The Importance of Starting Hand Selection
Your preflop decisions set the trajectory for every hand you play. Starting with strong ranges from appropriate positions creates opportunities to win pots postflop, while loose preflop play leads to difficult situations where you’re unsure of your hand’s strength and face tough decisions for large pots.
Position determines which hands become profitable. The same hand that loses money from under the gun generates profit from the button. This discrepancy exists because position provides an informational advantage throughout the hand, allowing you to see how opponents act before making your decision on each street.
Knowing which hands to play from each position forms the bedrock of profitable poker. While memorizing exact ranges helps, knowing the principles behind range construction allows you to adapt to different game conditions and opponent tendencies.
Opening Ranges by Position
Under the gun requires the tightest opening range since you’ll play every postflop street out of position against multiple opponents. Your UTG range should consist of premium pairs, strong broadway hands, and suited connectors that can flop big hands. Hands like 22-99, AJs+, KQs, AQo+, and JJ+ form the core of a solid UTG range.
Middle position allows for modest range expansion. Add hands like suited aces, medium suited connectors, and additional broadway combinations. The key is including hands that play well in multiway pots since you’ll often face callers from late position or the blinds.
Cutoff position is where your range expansion accelerates. With only the button and blinds left to act, you can profitably open many more hands. Include all suited connectors, suited gappers, lower pocket pairs, and most broadway combinations. Your cutoff range should be roughly twice as wide as your under the gun range.
The button offers the most profitable stealing opportunities. You’ll have position throughout the hand regardless of who calls, making nearly every playable hand profitable to open. Your button range can include hands as weak as any suited cards, any pair, and most connected or broadway hands.
Three-Betting Ranges
Three-betting serves two purposes: building pots with strong hands and applying pressure to steal pots when opponents show weakness. Your three-betting range should balance these objectives while adapting to opponent tendencies.
Value three-betting is the core of your three-betting strategy. Hands like TT+, AK, and AQs play better in inflated pots against capped ranges. These hands have strong equity and benefit from getting stacks in when opponents make loose calls with dominated holdings.
Bluff three-betting expands your range and prevents opponents from profitably folding to all your three-bets. Include hands with good equity when called, such as suited connectors and suited aces. These hands can flop strong draws or big hands, giving you multiple ways to win pots.
Positional three-betting opportunities increase from late position. When an early position player opens and action folds to you in the cutoff or button, you can three-bet a wider range. You’ll have position throughout the hand and your opponent’s range is often face-up as premium hands.
Defending Against Three-Bets
Facing a three-bet requires careful range analysis and disciplined folding. Most players defend too wide against three-bets, creating difficult postflop spots out of position with marginal hands that have poor equity against aggressive ranges.
Calling three-bets works best with hands that have good implied odds and can make big hands. Suited connectors, medium pairs, and suited aces perform well because they either flop strong draws and made hands or can fold easily when missing.
Four-betting should be rare and polarized. Four-bet your premium hands like QQ+ and AK for value, and occasionally four-bet hands like suited connectors as bluffs. Avoid four-betting marginal hands like JJ or AQ since these hands prefer to call and see a flop.
Position dramatically affects your defending frequency. In position, you can profitably call three-bets with many more hands since you’ll have the advantage of seeing your opponent act first on every postflop street. Out of position, fold more aggressively and only continue with hands that can stand pressure on multiple streets.
Blind Defense Strategy
Defending your blinds presents great challenges since you’re forced to play out of position with suboptimal starting hands. The key is finding the right balance between not getting run over and not defending so wide that you bleed chips postflop.
Big blind defense requires calculating the pot odds you’re getting to call. When facing a raise to 3 big blinds from the button, you’re getting better than 3-to-1 on your call, making defense with a wide range mathematically correct. Include any pair, any suited cards, most connected hands, and most broadway combinations.
Small blind defense should be tighter than big blind defense since you’ll be out of position with less money already invested. Many hands that profitably call from the big blind should fold from the small blind. Focus on hands that play well postflop and can make big hands, avoiding hands like K7o or Q8o that make second-best hands.
Three-betting from the blinds offers an alternative to calling. This strategy works well against opponents who open wide from late position. Your three-bet applies maximum pressure and sometimes wins the pot immediately. Include premium hands and polarize with some suited connectors or suited aces that play well if called.
Adjusting to Table Dynamics
Static ranges work as a baseline, but profitable players adjust based on specific table conditions. Games with passive players allow for wider opening ranges since you’ll see flops cheaply and can outplay opponents postflop. Aggressive tables require tighter ranges since you’ll face frequent three-bets and resistance.
Stack sizes influence which hands become profitable. Deep-stacked games favor hands with implied odds like small pairs and suited connectors. These hands can stack opponents when they flop sets or strong draws against opponents who overcommit with the top pair.
Shallow-stacked games emphasize raw equity over playability. Premium pairs and high cards increase in value because hands often reach showdown without much room for maneuvering. Suited connectors decline in value since you lack stack depth to realize their implied odds.
Suited vs Offsuit Considerations
The suit coordination of your starting hand significantly impacts its playability and profitability. Suited hands have roughly 2-3% more equity than their offsuit counterparts, but more importantly, they can make flushes that generate enormous pots.
Suited connectors like 76s and 87s derive much of their value from flush potential and straight potential combined. These hands can flop powerful draws that have significant equity against even overpairs, making them profitable calls in many situations.
Offsuit hands need stronger high-card value to compensate for the lack of flush potential. AKo and AQo remain strong because they frequently make the top pair with a good kicker. Hands like KJo and QTo become marginal opens from early position since they lack the flush potential to balance their tendency to make second-best pairs.
Gap Concepts & Cold Calling
The gap concept states that you need a stronger hand to call a raise than to make the initial raise yourself. This principle exists because raisers show strength and may continue betting on future streets, requiring you to have a hand that can withstand pressure.
Cold calling requires the strongest range of all preflop actions. When you cold call, you’re signaling to your opponent and everyone yet to act that you have a hand worth investing money but not strong enough to three-bet. This creates a capped range that good opponents can exploit.
In many situations, you should either three-bet or fold rather than cold calling. Three-betting allows you to take the initiative and possibly win pots without seeing a flop. Folding prevents you from playing pots out of position with capped ranges.
Range Balancing Principles
Balanced ranges contain a mixture of strong hands, marginal hands, and speculative hands that make your strategy difficult to exploit. If you only open premium hands, opponents can profitably three-bet you knowing you’ll fold most of your range. If you open too wide, opponents can profitably call or three-bet knowing your range is weak.
Each position should have a different range width, but within each range, include hands from different categories. Your button opening range should contain premium pairs, medium pairs, suited connectors, suited aces, and broadway combinations. This mix prevents opponents from putting you on a specific hand type.
Studying preflop ranges and implementing them consistently provides the foundation for profitable poker. Master position-based opening ranges, adapt to opponent tendencies, and watch your win rate climb as you enter pots with stronger ranges than your opponents.
