Pre-flop strategy

claitonjr · Jul 23, 2026

I think opening from late position with a wider range is profitable, especially when the players in the blinds are tight. Position gives us a big advantage after the flop.

s0ftdumps · Jul 23, 2026

if you can steal the button ... that always lends profitability

Geo90 · Jul 24, 2026

It is clear that if the players behind me are tighter, I always broaden my range.

Semprini · Jul 24, 2026

Out of position I'm quite tight but on the button I can play quite wide when the table is weak. The weaker the table the wider I will play when in position, unless everyone is super cally post-flop.

I will absolutely abuse the button against weak players - sometimes any A or any suited K.

reeseflamees · Jul 26, 2026

No way only when a pair ot high card, A,K or Q

dreamer13 · Jul 26, 2026

It depends on whether you're playing a cash game or a tournament. It also depends on how many limpers or calls there were when it was your turn to act.The button always has the most advantageous position, as it has the most information about its opponents' ranges.In tournaments, when chip stacks drop below 20 big blinds, players employ a push-fold tactic. They either go all-in or fold their two cards.

elflake · Jul 27, 2026

I have read an analysis that only the top 15% of hands,( and less of course at a tough table ), are profitable from UTG, whereas 50% are profitable from the button, when opening. While I certainly stretch my range from late position I can't bring myself to go that far....

Semprini · Jul 27, 2026

claitonjr said:
I think opening from late position with a wider range is profitable, especially when the players in the blinds are tight. Position gives us a big advantage after the flop.

It's even better when the blinds call us wide. When an A or K hits that flop and they check to us we can c-bet bluff at a very high frequency. ; )

Semprini · Jul 27, 2026

elflake said:
While I certainly stretch my range from late position I can't bring myself to go that far....

I can. Depending on the tendencies of the table of course, but usually when the table is limpy it's button abuse time. (rubs hands)

RALF_AK · Jul 27, 2026

It depends on who you are facing; against weak players, you will do well even out of position, but against strong players, even a positional advantage might not be enough.

fzap1983 · Jul 28, 2026

I understand your point, but for me, the strength of the hand itself is more important than the position. Position is definitely an advantage, but I prefer to make my decisions based primarily on the cards I'm holding rather than where I'm sitting at the table.

MTT Database Review · Jul 28, 2026

claitonjr said:
I think opening from late position with a wider range is profitable, especially when the players in the blinds are tight. Position gives us a big advantage after the flop.

This is what happens when you give freeroll access for making X amounts of posts. Any posts.

fzap1983 · Jul 28, 2026

MTT Database Review said:
This is what happens when you give freeroll access for making X amounts of posts. Any posts.

I didn't understand your criticism. English is not my native language, so I asked an AI to make my response sound more formal in English. However, I don't play based on my position at the table, but rather based on the strength of my hand. Because of that, regardless of my position at the table, I only play with high pairs or cards that can make two higher pairs on the flop. That's why I rarely play hands aiming to make a flush or a straight.

Semprini · Jul 28, 2026

fzap1983 said:
I understand your point, but for me, the strength of the hand itself is more important than the position. Position is definitely an advantage, but I prefer to make my decisions based primarily on the cards I'm holding rather than where I'm sitting at the table.

Hole cards and position go hand in hand.

Let's say that we are opening 25% of all hands. We are not going to open the same 25% range from any seat. It should look something roughly like the following.
EP: open 10% of hands
MP: open 15-20% of hands
CO & BT: open 40-50% of hands.

We should not be simply wider in late position. We should be MUCH wider in late position.

fzap1983 · Jul 28, 2026

Semprini said:
Hole cards and position go hand in hand.

Let's say that we are opening 25% of all hands. We are not going to open the same 25% range from any seat. It should look something roughly like the following.
EP: open 10% of hands
MP: open 15-20% of hands
CO & BT: open 40-50% of hands.

We should not be simply wider in late position. We should be MUCH wider in late position.

I know that in theory, but I still struggle to put it into practice. I always end up playing too few hands, so I usually do well only in tournaments with 10-minute blinds or longer. In turbo tournaments, I quickly end up with a short stack and don't manage my game very well.

koalapanda · Jul 29, 2026

claitonjr said:
I think opening from late position with a wider range is profitable, especially when the players in the blinds are tight. Position gives us a big advantage after the flop.

Spot on. The primary profit in that spot isn’t even from winning pre-flop; it’s from the massive edge you get post-flop when your opponents give you checks and bad pot odds by playing out of position.
My only caveat is that as the effective stack sizes get smaller, the pre-flop fold equity matters much more than the post-flop edge. Are you adjusting how wide you go based on M-ratio/stack size?

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Pre-flop strategy

claitonjr

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s0ftdumps

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Geo90

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Semprini

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reeseflamees

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dreamer13

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elflake

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Semprini

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RALF_AK

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fzap1983

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MTT Database Review

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Semprini

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koalapanda

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