Loosening opening ranges

[Rahul P Gopal]

When should I loosen up my opening ranges?

Discuss signs (table passivity, weak opponents, stack depth) that suggest expanding raise-first-in hands for greater profit.

 

[Rosylly]

It's pretty simple the bigger your stack is, and the tighter and passive your opponents are, the more hands you wanna open.

But you can extend your ranges differently, for example, it's generally better to open suited connectors like T9s, 98s rather than hands like KJo,K9s because you'll get dominated less with T9s against opps range, while with KJo you'll get dominated with all types of AK, AQ, AJ, KQ etc... and also you can hit nuts straights or flush and take whole stack from your opponent.

Especially if you hit higher straights with JQK, opp with a lot of broadways will hit top pairs, two pairs etc and give you whole stack.

 

[eetenor]

When should I loosen up my opening ranges?

Discuss signs (table passivity, weak opponents, stack depth) that suggest expanding raise-first-in hands for greater profit.

We can always open wider ranges on passive tables---we always have wider ranges vs weak opponents---we do not widen ranges based on stack depth.
Why? Post flop play- greater profit comes from us winning larger pots post flop. Which however means if we widen our ranges preflop we need to be very good at post flop play OOP with those borderline hands--Yes we can widen and play bingo--hit or fold- but that is not an effective overall strategy.

 

[primrose]

It just matters how often you get 3bet. If I know before a hand that I will 100% not get 3bet, I can profitably open JTo UTG on a 9handed table. It wouldn't surprise me if I could open 76o profitably tbqh. You get to the Flop with a medium range against several players, many of which also play junk, and then you have a big skill advantage. It's really all about 3bets; being 3bet is by far the worst thing that can happen when you open a marginal hand. It is umfathomably worse to fold without seeing a flop than it is to see the flop with a sub-par hand (and flatting a 3bet OOP with junk is usually worse still).

You guys probably mostly play online, and in that case, don't take this principle as far. All of the factors are gonna be a little worse; the 3bet frequency won't be as low; the skill advantage won't be as high; and the rake will be worse as well. So don't go as crazy as described here. But still, if you notice the table doesn't 3bet as much as normally, you can marginally widen your ranges. The same goes from any position btw; if SB and BB never 3bet (which is probably a more common spot), you can open way wider on the BN than against two GTO players in the blinds.

I wouldn't really try to incorporate other factors, they're all fairly marginal. Just look at 3bet frequency, especially since that's also one where you have stats on, even if you play on GGPoker.

 

[Rahul P Gopal]

It's pretty simple the bigger your stack is, and the tighter and passive your opponents are, the more hands you wanna open.

But you can extend your ranges differently, for example, it's generally better to open suited connectors like T9s, 98s rather than hands like KJo,K9s because you'll get dominated less with T9s against opps range, while with KJo you'll get dominated with all types of AK, AQ, AJ, KQ etc... and also you can hit nuts straights or flush and take whole stack from your opponent.

Especially if you hit higher straights with JQK, opp with a lot of broadways will hit top pairs, two pairs etc and give you whole stack.

Very reasonable points, I could take this to my game. 😁

 

[Rahul P Gopal]

We can always open wider ranges on passive tables---we always have wider ranges vs weak opponents---we do not widen ranges based on stack depth.
Why? Post flop play- greater profit comes from us winning larger pots post flop. Which however means if we widen our ranges preflop we need to be very good at post flop play OOP with those borderline hands--Yes we can widen and play bingo--hit or fold- but that is not an effective overall strategy.

Yeah, getting to have a look at the flop with 1 bb to see if we hit would be really great especially against limpers and passive players.

 

[Rahul P Gopal]

It just matters how often you get 3bet. If I know before a hand that I will 100% not get 3bet, I can profitably open JTo UTG on a 9handed table. It wouldn't surprise me if I could open 76o profitably tbqh. You get to the Flop with a medium range against several players, many of which also play junk, and then you have a big skill advantage. It's really all about 3bets; being 3bet is by far the worst thing that can happen when you open a marginal hand. It is umfathomably worse to fold without seeing a flop than it is to see the flop with a sub-par hand (and flatting a 3bet OOP with junk is usually worse still).

You guys probably mostly play online, and in that case, don't take this principle as far. All of the factors are gonna be a little worse; the 3bet frequency won't be as low; the skill advantage won't be as high; and the rake will be worse as well. So don't go as crazy as described here. But still, if you notice the table doesn't 3bet as much as normally, you can marginally widen your ranges. The same goes from any position btw; if SB and BB never 3bet (which is probably a more common spot), you can open way wider on the BN than against two GTO players in the blinds.

I wouldn't really try to incorporate other factors, they're all fairly marginal. Just look at 3bet frequency, especially since that's also one where you have stats on, even if you play on GGPoker.

I play mostly online and can only loosen up ranges, when I see very little aggression. Sometimes, I do call 3 bet even with weak starts when I gut a gut feeling just to see the flop.

 

[primrose]

I play mostly online and can only loosen up ranges, when I see very little aggression. Sometimes, I do call 3 bet even with weak starts when I gut a gut feeling just to see the flop.

If you use poker tracker, then you may wanna take a look at those flats because that sounds like a possible leak. Flatting 3bets is one of the easiest ways to lose chips in this game.

 

[Rahul P Gopal]

Thank you, Iet me use the pocket Tracker then.

 

[steve01991]

after a few rounds, you should figure out if you want to open your range,
if everyone is playing tight, that is the perfect time to widen your range and reap the benefits.

 

[Rahul P Gopal]

after a few rounds, you should figure out if you want to open your range,
if everyone is playing tight, that is the perfect time to widen your range and reap the benefits.

That’s a solid advice, thanks 🤩