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

[betang]

very interesting video.

 

[antonis32123]

This guide is so important , I will be using it for the next months/years for sure , changing ranges depending on having or not antes , the type of vilains , if you have limps , raise or re-raises .

The inside picture-guide to which hands to play preflop , with antes (and tips how to use it without antes), is very usefull , I took a screenshot , I will be studying it more in the future , hoping to memorise it someday , lol

 

[Katie Dozier]

Thank you for the suggested range of opening pre-flop.

For me, note 6 in the book was most value advice you gave me. Every helpful, how much to open with a certain BB.

- Do you advice to re-raise preflop with good hands (AJs+, AA,KK,QQ,JJ) for players who are just started playing? Or is this more an advanced tip?
- Second question, in the book you are talking about effective stack. When I have 50BB in the small blind and big blind has 5BB, do you advice to shove 50BB when you have good hands, instead of 3 betting?

1.) In general, yes I recommend reraising most of those hands even as a beginner but exercise more caution with the weaker part of that range—such as I wouldn’t 3-bet a UTG open with AJs, AQo or even JJ unless I had a read and was acting in late position.

2.) In this example, the effective stack size is your opponent’s since he is the shortest. Since you’re playing for 5BB, I’d recommend playing shove/fold.

Hope this helps and thanks for your nice words

 

[Katie Dozier]

This guide is so important , I will be using it for the next months/years for sure , changing ranges depending on having or not antes , the type of vilains , if you have limps , raise or re-raises .

The inside picture-guide to which hands to play preflop , with antes (and tips how to use it without antes), is very usefull , I took a screenshot , I will be studying it more in the future , hoping to memorise it someday , lol

Wonderful to hear, thanks Antonis!

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

Effective stack is 78 BBs

22= limp behind
A6o= fold
KQs= raise


Great video Katie. You guys do a fantastic job.

 

[P1R35]

Just to clarify, QJo+ means (AKo, KQo, QJo) or (KJo, QJo)? Because when we plug QJo+ in Equilab it shows (AKo, KQo, QJo)... similar with JTs+ from UTG. You mean (KTs+, QTs+, JTs) not (AKs,KQs,QJs,JTs), right ?

 

[silversun87]

Hello! I found some very interesting tips in this lesson so thank you for that!

I'm happy that I found out I'm playing good ranges in early positions and was surprised that I'm playing too tight in late position so will try to work on that and loosen up a bit (maybe not comfortable yet playing entirely as loose as you're suggesting).

I can't help but wonder though, the ranges you suggest we play in this chapter of the book, are they more for table play or for tournament play? Or it doesn't really make much difference?

 

[Collin Moshman]

Just to clarify, QJo+ means (AKo, KQo, QJo) or (KJo, QJo)? Because when we plug QJo+ in Equilab it shows (AKo, KQo, QJo)... similar with JTs+ from UTG. You mean (KTs+, QTs+, JTs) not (AKs,KQs,QJs,JTs), right ?

As an example, we typically use Q7o+ to mean Q7o up to QJo (i.e. only hands with a queen as top card). Whereas 98s+ would mean suited connectors from 98 and above.

But you're right that others do it differently and generally it won't matter too much because if Q7o is part of your pre-flop range, then KQo will be also.

Sorry if this is confusing -- please feel free to post if there are specific spots we reference a range like this where you would like clarification

Hello! I found some very interesting tips in this lesson so thank you for that!

I'm happy that I found out I'm playing good ranges in early positions and was surprised that I'm playing too tight in late position so will try to work on that and loosen up a bit (maybe not comfortable yet playing entirely as loose as you're suggesting).

I can't help but wonder though, the ranges you suggest we play in this chapter of the book, are they more for table play or for tournament play? Or it doesn't really make much difference?

Thanks! The ranges are reasonable defaults for both cash and tournament play. But remember that these aren't set in stone, there are often good reasons to play tighter or looser including your personal style.

 

[David macdonald]

Thank you ,I now know what effective stack means and I think the idea of raising 1 big blind for each person in play is a good way to raise with a strong hand like KQs.

 

[Katie Dozier]

Thank you ,I now know what effective stack means and I think the idea of raising 1 big blind for each person in play is a good way to raise with a strong hand like KQs.

Great, so glad it was helpful!

 

[Geksan_87]

I believe that everything depends on the size of the blinds, at the beginning of the tournament with a stack of 150bb, even 4bb, at a size of 80 can not always scare off players who play in a wide range, another thing is when you have 20bb and you raise 2bb will be more productive, so the game on the flop completely depends on the stage of the draw...

 

[SeniorTurtle]

minraise size

I'm in the process of reviewing the lessons, to make sure that it sticks better inside my brain. So, I was re-reading the lesson pdf and I'm a little unclear. The pdf for today's lesson states that if the effective stack is 15-30 BB we should min-raise to 2BB. Let's take the following scenario, the HJ and CO both limp. We are on the button with QJs and our stack is 25BB. Should we raise to 2BB, or instead should we raise to 4BB (2BB min raise + 1BB for each limper)? Don't know what is the correct course of action. On one hand, if we raise to 2BB, we keep the pot small, and we are more likely to give up our hand if we don't connect with the flop. On the other hand, if we raise to 4BB and get 3 callers then the pot becomes over 15BB+ and we become committed to it due to our small stack size, but we get to punish players who limped in with worse hands. I'm assuming on the flop with the larger pot we are playing shove/fold with our hand on the flop.

 

[Katie Dozier]

I'm in the process of reviewing the lessons, to make sure that it sticks better inside my brain. So, I was re-reading the lesson pdf and I'm a little unclear. The pdf for today's lesson states that if the effective stack is 15-30 BB we should min-raise to 2BB. Let's take the following scenario, the HJ and CO both limp. We are on the button with QJs and our stack is 25BB. Should we raise to 2BB, or instead should we raise to 4BB (2BB min raise + 1BB for each limper)? Don't know what is the correct course of action. On one hand, if we raise to 2BB, we keep the pot small, and we are more likely to give up our hand if we don't connect with the flop. On the other hand, if we raise to 4BB and get 3 callers then the pot becomes over 15BB+ and we become committed to it due to our small stack size, but we get to punish players who limped in with worse hands. I'm assuming on the flop with the larger pot we are playing shove/fold with our hand on the flop.

In that scenario with 25bbs, two limpers and QJs, I would do exactly as you suggest—raise to 4bbs. Yes, the pot is significant to our stack, but that’s okay—we have a pretty strong hand in position and may even win it outright pre-flop.

We also have a great shot at connecting or having a c-bet take it down even if we miss the board. Raising smaller than 4bbs here really lowers our chance of getting anyone to fold pre, plus it makes our hand look weaker (increasing the potential for us to get bluffed), which is part of why I really prefer that larger raise sizing. If we were a bit shallower, say 15bbs, with the 3.5bb pot before us, then I may prefer going ahead and shoving. But with 25 bbs we have way more options and room to play.

Hope this helps [emoji4]

 

[steveeeee]

Wish I was 50 years younger and could retain what is being taught. For this old guy, only two things to hang onto after Day 6:
1. You are playing every pre-flop hand
2. Effective Stack - mine or the second largest, if I am leading (which seldom is the case, so I guess I better start watching the table.)

I totally agree with you there I wish i could retain the info

 

[steveeeee]

With the 2 8h I would just toss the hand and not worry bout the BBs sorry but it makes it easier to think

 

[Jooseme]

Depending on stack size and number of people in the pot I'm raising 2-2.2x. If the hand has multiple players in the pot I will generally add 2bb per player. Again, it's all relative to stack size though. When I started implementing this strategy I moved from a losing player to a break-even/winning player. I'm sure there's much more to learn, but this is a solid base for pre-flop raising.

 

[Katie Dozier]

Depending on stack size and number of people in the pot I'm raising 2-2.2x. If the hand has multiple players in the pot I will generally add 2bb per player. Again, it's all relative to stack size though. When I started implementing this strategy I moved from a losing player to a break-even/winning player. I'm sure there's much more to learn, but this is a solid base for pre-flop raising.

Great work on our Pre-flop day, and I hope you continue to enjoy the course

 

[henriquemaduro]

I was playing much more tight range for all the positions, used to almost never play in UTG. I would make no diference at my range with any size of stack and with or without antes. This changes will make a great evolution at my game.

 

[eberetta1]

Well, it took a year for me, but I completed Day 6. I would listen to day 1. Then listen to day 2 and day 1. Then listen to day 3, and day 2, and day 1. Needless to say, not a good strategy to complete the course. That is what I did in achool and would pop out straight A's. But it would mean studying the same material 4 times all because I did not grasp one or two ideas in a lesson.

Lesson 1, I repeated because I could not remember the cutoff and under the gun, I would not remember the name of one, and when I did remember both names, I would transpose them.

Lesson 2, I repeated several times because I was trying to remember check and fold were neutral(not passive and not aggressive). And I would always confuse the words check and call. So calling is passive, not checking. and raising is aggressive.

I reminded myself I do not have to repeat a whole lesson over and over just because I do not have a specific concept down.


Now on Lesson 6.
My only question was I heard the word overlimp when Hero showed 83s. Well sb was 150 chips, bb was 300 chips. And 2 or 3 players limped their 300 chips. I was hoping when Katie said she would overlimp in the situation, that she would say a chip amount so I could understand if she would bet 300 to limp in or raise to value bet, but she said overlimp and left it at that.

 

[fundiver199]

Now on Lesson 6.
My only question was I heard the word overlimp when Hero showed 83s. Well sb was 150 chips, bb was 300 chips. And 2 or 3 players limped their 300 chips. I was hoping when Katie said she would overlimp in the situation, that she would say a chip amount so I could understand if she would bet 300 to limp in or raise to value bet, but she said overlimp and left it at that.

"Overlimp" means limping behind other limpers, so in this case putting in 300 chips.

 

[eberetta1]

Awesome. Thanks for the clarification.
Overlimp is when someone already limped in the hand and we follow suit by limping also.

 

[YuriSLopes]

Even though the course focus on tournaments I'm really happy with all the information.

I say even though cause I focus mainly on 6max cash.

The dynamics at a full ring MTT are totally different.
Mostly cash doesn't have antes.

It was good to understand that you should have a wider range when there's antes.

But since I'm also working on taking some of the prizes at the freerolls this is a huge help.
And of course many of the knowledge can be transferred to Cash games also.

Thanks CC, Colin and Katie for the "Become a Winning Poker Player in 30 Days" course.

 

[marvinsytan]

reviewing this on holiday

 

[Atararo14]

Thank you for this primordial lesson to become a winning poker player.

The quiz answers:

1. The effective stack is 23378 (78 BB).

2. With 22 in the hijack position, if the opponents are tight we can raise-fold. On the other hand, if they are aggressive, we can call and hope to hit a set.

3. With A6o we can simply fold, I think it's not a strong hand in a multi-way spot.

4. With KQs, I think we should raise because it's a strong hand compared to the range of calls from the previous positions.

 

[barbados]

It all starts with a preflop! It is very important to correctly assess your probable capabilities. It is also important to assess your risks by ranges. Correctly placed accents are the key to a successful distribution. That's for sure!