Starting hands preflop

Hi guys! Have been playing poker for a couple of months now, but still am a bit unsure sometimes about what % of hands to open from which position (and which hands would fall in that category).

How do you guys decide on that? And what do you think of the basic starting hand chart on cc?

https://www.cardschat.com/poker-starting-hands.php

Do you think it fits well with a TAG style? Or should some changes be made?

Some advice would be great

playing for a long time, opening AK or QQ what horror can be a flop unfortunately and sit waiting for kings or aces is not correct just my opinion!! you need to play many hands, but gently of course) to look carefully raises

Nr98 said:

Hi guys! Have been playing poker for a couple of months now, but still am a bit unsure sometimes about what % of hands to open from which position (and which hands would fall in that category).

How do you guys decide on that? And what do you think of the basic starting hand chart on cc?

https://www.cardschat.com/poker-starting-hands.php

Do you think it fits well with a TAG style? Or should some changes be made?

Some advice would be great

Click to expand...

need to play a lot of hands in the same suit, trash hands to play rarely, strong hands to play after a raise. this advice for MTT

Really good hole card at the later stages of a tournament might not be the optimal hole card for a cash game or earlier part of the tournament

Alexandr Svinarshyk said:

need to play a lot of hands in the same suit, trash hands to play rarely, strong hands to play after a raise. this advice for MTT

Click to expand...

Yes but I meant it more like, how do you decide from which position to start playing A10o for example? Or 78s?

Nr98 said:

Yes but I meant it more like, how do you decide from which position to start playing A10o for example? Or 78s?

Click to expand...

A10 in the early positions on the late flight number if a lot of people. Well, I do not like this map, I make them count.

what % of hands to open from what position?

https://redchippoker.com/what-to-open-raise-preflop/


but what % of hands should you call with vs what type of raise from what position?

Alexandr Svinarshyk said:

A10 in the early positions on the late flight number if a lot of people. Well, I do not like this map, I make them count.

Click to expand...

Not really sure what you meant there, but it would be strange right to treat UTG the same as UTG +2? So I'm kinda struggling with the borderline hands in those positions (and later).

Your question is too broad. There are too many variables: tournament stage, table position, opponents type, your stack size, others stack size, and a few others. To give you an example, in the first blind level i often fold AQ, even suited from early position. You can't play these cards without a proper raise, and you can't call an all'in either. Being in early position i rather fold than get involved in some gambling positions.

Nr98 said:

Yes but I meant it more like, how do you decide from which position to start playing A10o for example? Or 78s?

Click to expand...

all players have different play style, everyone is trying to find some one correct solution of the game. I think it is not necessary to stick to one strategy game (for example open with a raise with AK, AQ, QQ, JJ) position, it is important, but just my opinion that less than 50% in the game and possibly less need to see flop for sure!

Hey NR98,
This is a very complicated question that has an answer that cannot simply be typed out in a simple reply. Opening ranges vary so much on the table you are at. First of all is it cash game? Live or Online? tournament? What is your relative stack Depth? Is the table passive or aggressive? Is there a lot of 3betting going on? There are so many variables to add to the equation. There is never a situation where I decide to always raise A10 in a certain position except maybe the button when folded too... But you can't just look at a chart and go with it.. poker is much different than say blackjack.. to be a good poker player you need to always be adjusting and changing up your style even within one game.. this game is all about dynamics and you need to constantly be switching up your game plan and game play. The biggest thing is to get the experience to know when you need to loosin up, tighten up, or make a wild 3bet bluff with 67ss. It takes time and it also takes study. I look forward to hearing more from you, reach out and ask any questions or discuss any scenarios you may have been in and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Oh and by the way.. sorry CardsChat but I looked at that starting hand chart.. and sure maybe it's OK (just ok.. not great) for basic beginners for a simple guide but it's not something I would ever recommend following..

Good luck at the table!

-Durk

Durk said:

Hey NR98,
This is a very complicated question that has an answer that cannot simply be typed out in a simple reply. Opening ranges vary so much on the table you are at. First of all is it cash game? Live or Online? tournament? What is your relative stack Depth? Is the table passive or aggressive? Is there a lot of 3betting going on? There are so many variables to add to the equation. There is never a situation where I decide to always raise A10 in a certain position except maybe the button when folded too... But you can't just look at a chart and go with it.. poker is much different than say blackjack.. to be a good poker player you need to always be adjusting and changing up your style even within one game.. this game is all about dynamics and you need to constantly be switching up your game plan and game play. The biggest thing is to get the experience to know when you need to loosin up, tighten up, or make a wild 3bet bluff with 67ss. It takes time and it also takes study. I look forward to hearing more from you, reach out and ask any questions or discuss any scenarios you may have been in and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Oh and by the way.. sorry CardsChat but I looked at that starting hand chart.. and sure maybe it's OK (just ok.. not great) for basic beginners for a simple guide but it's not something I would ever recommend following..

Good luck at the table!

-Durk

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response mate!

My problem is that I understand alot of concepts like what effect stack sizes, table image, styles of others etc. should have on your range (maybe not perfectly but the basics are there). However I'm struggling a bit with a basic chart/guideline/rule (however you want to call it) to make those changes on.

Might be a bit vague but hope you get what I mean.

NR98,
Yea I understand where your coming from. I think what your having a problem with is that there is no chart that a good poker player follows... You seem to have the misconception that there is a chart that you should beable to follow to make the best +EV decisions in relation to starting hands. I am a professional poker player and have been playing poker for over 10 years and playing for a living for just over two years and I have never even looked at a starting hand chart until this one on cardschat that you talked about. I would highly recommend not using a chart. In order to know what hands your opening with or limping with depends so much on those variables I previously discussed. Now how you use those variables to make your decisions completely lies in experience and or teaching's (usually both). One tip I would like to give you is if the players at your table are playing tight, then that's the green light to loosen up a bit, and if your opponents are playing loose tighten up. If there's a lot of 3 betting/loose calling going on then I would never open a small pocket pair from early positon. Where as if I'm playing in a super tight game with fit or fold player who are not calling very wide. I will most likely open something like 55 UTG just to get the pot heads up or possibly three way and hope to take the pot down with a c-bet when I miss my set depending on the dynamic of the flop in regards to my specific opponents pre-flop calling range. As you can imagine that just isn't how it works when half the table is calling raises with any two cards or your opponents are 3betting with a high frequency. That's kind of a basic example of using those variables I discussed to define your pre flop range.

-Durk

Yeah indeed that might be my mistake. Because here's how I thought (just hypothetically):

Assuming everybody thinks completely rationally, wouldn't everyone only call (or raise) you with a hand better than the "average" hand in your opening range. If that's the case there would be some % of hands you should play from each position right, based on the chance of people in the positions behind you picking one up that's better than your avg. hand?

Ofcourse that's completely disregarding other factors, but I guess that's were I was coming from.

But let's say nothing like that exists. How do you decide whether or not to play the marginal hands? Or even what the marginal hands are in some spots? I understand that it's based on playing styles of others, if they like to 3-bet etc. But how should I decide which hands would be profitable and which are not. Maybe this explains it the best: I easily see that opening AKs from UTG+3 is fine and 23s in general isn't, then somewhere in between there are hands that I can play and some that I can't, how do I decide which one it is?

Nr98
That knowledge comes with experience. I'm assuming you play 1/2 when it comes to live cash games. So lets say your in an average 1/2 game that consist of a lot of limped pots and little 3 betting. We'll say your in an average game that's not too aggressive and not too tight. The marginal hands such as J9ss,k10ss,56ss,22,97ss I would choose to only play those in position or possibly completing the blinds with those hand simply because I'm closing the action (not calling raises from the blinds as that consists of playing the rest of the hand from out of position unless I think I have a solid postflop advantage over the preflop raiser and there is deep relative stack depth). Although I would mainly be simply limping a lot in late position with those hands.. say middle position-HJ or later. Now if your game is very tight, fit or fold I would be raising with those hands from late position. Now obsvcourse if your playing against players that are obviously better than you or your playing in a loose game with lots of raising and 3betting those hands become folds unless you have very deep relative stack depth with hands such as 56ss or 22. Feel free to shoot me an email at barmstrong1994@gmail.com as there is a lot of concepts we could go over if you are serious about becoming a solid winning Cash Game Poker Player.

-Durk

Durk said:

Nr98
That knowledge comes with experience. I'm assuming you play 1/2 when it comes to live cash games. So lets say your in an average 1/2 game that consist of a lot of limped pots and little 3 betting. We'll say your in an average game that's not too aggressive and not too tight. The marginal hands such as J9ss,k10ss,56ss,22,97ss I would choose to only play those in position or possibly completing the blinds with those hand simply because I'm closing the action (not calling raises from the blinds as that consists of playing the rest of the hand from out of position unless I think I have a solid postflop advantage over the preflop raiser and there is deep relative stack depth). Although I would mainly be simply limping a lot in late position with those hands.. say middle position-HJ or later. Now if your game is very tight, fit or fold I would be raising with those hands from late position. Now obsvcourse if your playing against players that are obviously better than you or your playing in a loose game with lots of raising and 3betting those hands become folds unless you have very deep relative stack depth with hands such as 56ss or 22. Feel free to shoot me an email at barmstrong1994@gmail.com as there is a lot of concepts we could go over if you are serious about becoming a solid winning Cash Game Poker Player.

-Durk

Click to expand...

Yeah will definitely do that! Would be a great way for me to learn Thanks alot for your help mate!

And yeah usually play very low limit (only tournaments tho), but now I'm just freerolling to try to build up a bankroll that way.