UTG Opening Range

Acesinthebig

Acesinthebig

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Just wondering what people are doing during late stages of tournaments UTG. I've been struggling with hands like KQ, KJ, A9, AT, AJ, QJ, QT, KT.

Chips become more valuable during the late stages, so raise folding too much in these spots hurts.

Also with my bigger hands, KK,AA,QQ,AK,AQ I am more prone to limp, because this usually induces so much action, but i am very careful when I get 5 limpers, which is the main problem with playing hands like this, but it rarely happens.
 
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karl coakley

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So you are going to limp with raising hands UTG and raise with moderate holdings?

Obviously that is a recipe for losing poker....

If you are first in a pot you raise. Its really that simple. I NEVER limp.

What hand you play is really how much gamble you have in you and how big your stack is.

It the middle of a tourney, the hands you have been struggling with are easy folds. Late in the tourney, as you approach the bubble, they all play, and would be raised.
 
TeUnit

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think this is a villan dependent question
 
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JPainTrainSicko

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This is most definitely dependent on the players, payouts and stack sizes. Are you short and other bigger stacks are playing risky? This gives you a good reason to lay back and try to ladder up in payouts if the jumps are substantial, and at the final table they usually are.

Is the table tight and you have a workable mid to big stack? Raising relentlessly will be very effective at decimating your opponent's stacks.

What do the other players think of your UTG raises if they think about it at all?

More things need to be considered and these are some of the things you should start thinking about when making your decisions on constructing calling and raising ranges.

But in general speak, raise your good hands and fold bad ones. If you want to toss the "trouble" hands you have listed into the raising range that could be good. Just don't change the raise size in anyway that would reflect hand strength.

Position is key! With that in mind having a tight UTG range will not hurt you if it has to be that way. Loosen up against weaker opponents you can read well and tighten up out of position against the players who are tough and will make your game difficult.

One more note on limping big hands from UTG, it is a high risk high reward maneuver. If it works and you get raised by an aggressive player you can then open up a 3bet and win extra $. But a lot of the time once you pull that move the hand is more face up to most opponents and action on later streets gets slowed down. However in some special situations it can be a great move.... Say you are shorter stacked maybe >15bb limping and then being able to jam over a raise can be nice. And even maybe make your hand look like hands that are just ready to take a flip becouse you've run out of options. Again targeting the right stacks and players is key and it doesn't always work.

Keep at it and good luck!
 
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chronical

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the first hand exmp. is very relient on possition raising KJo from UTG and Bu are different.
second expamles should be raised, I see it, from any pos. You dont want you 56s,JTo...ops getting free outs. I do understand it' annoyng to raise 5.5bb UTG with AA and than loosing to a fish that 3bet shoves KQs, but in the long run it's more proffitable to raise with PRF monsters. Hands that are not going to pay you off are the hands that are not going to pay you off eather way so slow rolling for 2 streets and in the end winning 5bb with set of Q is bad.
 
Acesinthebig

Acesinthebig

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So you are going to limp with raising hands UTG and raise with moderate holdings?

Obviously that is a recipe for losing poker....

If you are first in a pot you raise. Its really that simple. I NEVER limp.

You never limp to induce action?? I don't think it's a recipe for losing poker at all.
 
Acesinthebig

Acesinthebig

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think this is a villan dependent question

Does this mean that you would like to know what kind of players are at your table? Every table has a mix of players, I'm just speaking in generalities.
 
Acesinthebig

Acesinthebig

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One more note on limping big hands from UTG, it is a high risk high reward maneuver. If it works and you get raised by an aggressive player you can then open up a 3bet and win extra $. But a lot of the time once you pull that move the hand is more face up to most opponents and action on later streets gets slowed down. However in some special situations it can be a great move.... Say you are shorter stacked maybe >15bb limping and then being able to jam over a raise can be nice. And even maybe make your hand look like hands that are just ready to take a flip becouse you've run out of options. Again targeting the right stacks and players is key and it doesn't always work.

Keep at it and good luck!

I appreciate the time you took to respond to this post.

Let's just say you take the top of your mediocre range like AJs just for an example, and you are at a Final Table of a 500 person tournament and average stack is 280k, and blinds are 5/10k. What are you doing UTG with AJs with an average stack. I know it's limited information and if you can't answer that's fine, but it's just an average FT, if you understand what that means...which I think you do.
 
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JPainTrainSicko

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I appreciate the time you took to respond to this post.

Let's just say you take the top of your mediocre range like AJs just for an example, and you are at a Final Table of a 500 person tournament and average stack is 280k, and blinds are 5/10k. What are you doing UTG with AJs with an average stack. I know it's limited information and if you can't answer that's fine, but it's just an average FT, if you understand what that means...which I think you do.

You're welcome, this is fun stuff to think thru.
In this spot I am raising to 25k generally speaking especially as the # of players at the table becomes less. At a full 9-10 handed final table I may be more inclined to fold in spots where I notice someone eager to raise or jam before I make my move. It is important to stay very observant of players yet to act (look left) to see if they give away money saving information. Or say you know you have a good tough player behind who is going to make your life difficult on lots of boards. Then again I may tighten up my utg open range and not really be giving too much away. But more generally I'm raising here.

As an example of where I did do this in a recent tournament. This is a live $250 buyin with a 50k guarantee. It is the final table and 8 players remain. My image is more on the tight aggressive side and my stack is a little below average at around 700k. Blinds were 15-30k 5k snte I was utg with AJs and raised to 70k. The table was playing fairly tight all things considered, a couple people had bigger stacks 2-3million. I was called by a late position player with a stack just over 1 million who imo played fairly well and thought thru hands.

The flop came down king rag rag rainbow, I watched my opponent to look for tells. He seemed intent on me which led me believe he wasn't very strong given what I had seen from him so far. I considered the fact that he was a thinking player. What would he make of my check, I'm tight aggressive that's weak and give up so he'd likely bet out. How about a bet? 1/3 pot... Probe blocker he'd raise and test me. Half pot... Standard c bet again he'd likely test me. He was more on the aggressive side. How about large sizing maybe 2/3-3/4.... Well he'd think value and I'm attempting to build to get stacks in!! Bingo I bet out 150k and villain hesitated for a few moments before releasing his hand.
 
Acesinthebig

Acesinthebig

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Very nice hand? Curious to know what you would have done if he 3 bets you or jams all in??
 
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CacheMoneyPoker

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UTG i raise big personally and still remain aggressive

Just wondering what people are doing during late stages of tournaments UTG. I've been struggling with hands like KQ, KJ, A9, AT, AJ, QJ, QT, KT.

Chips become more valuable during the late stages, so raise folding too much in these spots hurts.

Also with my bigger hands, KK,AA,QQ,AK,AQ I am more prone to limp, because this usually induces so much action, but i am very careful when I get 5 limpers, which is the main problem with playing hands like this, but it rarely happens.

I keep aggressive and if I get sucked out on so be it. But I stay raising a large amount pre with my holdings deep generally
 
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JPainTrainSicko

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Very nice hand? Curious to know what you would have done if he 3 bets you or jams all in??

If you mean post flop, It would be dependent on any physical tells I had. But really my bet is the maximum I'd invest in that hand. Thinking it had a high likely hood of getting a fold, in the event he pulls the trigger and raises or jams I'm folding.

Part of my decision making was based on the fact that in position with his stack and tendencies I believed he would 3 bet pre with many good to great hands. Making his call likely some suited connector or AXs and possible set mines with low to mid PP's.

Preflop if he 3bet size would be the main consideration with this villain. He had a bit of a sizing tell where large was strong and smaller was weaker. So based on that I would likely ship into smaller 3bets and fold to shoves or larger 3bets where I'd assume he was going for building a bigger pot.

This again is why and where I used what I believed his psychology against him with my big donk bet on the flop. His actions and tendencies drove how I played.
 
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with those big hands, don't limp, raise/re-raise and bet
 
Jester36rus

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I've just looked at topic subject to say: You may open all hands in UTG, but some of them only once in tourney))
 
antonis32123

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Ihave problem with these hands and ''defending''/playing them if I hit sth on flop .Utg is difficult to play them , most of the time I fold them , I'm afraid of the action that might follow , I 'd play AJ ,KQ ,more carefully KJ, QJ from MP spots more likely , it's a problem for me that needs to be solved out:)I need to learn playing them better . But I never slow playing /limping with KK AA ,I always raise .
 
ahil5000

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Just wondering what people are doing during late stages of tournaments UTG. I've been struggling with hands like KQ, KJ, A9, AT, AJ, QJ, QT, KT.

Chips become more valuable during the late stages, so raise folding too much in these spots hurts.

Also with my bigger hands, KK,AA,QQ,AK,AQ I am more prone to limp, because this usually induces so much action, but i am very careful when I get 5 limpers, which is the main problem with playing hands like this, but it rarely happens.

Very bad play ...
UTG, UTG+ ( AJs+, 99+) and never limp usually hand like as QQ+, it's a stupped game, fish game. ( You ever see poker pro limp hand like KK on utg?) Why u doing it?
 
DonPatron560

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to the position under the gun can sometimes limp hands of monsters
 
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Haanski

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Utg I'll limp monsters if I am short to middle stack at aggressive table
 
mcgregor_415

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You may limp with KQ, KJ, A9, AT, AJ, QJ, QT, KT, if you are ahead with the stack but those are very dangerous hands. If they are suited, it's ok.
I wouldn't just limp with monsters. You must clear the table and the guys with JJ, QQ, TT or AK probably would 3-bet you so it's a great chance for you to hit them hard.
 
SaintNick1968

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I would say that you should always raise UTG... mostly. I think that you should always raise or go all in from early position if you are first in the pot. If you don't have enough BB to go all in then go raise. If you have to few BB to raise, then go all in! Simple! In the later stages, stealing the blinds is essential, so I would never limp. The only exception would be on a super loose passive table with hands that play well multiway, so that you are unlikely to get raised and because you have a bigger edge postflop.
 
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I never saw Qui limp any premium hands at the whole final table !
 
shinedown.45

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I don't see the point here, it's really simple, if you find a hand you want to play you raise it when first to enter pot, even with mediocre hands but the key is only when first to enter pot.
There are times when I have raised 9-10+suited from UTG/EP late in tournaments.
Bet sizing has to be consistent and the C-bet is a must.
All the above is a decent recipe that helps me in late stages of a tournament.
 
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Bob McPherson

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UTG

I would raise any monster pockets and fold everything else. As with any early positions there are two many variables to come to risk anything but premium hands. If somebody cracks your AA, then so be it.
 
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