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- Preflop Range
- Position After the Flop
- Superior Range
- The Betting Lead
- Try to Get Heads-Up
- Board Coverage
- The Effects of Limping on Ranges
- Cold Calling
- 3-Betting
- Overcalling and Squeezing
- Facing a 3-bet
- 4-Betting
- Defending the Blinds
Driving down to my favorite casinos near where I live one can see a few panhandlers on my route near the casinos. Every time I see those panhandlers a humorous thought crosses my mind: “Those are poker players who play too many hands.” Ha ha…
One of the topics that most poker coaches agree on is that many amateur players play too many hands before the flop. Many enter the pot by limping, which is being the first to voluntarily put money into the pot by calling the big blind instead of raising. Many far too often cold call opening raises, which is to be the first player to call an opening raise. Some enter pots with opening raises too often.
In fact, the purpose of this article is not to give you preflop ranges that you can memorize. There are way too many of them to put into an article. You can find preflop ranges in many poker books, sites, and software. The purpose here is to explain the logic behind preflop ranges.
First of all, what goals should you strive for when you craft preflop ranges?
- Position after the flop
- Superior range
- The betting lead
- Heads up
- Board coverage
I’ll define these terms in the paragraphs that follow.
Preflop Range
A range in poker is the set of all hands you or an opponent would make a specific decision with. You know – or should know – what hands you would make the decision with. An opponent’s range is your estimate of which hands they make a specific decision with. For example, you might make a preflop opening raise in early position (EP) with the following range: 55+, AJo+, A9s+, A5s-A3s, KQo, K9s+, J9s+, T9s, seen in the image below. This is just an example and not necessarily what I would recommend in all EP situations.
Position After the Flop
Before the flop, the blinds have position on all the other seats, because they act last. However, after the flop the blinds act first. The under-the-gun (UTG) player acts immediately after the blinds if that player is still in the hand. Then the action proceeds in order to all the other remaining players. The button (BTN) player acts last.
Position is crucial in poker because poker is a game of incomplete information. If you act before other players in a hand, you are out of position (OOP). You often don’t know what to do when you are OOP.
However if you act after other players, you are in position (IP). You have seen what action the OOP players have taken, and you can respond accordingly. You have more information than they do. This information is usually a decisive advantage.
Because of the importance of position, you should open with very tight ranges in EP, and wider ranges in late position (LP). With fewer players to act after you preflop, there is less risk of an opponent waking up with a monster. Also, there is less chance you will be OOP after the flop.
Position is a big reason beginning and intermediate players should almost never limp. There is a time and a place for limping for advanced players. You need to be an advanced player because a winning limping strategy is very difficult to execute properly. You could have a highly successful professional poker career without ever limping except in a few special spots.
Limping gives players acting after you a cheap price to play in position against you postflop. Limping guarantees you can never take down the blinds preflop.
Also, players acting after you can raise your limp. This puts you in the position of having to call to avoid losing the investment you made when you limp. When you call this raise against a player who will have position after the flop, you will be OOP for the rest of the hand.
Superior Range
Having the superior range means that you can be expected to win at showdown most of the time. This is often called the “Range Advantage.” Your specific holding may not give you an advantage over your opponent’s range, but your opponent doesn’t know your specific holding. Your opponent can only know your range.
Some opponents don’t know your range because their skill is not advanced enough. These opponents only know how to think about their own holding, and can only guess at yours. Having the range advantage against these opponents is even better than against a knowledgeable opponent. They don’t know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.
The Betting Lead
The betting lead applies to post-flop play, so I won’t get into it too much in this article. The betting lead has a psychological dimension to it. People are used to betting on a street when they were the last aggressor on the previous street. In the same vein, people are used to checking on a street when they called on the last street instead of being the previous aggressor. Most players never donk bet on a flop. They lead sometimes on the turn and even more often on the river.
Poker solvers agree almost every time. The reason for this is that the preflop caller capped his range by calling. The last preflop aggressor has an uncapped range on the vast majority of flops.
You should craft your preflop opening and raising range and size to make it risky and expensive for an opponent to 3-bet. This way you claim the betting initiative and range advantage post-flop.
Try to Get Heads-Up
A heads-up pot is one in which there are only two players remaining in the pot on a post-flop street. A multiway pot has three or more players remaining. You prefer to be heads-up.
In Hold’em, flops connect with starting hands only about 35% of the time. This means that your opponents’ hands each connect 35% of the time. If you have two opponents, you only connect about 35% of the time, but both of your opponents considered together also missed only 42% of the time. This is an unfortunate situation that you would like to avoid.
If you are in a game in which a standard sized open of 2.5x (2.5 times the big blind) or 3x typically gets multiple callers, you need to adjust. You can do this by increasing your open raise size by an amount large enough to discourage their excessive calling. If you are in early position and think you are likely to get three callers, increase your open raise size by a big blind for every extra caller. In the case of the best likelihood of getting three callers, increase your normal open raise size by 2bb. So if your normal open raise size is 3bb, instead make it 5bb.
When you increase your open raise size, you incur extra risk. Because the play is extra risky, you need to tighten your opening range. Tighten your opening range by a layer for every increase of a bb. For example: If you increase your opening raise size by 2bb, decrease your opening range by 2 layers. In this example if the lowest offsuit ace in your normal range for a seat position is ace-ten offsuit, make the lowest offsuit range ace-queen offsuit instead. If the lowest pocket pair is normally pocket fives, make it pocket sevens.
This image is an example of a range with two layers peeled off. The combos highlighted in red are removed from the normal range annotated above.
Board Coverage
You need to be difficult to play against, especially against the more observant players at your table. One important characteristic of your preflop ranges should be board coverage. Having good board coverage means no flops or runouts make it risk-free for your opponent to invest more money in the pot. If you open raise from early position, low cards on the runout can connect with your hand when you have good preflop board coverage.
Be that jerk that can turn over “anything.” Craft your preflop ranges to include good board coverage.
The Effects of Limping on Ranges
The importance of having a superior range is another reason to avoid limping. Most limped hands are done without a strong hand. Even novice players would rather raise than limp with pocket aces. Because of this the limper’ range is capped. A capped range means it does not contain the strongest holdings. Capped ranges are vulnerable to attack from uncapped ranges.
If the limper then calls a raise, the range remains capped going to the flop. Some limpers like to limp trap, meaning they limp and then reraise a raise after them. Some do it with ace-king. Some also do it with pocket aces and kings. But these hands come around so rarely that you don’t need to worry about it. Not only that, but limp trappers also cap their open raise range. When a limp trapper open raises, he has a strong range but without the hands he would limp trap with.
Your job is to carefully observe frequencies and showdowns when players limp. If they’re entering half the pots they can open with limps or raises, their limping range has a lot of garbage and is capped. If they limp at a low frequency like 20% and open raise at an even lower frequency like 4%, they have a powerful range and you need to proceed with caution. Here is an example of such a tight player’s limping range. The hands highlighted in red are a 4% tight opening raise range. The hands highlighted in blue are a tight limping range:
Cold Calling
Cold calling means someone has open raised, and another player calls the the open raise.
Many unskilled players cold call too often. They’ll cold call with hands that are better as reraises. They’ll cold call with hands that they should just fold, hoping to hit a big flop.
If you cold call on much more than about 10% of opportunities, you are probably cold calling too much. In heavily raked cash games, you cold call even less. I’ll talk about the effects of rake structure on preflop ranges in a future article.
You might be able to exploit an overly aggressive opponent by cold calling more often when you are in late position, i.e. the cutoff or button. But even then you should do it sparingly. Cold calling incentivizes many players to overcall after you with wide ranges. You then find yourself in a multiway pot. See below on the advantages of playing heads up instead of multiway.
In the button seat you can cold call much more often than in the cutoff and earlier seats. This is because on the button you are guaranteed to have position post-flop. In the earlier seats you are vulnerable to being overcalled and squeezed by a player who will be in position post-flop.
David Sklansky in his book, “The Theory of Poker” explains that you need a stronger range to call than you need to bet. This is a fundamental principle in all forms of poker. That’s because when you bet, you have two ways to win a pot:
- Your opponent folds.
- Your opponent calls and then you win at showdown.
When you call, you only have one way to win a pot:
- You win at showdown.
You need to protect a cold calling range, to make it risky for an opponent to bet into you. This means cold calling with some powerful hands, hoping for further aggression from your opponent on later streets. This comes at a cost, especially when stacks are deep. This is because you would rather build a bigger pot now by raising.
If you don’t protect your cold calling range with some of the most powerful hands, an observant opponent will notice that you have a capped range when you cold call, and will attack it. The same holds true for when you cold call too often. You may have position postflop, but you will have a capped range that your uncapped opponent can attack relentlessly.
Here is an example of a good cold calling range on the button in position against the range given in previous paragraphs. The shaded hands are 3-bet half the time and cold called for protection half the time:
In the uncommon event you cold call from the cutoff and earlier seats, you can fold all suited connectors below 98s. Fold all suited one-gappers below T8s. The only hands you could cold call 100% of the time are 55-22 and 98s. Everything else in this range you 3-bet half the time and cold call half the time. The range could look something like this:
3-Betting
3-Betting is poker lingo for reraising a preflop open raise. Technically, it also means to reraise a reraise after a flop. But this is an uncommon situation, possibly for another article.
We 3-bet with the strongest hands and also with some bluffs. The bluffs are typically suited hands that can flop well in case we get called, but that we can also cheerfully fold if we face a 4-bet.
Don’t make the common mistake of using a linear 3-bet range. By “linear range” I mean a combination of amazing hands, some good but not amazing hands, and no bluffs. You make yourself too easy to play against using linear ranges in poker. There are a few uncommon exceptions, but not in the case of 3-bets. As in every situation when you contemplate a bet, get in the habit of asking yourself, “What are my bluffs here?”
3-bet sizing becomes an issue. When you are in position, try to raise by 3 times the open raise. In very deep stack situations you might go a little higher, like 3.5x or even 4x. When stacks are shallow like in a tournament or a cash game with short stackers, you can go a little less.
Never 3-bet for more than one-third of your stack. If the correct multiple of the open raise size turns out to be more than one-third of your stack, go all-in.
A good 3-bet range in the cutoff seat could look like this. The fully highlighted hands are always 3-bets. The shaded hands are 50% 3-bets and 50% cold calls:
Overcalling and Squeezing
Overcalling means to call when someone has opened the betting with a raise, and someone has cold called. In some games the overcalling is rampant. Sometimes you see pots that go the flop with six, seven, or even more players.
Squeezing means to 3-bet when someone has open raised and there is at least one caller.
When given the choice between overcalling and squeezing, squeezing is usually the choice.
Squeezing puts the open raiser in a tough spot. Someone with position on him has called with a slightly capped but strong range. Then, another player has challenged both the open raise and the strong cold calling range with a reraise. If the squeezer is in the blinds, the open raiser will be in position after the flop. But this means the squeezer in the blinds has an even stronger range than a squeezer who will have position after the flop. Another thing that happens is that calling the squeeze puts the action onto the cold caller, who has position after the flop.
Squeezing also puts the cold caller and any overcallers in a tough spot. His range is capped, though slightly. If he calls he will either be out of position against an uncapped squeezing range postflop, or will have position but an inferior range if the squeeze came from the blinds. This is why this type of 3-bet is called a “squeeze.” The opponents are facing pressure from both a superior range and superior position.
Squeezing is an effective play that is very profitable when executed correctly. Because of the pressure, the open raiser and cold caller has to fold hands he would otherwise play in a heads up spot.
Many players overcall way too often. They believe they are getting a good price on their investment, because there is already a lot of money in the pot. These players like to see a lot of flops. They’re hoping to flop a monster and stack someone.
This is gambling; it’s not skilled poker. I’ve heard it derisively called, “flop bingo,” and, “flop rummy” among other terms. Yet, it’s very common, especially in low stakes games. Some people do it with any connected or suited hand. Some do it with offsuit wheel aces, such as ace-deuce offsuit. In my table notes I use the term, “FLOPMEISTER” for these players. I attack their heavily capped ranges relentlessly. Avoid this excessive overcalling bad habit. If a hand is good enough for an overcall, it’s usually good enough to squeeze.
This image is an example squeezing and overcalling range, in the button versus an early position open and cutoff cold call. The highlighted items are 100% squeeze. The shaded items are 50% squeeze and 50% overcall. The red framed items are 100% overcall. King-queen offsuit is a special case. It is 50% squeeze and 50% fold. Offsuit hands do not perform well in multiway pots. So you never overcall with KQo. You could add several more suited connectors and suited aces to the overcall range against weaker opponents.
Facing a 3-bet
You have open raised, and an opponent has reraised. The action has folded back to you. What to do?
The first thing to consider is to avoid excessive folding. Don’t let 3-bettors print money at your expense by folding too much. There is a formula for calculating the minimum defense frequency (MDF), which the the frequency at which you call or 4-bet. Your preflop range should be strong enough to defend against 3-bets at the MDF.
Calculate the amount of the call divided by the amount of the call plus the amount in the pot, including the 3-bettor’s chips. For example when the blinds are 200 and 400 with a 400 big blind ante and there is no rake, you open raised 1,200. A player 3-bets to 3,600 and the action folds back to you. You are faced with a call of 2,400. The MDF is 2,400 / (200 + 400 + 400 + 1,200 + 3,600) = 41%. If you fold more often than 41% of the time here, your opponent can print money by 3-betting any two cards. This means you need to defend 59% of your range.
Now, against some tight, passive opponents, a 3-bet means a monster. You exploit them by overfolding. There are actually rare players who only 3-bet with pockets aces and maybe pocket kings. Against those players, you know what to do when they 3-bet you.
What if you weren’t the open raiser? A good practice is to never cold call a 3-bet. If your hand isn’t good enough for a 4-bet, it isn’t good enough to cold call a 3-bet. Just fold it. It feels icky sometimes, but have the discipline to do it.
Here is a range taken from Range Trainer Pro in the hijack position when you face a 3-bet from the button and the action folds back to you.
Another option when facing a 3-bet is to 4-bet. The image above includes a 4-bet range that is not a cold 4-bet.
4-Betting
You will see some players cold call a 3-bet. They often do it with hands like pocket tens, or ace-jack. Some do it with ace-king. In any event, it’s bad poker. If someone at your table cold calls a 3-bet, that person plays flop rummy. Respond by attacking them relentlessly on future hands.
4-betting doesn’t come up very often. You need to have the most powerful hands and a small number of bluffs to make a 4-bet against an opponent who 3-bets properly.
There are basically two kinds of 4-bet:
- When you are the open raiser, someone has 3-bet, and the action is back on you.
- When there has been an open raise and a 3-bet in front of you, and the action is on you for the first time. This is known as a cold 4-bet.
Much depends on your opponent’s 3-bet range when considering the range you use for a 4-bet. If your opponent 3-bets optimally or close to it, you use an optimal 4-bet range. However, if the 3-bettor likes to be a bully and is a prolific 3-bettor, you can use expanded 4-bet ranges to punish him. If your opponent’s 3-bet range is tight and does not contain enough bluffs, you need to exploit it with an even stronger 4-bet range than you would against an optimal opponent.
If you will be out of position postflop, a 4-bet that is about 2.75 times the 3-bet is about right. You could go even higher if the 3-bet was pretty small. If you will be in position postflop, you can 4-bet to about 2.25 the size of the 3-bet.
When the effective stack depth goes below 40bb, the 4-bet sizing is usually all-in.
The situations don’t come up very often, but when they do, the pots are big. I may discuss 4-betting and its postflop implications more in-depth in a future article.
Use a much tighter range for cold 4-bets than you use for defending against a 3-bet when you were the open raiser. Basically you can use QQ+, AK. Against a prolific 3-bettor you could add a bluff like A5s. You want one of the suited wheel aces because these hands block the 3-bettor’s calling range, and can flop well.
Defending the Blinds
The seating position in which you will play the most hands is the big blind. In tournaments with a big blind ante, the big blind defends with a much wider range than in a heavily raked cash game.
The small blind should play far fewer hands than the big blind, for a number of reasons.
I’ll cover big blind defense and small blind play in a future article.
