are beat. If you go too small you will get bluffed more.

I hope this post triggers more questions for you.

If it does please continue to ask. If you can ask more detailed questions about certain situations that may help.

eetenor said:

Thank you for responding.

Micro stakes players do not fold hands, so seldom can you convince them to fold based on what you might have, i.e. range advantage.

Range reading helps in micro stakes when identifying dangerous boards for probable two pair hands gut shot draws etc... held by the villains.

For example: You raise pre and get one caller from sb.

Flop is J87
That flop is great for a standard SB call. If the SB starts being tricky or aggressive we can be mostly sure that a standard SB has 2 Pair + and act accordingly.

Another example of using range in micros would be when you know a player plays any Ace.
Flop comes 234 Micro players will chase the five and may have hit the 2 3 or 4 to go with the Ace. We can pot value bet on flop and turn and fold to a five or ace on river if we have KK-77 for the any ace player.

As you study ranges you will get better at identifying boards you want to pot control and bet fold on as well as boards you can get max value on flop and turn but still avoid big river losing calls.
Even micro stakes players play their hands in recognizable patterns on certain boards.

A very effective tool out of position vs weak players is the bet fold. Experiment with your player pool with the smallest size bet you can make that will cause your villains to call you mostly but only raise you when you are beat. If you go too small you will get bluffed more.

I hope this post triggers more questions for you.

If it does please continue to ask. If you can ask more detailed questions about certain situations that may help.

Click to expand...

that was very helpful I'll reread and absorb the info here and try to apply it in game
THANKS A LOT))

I think your range at this position has to be tight, remember that you're already at disadvantage because you're out of position, so don't like playing like a LAG in this position.

Dailon Arroyo Blandon said:

Hi my friend .... in the UTG position you should always play carefully ... select your hands well with which you are going to enter the spot ... in the first hands only play the premiun ... and then analyze your opponents you can try to open your range in that position ...!

Click to expand...

Definitely agree with Dailon... play g.t.o, obtain player tendencies, tells etc then exploit them. Using game theory will give you a baseline of what should be your opening hand utg and then adjust accordingly[emoji1]