[2026 BEGINNER'S GUIDE]Simple modern strategies to beat the lowest stakes online

121 replies

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Mar 19, 2024, 10:07 PM#1

2026 BEGINNER'S GUIDE

Simple modern strategies to beat the lowest stakes online

Welcome to the Modern Beginner's guide developed by Paxis and Fallout86, two legends of the German community. This guide is designed for NL2 and NL5 6 Max Big Stack (100 Big Blinds) Strategy No-Limit Holdem players, from complete beginners to players struggling to beat the limits. This guide has been developed, refined and thoroughly tested in the German community. It should yield better results on regular (not fast-forward) tables that we recommend for beginners to start with to get used to the game. You will be able to ask questions and get your hands evaluated when you reply to this thread. You can see the guide in action in the PREFLOP (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/54150/) and POSTFLOP (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/54164/) videos - links will be added once they are recorded. The ranges have been designed with exploiting the weaknesses of the NL2 and NL5 player pools in mind, along with making a beginner's life easy and avoiding spots deemed too difficult, like for example calling 3 bets out of position. Are you having doubts? Just see below the results of German beginners who took the ranges and rules of the guide to heart:

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Index:

Post 1 - Overview, condensed ranges (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3461867#post3461867)

Post 2 - The full guide for preflop, post-flop and bankroll management (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3461871#post3461871)

Post 3 - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3461874#post3461874)

Post 4 - Example Hands with common mistakes (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3461875#post3461875)

Post 5 - Changelog (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3461878#post3461878)

PREFLOP RANGES - CONDENSED (Right click, select "save as" to download them)

PREFLOP RANGES - INDIVIDUAL

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LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Mar 19, 2024, 10:07 PM#2

FULL PREFLOP GUIDE, RULES AND RANGES

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PART 1- PREFLOP: Detailed [SH] 6 Player Preflop Guide

! Before you read this article, make sure you understand the following:

• Rules of Texas Hold'em & Poker Strategy (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/various-poker/texas-holdem-rules-strategy/).

What will you learn:

• The importance of position

• Which hands to play before the flop

• How to use hand charts

• How to manage your poker bankroll

What hands can you play before the flop?

Every great poker player asks himself "Why?" before any action at the table. And the "why" is always to win the most money in the long run. But how do we achieve that goal preflop? First, you need to ask yourself if you are in a blind stealing situation or not.

A "Short Handed" poker table has 3 to 6 players.

Low Jack/Early Position (LJ), High Jack/Middle Position (HJ), Cut Off (CO), Button (BU), Small Blind (SB) and the Big Blind (BB)

When less than 6 players are seated, the early positions are removed. So at a table with 4 players, there are only positions from CO to BB.

The blinds play a vital role in poker as we know it. Without them, you would have no incentive to play and you could wait for Aces, go all-in and nobody could beat your strategy. But the blinds are there, and you have to fight for them. From the early and middle positions of LJ and HJ you are far from the blinds and cannot directly attack them as you have a lot of players to get through. So you will be playing very few hands. This contrasts with the CO, BU, and SB positions - here you are close to the blinds and should be trying to take them down frequently.

The following ranges (range = a collection of all the possible hands you can have) will show you which hands are worth entering the pot with from each position. The abbreviations they use are as follows:

A = Ace, K = King, Q = Queen, J = Jack, T = Ten

"s" stands for "suited" and means that both cards have the same suit or "colour"

"o" stands for "off-suit" and means conversely that both cards have different suits or "colours"

So ATs stands for:

A♥:T♥:, A♣:T♣:, A♦:T♦:, A♠:T♠:

while KJo stands for:

K♣:J♦:, K♣:J♥:, K♣:J♠:, K♦:J♥:, K♦:J♠:, K♥:J♠:, etc.

Open raise

These hands are only raised if everyone before you has folded. We fold if there has been any action, for example, if a player has limped or raised before us.

Isolation raise

Hands we raise if there are limper(s) who just called before us without raising.

3Bet

Also called a re-raise. We are allowed to raise these hands if there has been a raise before us.

3Bet vs Steal

We only 3-bet these hands if the raise before us was a steal. A steal is whenever the opponent from the CO, BU, or SB is the first to open the action at the table with a raise, i.e. nobody limped or raised before him.

Call VS 3Bet IP

We can call these hands after we raise and get 3-bet, while we have position on the opponent i.e. we will act after him on the flop. If we are Out Of Position (OOP), the hands are not called to 3-bets.

Bluff4Bet OOP

We 4-bet these hands (re-raise opponent's 3-bet) after we have raised, an opponent behind us has 3-bet us, and we are out of position. If there is further action after our 4-bet, we still fold.

LJ/Early Position:

From the LJ, every colour-marked hand is raised to 3 big blinds if we are opening the action pre-flop.

HJ/Middle Position

From the HJ, every colour-marked hand is raised to 2.5bb if the Lojack has folded.

CO:

From the CO, every colour-marked hand is raised for 2.5bb if everyone before us has folded.

BU 1:

From the BU, every colour-marked hand is raised for 2.5bb if everyone before us has folded.

BU 2: Call vs 3Bet

These hands are called if we raised on the BU and are re-raised (3Bet).

SB:

From the SB, every colour-marked hand is raised for 3bb if everyone before us has folded.

BB 1: Raise and 3Bet

BB 2: Call against a Raise

All ranges in one image file for saving and use:

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Side by side:

Note on limpers: If you hold a hand that you are allowed to raise after limps and you are in position to the limper, then you raise it for 3bb + 1bb per limper. For example, in the BU against a limp from the HJ, A♥:J♥: would be raised to 4bb, if the CO has entered, it would be raised to 5bb.

If you hold a hand that you are allowed to raise after limps and you are out of position to the limper, then you raise it for 4bb + 1bb per limper. For example, in the SB against a limp from the LJ, K♠:Q♠: would be raised to 5bb, if the BU has limped behind him, it would be raised to 6bb.

Preflop monsters

Marked with Yellow Colour in our charts, every preflop monster will be played aggressively, raised and re-raised until we go All-in. Preflop monsters are AKo, AKs, QQ, KK, AA - In every position, these hands are raised, 3Bet, 4Bet, and shoved All-in.

Special rule for 3Bets vs Early Positon:

Against a LJ(EP) open, i.e. against the first position at the table, we 3bet ONLY the HJ/MP, ranges i.e., JJ+, AQ+, AJs+, KQs. This applies to all our positions except for the BB.

We do this because the raising range from the LJ is the tightest and very strong, and 3-betting too loosely could quickly become unprofitable. In the BB, we use the normal 3Bet range because it is already tighter than that from the HJ/MP.

How much do we 3Bet and 4Bet?

If we are in position (IP) we re-raise(3Bet) to 3x the opponent's initial raise. One exception is if the opponent min-raises to only 2bb, then we 3Bet 4x his raise.

If we have more than one opponent, we add the amount they called to our 3Bet.

Example: HJ raises to 3bb, CO calls, we are in the BU with A♥:A♠: and now 3Bet not only to 9bb but to 12bb.

If we are Out Of Position (OOP) to the opponent, then we 3-bet for 4x the amount. If we have more than one opponent, we again add the amount they called to our 3Bet.

If we are IP on the opponent we 4Bet for 2.5x his 3Bet. Exception, the opponent 3Bets smaller than 3x, then we 4Bet 3x.

If we are OOP to the opponent, we 4-bet 3x his 3Bet size.

Special rule for Pocket Pairs:

We can only enter the pot with pocket pairs like 2♥:2♠: if the charts indicate we should, otherwise we fold them. The only exception is this special rule - if there has been a raise and at least one call to the raise before us we can call all pocket pairs.

Special rule for Suited Connectors: If we have at least 4♥:5♥: or a better Suited Connector (SCs), in the Cut Off or on the Button, and there has been a raise AND a call to this raise before us, then we are allowed to call these SCs.

Min3Bet rule:

When you face a min-3Bet preflop, you can basically call all hands that you raised. Your opponent gives you a good price to see the flop, and you only have to win the hand very rarely later on to play profitably. We will classify a Min3Bet as a 3Bet of at most double what you originally raised.

SPECIAL BIG BLIND RULE VS MINRAISE: when we are in the BB and face a Minraise from any position, we are allowed to call every suited hand, every A high, and every Broadway. (For example: J♣:T♦:+/Q♠:T♥:+ etc.)

SPECIAL BIG BLIND RULE VS vs. OPEN COMPLETE from the Small Blind: With "Open complete," we mean that the Small Blind only fills up and limps in the SB when all other players have folded. When in the Big Blind, we raise every hand that we would open raise (steal) ourselves in the SB vs. BB - refer to the Small Blind Chart to know what range you will be raising against an open complete.

SPECIAL BIG BLIND RULE vs. MINRAISE from the Small Blind: If the SB player makes a Minraise steal, i.e., only raises to 2bb, and we are in the BB, then we must call every hand that we don't 3Bet, regardless of how strong or weak it is.

Blind Posting Rule: When a player enters the table or sits out, he can opt not to wait for the BB and pay the blinds to play right away instead. This is called "Blind posting" and is very unprofitable. We will never do this ourselves and will have the patience to wait until we are in the regular BB position!

How do we treat a player that Blind posted?

When selecting the hand strength, we ignore this one player and act as if he had folded. However, as soon as we raise a hand, we must consider the extra money from him and raise it to 4bb.

FULL POSTFLOP GUIDE, RULES AND RANGES

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PART 2- POST-FLOP: Detailed [SH] Postflop Guide

What will you learn in this part:

• How to assess your hand strength post-flop.

• How to react in various common situations.

• Special rules and guidelines.

A note before you dive into this post-flop guide:

Since post-flop play is very complex, it's impossible to cover all situations that may arise in a condensed entry-level strategy. This guide provides templates and tools for the most common scenarios you will encounter at the tables. Whenever you are unsure about a situation, please post hands and questions as a reply in this thread, ask in the accompanying live streams, or reply under the released videos.

Step 1: Determine which category your hand belongs to.

To make this post-flop guide work, you must always first recognise which category your hand belongs to on the flop, turn, or the river. The hand categories we recognise are as follows:

Made Hands: These are all hands that are already good to very good. This category includes:

Strong Draws - Open-Ended Straight Draw (OESD), e.g., you hold 7♣:8♥: and the flop is A♣:5♠:6♦:. Flush Draw (FD), e.g., you hold A♥:2♥: and the flop is 5♥:T♥:K♣:. Note: Strong draws are only considered made hands on the flop and turn; on the river, they are considered worthless hands.

Top Pair - You hold, for example, A♣:K♠: and the flop is K♦:6♣:2♦:.

Overpair - You hold, for example, K♣:K♠: and the flop is T♦:6♣:2♦:.

Monster - This category includes all hands that are 2 Pair or better: trips, straights, etc. (Note: On paired boards, we classify as monsters-only hands with trips or better, i.e. additional pair or overpair to the board is classed as a made hand only.)

Bluff/Worthless Hands: Any hands that don't fit any of the above categories.

Monster Draws on the flop: A monster draw is a flush draw and OESD at the same time. We always play a monster draw aggressively on the flop and are ready to go all in. For example, if the strategy on the flop says that we would play a monster check/call, then we will play the monster draw check/raise to 3x. In any situation on the flop where we get raised, we continue to re-raise for 3 times the opponents raise or go all in. This rule only applies to the flop, from the turn onwards we only hold the “Strong Draw” category even with a flush draw and OESD

Unraised Pot (Nobody raised before the flop): If we are sitting in the big blind and get to the flop for free because nobody raised before us, then we always play for 2/3 pot on the flop against 1 opponent. If we have 2 opponents or are now on the turn, then we continue playing exactly as in point "Step 2.1.2: You raised before the flop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position (OOP)!"

Step 2: Determine how to play your hands.

The first question after we have determined our hand category we have to ask ourselves is: Are we playing "In Position" (IP) or "Out Of Position" (OOP)?

We play IP whenever we get to act after our opponents after the flop is dealt.

We play OOP whenever we have to act before our opponents after the flop is dealt.

Step 2.1.1: You raised before the flop (Raised Pot) and are playing In Position!

If we raise before the flop, we are the so-called “preflop aggressor” (PFA), which we also call the "preflop raiser"(PFR) in single-raised pots.

Flop vs 1 opponent

If we're IP and have only one opponent, we fire a 1/3 Pot Sized Bet (PSB) with every hand we hold. This bet when we bet first as the PFA is also called the continuation bet (CBet). If the opponent min-raises our CBet (min-raise = a raise to the maximum of double our bet), we call with every hand from the "Made Hand" category, except for our monsters. Against raises larger than a min-raise we fold all made hands except for monsters. Monsters are always raised to 3x their raise and put all-in against any further re-raises.

Note: It is strongly recommended that you learn how odds and outs work and integrate this knowledge into your own play style using the beginner's strategy. In appropriate situations, strong draws and gut shots will continue to be played against a raise according to this mathematical rule and will no longer automatically fold against a raise that exceeds the double bet amount. Further information on this topic and how to apply it correctly can be found here:

Odds & Outs Basics (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/various-poker/basics-odds-and-outs/)

Implied Odds Basics (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/various-poker/basics-implied-odds/)

Short Video Form:

Odds & Outs (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/30467/)

Implied Odds (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/30662/)

Flop IP vs 2 or more opponents

IP with 2 or more opponents: all made hands are bet for 2/3 PSB; We Check/Fold worthless hands. If an opponent raises to double our bet(minraise), we call every hand from the Made Hand category that is not a monster. If the opponent's raise is higher than a minraise, we fold every hand except for our monsters. Monsters are always re-raised to 3x the opponent's raise and we go all-in against any further re-raises.

Turn/River IP

Regardless of the number of opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 PSB; everything worse than a Made Hand is played as Check/Fold. If an opponent minraises us, we call every hand from the Made Hand category that is not a monster. If the opponent more than min-raises us, we fold everything but our monsters. Monsters are re-raised to 3x raise amount and put all-in against any further re-raises.

Special Rule - Donkbet: If you were the aggressor on the previous street, but an opponent leads into you on flop/turn/river anyways before you had the chance to act, you call up to his 2/3 PSB with Made Hands with one exception: Monsters. Monsters will be raised to 3x of the opponent's lead bet, regardless of the donkbet size.

Step 2.1.2: You raised preflop (raised pot) and are playing out of position (OOP)!

Flop

Worthless hands are checked/folded.

With any strong draw or monster, we check/raise to 3x. Against another raise, we call strong draws up to 2.5x, and with monsters, we go all in.

All other made hands are checked/called up to 3/4 pot.

Turn

Worthless hands are checked/folded.

If we don't have the initiative: With any strong draw or monster, we check/raise to 3x. Against another raise, we call strong draws up to 2.5x, and with monsters, we go all in.

All other made hands are checked/called up to 2/3 pot.

If we have the initiative, or all players have checked on the flop: We bet for 2/3 of the pot with every made hand. Against a raise, we call strong draws up to 2.5x, and with monsters, we raise to 3x.

River

Worthless hands are checked/folded.

If we don't have the initiative: We bet every monster directly for 2/3 of the pot; against a raise, we raise to 3x. Against another raise, we go all in.

All other made hands are checked/called up to 1/2 of the pot.

If we have the initiative, or all players have checked on the turn: We bet for 2/3 of the pot with every made hand. Against a raise, we raise to 3x with monsters and go all in against another raise.

Step 2.2.1: You called preflop (Single-Raise Pot) and are In Position!

FLOP: You hold a worthless hand against 1 opponent

You will fold worthless hands to any bet.

If the opponent checks on the flop, you fire a 1/3 Pot Sized Bet (PSB) with 100% of them.

TURN/RIVER: You hold a worthless hand against 1 opponent

You check and fold worthless hands to any bets on the turn or river. This applies even to e.g. a top pair that turned an overcard and became a second pair.

Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with a worthless hand

We never bluff worthless hands against more than 1 opponent and Check/Fold them.


Flop vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

You call all made hands against bet sizes between 1/3 PSB and 3/4 PSB.

Against bets larger than 3/4 PSB you fold all made hands except for monsters.

Monsters you raise to 3x his bet and go All if he re-raises.

Against 1/3 PSB or smaller bets, we will raise our strong draws and monsters to 4x his small bet. If the opponent re-raises us, we call our strong draws when he minraises, and fold if he re-raises larger. We re-raise our monsters to 3x the bet and go All In against any further raises.

If the opponent checks, we bet every Made Hand for 1/3 pot.

Turn vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

Every Made Hand that isn't a monster is called against up to 2/3 PSB. Against a higher bet, we fold except for monsters.

Monsters we raise on the turn to 3x the bet.

If the opponent checks, we bet every Made Hand for 2/3 pot.

River vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

We call up to 1/2 PSB Made Hands except for monsters. If he bets more than 1/2 pot, we fold.

We raise monsters to 3x the bet, and we go All In against any further raises. If the opponent checks, we bet every Made Hand for 2/3 PSB


Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with a worthless hand

We always play Check/Fold.

Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with a Made Hand

We call made hands besides monsters against the maximum of 3/4 PSB on the flop, 2/3 PSB on the turn, and 1/2 PSB on the river.

If he bets larger, we fold everything but our monsters.

We raise monsters 3x against >=1/2 PSB and 4x against <1/2 PSB and go all-in against re-raises.

In cases when everyone checks to us we take the lead and bet all made hands for 2/3 PSB.

Step 2.2.2: You've called preflop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!

Flop/Turn/River vs 1 Opponent with a worthless hand

We always play Check/Fold, except when flop and turn are checked through, then we bet 100% of our worthless hands to 2/3 PSB.


Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with a worthless hand

We always play Check/Fold.


Flop vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

Against a 1/3 PSB and 3/4 PSB Cbet we call all made hands. Against bets larger than 3/4 PSB we fold all our hands except for Monsters that are raised to 3x the bet and put All In against any further re-raises.

If the opponent bets 1/3 PSB or less, we raise strong draws and monsters to 4x the bet. If the opponent continues to re-raise, we call our strong draws to up to a min-raise. We raise our monsters to 3x the bet and go All In against any further re-raises.

Turn/River vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

If the opponent checks the flop or turn, we bet for 2/3 pot.

When he does bet, every made Hand that isn't a monster is called against up to 2/3 pot on the turn and against up to 1/2 pot on the river. We fold against larger bet sizes. Every monster is raised on the turn or river to three times the bet, and we go All In against any further re-raises.

Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with a worthless hand

We always play Check/Fold.

Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with a strong draw or a monster

We will lead for 2/3 pot ourselves, except for strong draws on the river(as they are classed as worthless hands). Against up to a min-raise, we call our strong draws. if the raise is bigger, we fold them.

We raise our monsters to 3x the bet ourselves and go All In against any further raises.

Flop/Turn/River vs 2 or more Opponents with any other Made Hand

We call made hands against a maximum of 3/4 PSB on the flop, 2/3 PSB on the turn and 1/2 PSB on the river, and fold them against larger sizes.

If everyone checks through, we bet made hands for 2/3 PSB.

Step 3.1.1: You've reraised preflop (Reraised/3Bet Pot) and are playing In Position!

Flop vs 1 Opponent

If playing In Position (IP) with only one opponent, we bet 1/3 PSB with every hand we hold. If the opponent raises, we call with any hand from the "Made Hand" category, except for strong draws, that we call against a maximum of 3x raise.

Flop vs 2 or more Opponents

If playing IP with 2 or more opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 PSB, everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, we call with any hand from the "Made Hand" category, with draws only called if the raise is not more than 3x.

Turn/River

Regardless of the number of opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 pot or go All In - depending on the remaining stack and pot size. Everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, we go All In, except with draws. Draws on the turn are only called if the raise is not greater than 2.5x.

Step 3.1.2: You've reraised preflop (Reraised/3Bet Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!

Flop vs 1 Opponent

If playing Out Of Position (OOP) against only one opponent, we bet 1/2 PSB with every Made Hand. If the opponent raises, then we call every made hand. We call draws only if the raise is not greater than 3x. If the opponent checks the turn after raising the flop, we bet for 2/3 PSB with our made hands on the river and go all in against further resistance.

We bluff every flop containing an or :Kx:. If the flop is different, we play every worthless hand as Check/Fold.

Flop vs 2 or more Opponents

If playing OOP with 2 or more opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 PSB, everything worse is played as a Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, then we call every hand from the "made hand" category. Draws are only called if the raise is not greater than 3x.

Turn/River

Regardless of the number of opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 pot or go All In - depending on the remaining stack and pot size. Everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, we go All In.

Step 3.2.1: You've called preflop against a re-raise (Also called a 3Bet) and are playing In Position!

Flop/Turn/River vs 1 Opponent or more with a worthless hand

We fold to any bet and check when we can.


Flop vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

We call made all made hands when the opponent bets between 1/3 PSB and 3/4 PSB.

We fold made hands against bets larger than 3/4 PSB, besides monsters - those we call. If the opponent bets 1/3 PSB or less, we raise strong draws and monsters to 3x the bet. If he re-raises us we call strong draws against up to a min-raise and re-raise monsters to 3x his raise and go all-in against any further action.

If the Preflop aggressor checks to us, we bet every Made Hand for 1/3 pot.


Flop vs 2 or more Opponents with a Made Hand

We call made hands when the opponent bets between 1/3 PSB and 3/4 PSB.

If he bets bigger we fold all made hands besides monsters, which we flat to his large bet.

If the opponent bets 1/3 pot or less, we raise strong draws and monsters to 4x the bet. If he re-raises we call our strong draws against up to a x2 re-raise, fold against bigger sizing and re-raise our monsters to 3x his raise and go All In against any further raises.

If the Preflop aggressor(PFA) checks to us, we bet every Made Hand for 1/3 PSB.


Turn vs 1 or more Opponents with a Made Hand

Every Made Hand that isn't a monster is called against up to 2/3 PSB. Against a higher bet, we fold except for monsters, which are called.

If the opponent bets 1/3 PSB or less, we raise every monster to 4x the bet.

If the opponent checks, we bet every Made Hand for 2/3 PSB.

River vs 1 or more Opponents with a Made Hand

Every Made Hand that isn't a monster is called against 1/2 PSB. Against a higher bet, we fold. Every monster is raised on the river to 3x the bet, and we go All In against any further raises. If the opponent checks, we bet every Made Hand for 2/3 PSB.

Step 4.1.1: You've reraised against a 3Bet (4Bet Pot) and are playing In Position!

Flop vs 1 Opponent

If playing In Position (IP) with only one opponent, we bet 1/3 PSB with every hand we hold. If the opponent raises, go all in with every made hand. Worse hands are folded.

Flop vs 2 or more Opponents

If playing IP with 2 or more opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 1/3 PSB; everything worse is played as a Check/Fold.

If an opponent raises against our bet, we go All In.

Turn/River

Regardless of the number of opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 of the pot or go All In - depending on the remaining stack and pot size. Everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, we go All In.

Step 4.1.2: You've reraised against a 3Bet (4Bet) and are playing Out Of Position!

Flop vs 1 Opponent

If playing Out Of Position (OOP) with only one opponent, we bet 1/3 PSB with every Made Hand. If the opponent raises, we go All In with every hand from the "Made Hand" category. Worse hands are folded.

We check/fold our bluffing/worthless hands except on boards with or :Kx:, those are also Cbet to 1/3 PSB with our worthless hands.

Flop vs 2 or more Opponents

If playing OOP with 2 or more opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 1/3 PSB; everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises against our bet, we go All In.

Turn/River

Regardless of the number of opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 PSB or go All In - depending on the remaining stack and pot size. Everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, we go All In.

BANKROLL MANAGEMENT and WHEN TO CHANGE TABLES

Spoiler

What is bankroll management?

Consider the money you use to play poker as an investment, much like investing in stocks. You only buy them if you expect the potential profits to equal or be greater than the risk you are willing to accept.

This handling of money and risk in poker is called Bankroll Management, and the main principle of it is knowing how many multiples of your buy-in you need to play a specific limit or game. When it comes to managing your bankroll, you will always want to balance your aims of...

• ...making as much progress as possible and earning as much money as you can when you win.

• ...avoiding setbacks in case of losses that could force you to move down in stakes and increase your risk of ruin by losing too large of a proportion of your money too quickly.

You want to win a lot when you win, but not be too heavily affected by losses. You achieve this by following the 25-buy-in bankroll management rule on the smallest limits. It tells you how big your poker account (bankroll) must be to move up and when you have to pull the ripcord of your shot at the higher limit and move down

The bankroll management for the BSS beginner strategy is as follows:

• You always buy in with a full stack (100 Big Blinds) at the table. 100 Big Blinds are a buy-in.

• You always buy back to 100 Big Blinds as soon as you have lost money at the table and fallen below the 100 Big Blinds.

• If you have 25 buy-ins for the next higher limit, you can move up there.

For example, you can play with $125 on NL 5 (NL 5 = 2c/5c Blinds)

• If you only have 25 buy-ins for the next lowest limit, you have to go back there.

For example, if you only have a $50 bankroll left, you have to play NL 2 again (NL 2 = 1c/2c Blinds)

• From NL 10 (=5c/10c Blinds) onwards, you should play with a 30-stack BRM - of course, you can always choose to play with more buy-ins if you want to feel more comfortable.

When do we change the table

This guide is designed to work optimally with a 100 big blind (bb)effective stack size. Effective stack size is the smaller of the stack sizes between the opponents. If you have 200bb and your opponent 100bb, your effective stack size is 100bb and your strategy remains unchanged. As your effective stack size significantly increases, the strategy may work less effectively in certain situations. For example, with a preflop all-in with 150bb+ if we hold AK or QQ. Because the opponents themselves are often only willing to get all in with AA/KK for such large stacks. Postflop All-In situations change too, when it comes to 150bb+.

Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they change a table because they have significantly more than 100bb against one or more players. If the opponents at the table are very bad and you expect to continue making easy wins, then it's better to stay. But if you feel uncomfortable, then you should change tables, regardless of stack size.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Mar 19, 2024, 10:08 PM#3

ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Spoiler

Are these GTO ranges?

No, they are not. Although they use preflop solver ranges as a base, they have been adjusted towards what beginners are capable of and how NL2 and NL5 player pools react. You can see my video where I compare preflop ranges to GTO Wizard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pkmBGGH81w&t=1318s).

The post-flop sizing and rules are designed with the capabilities of beginners in mind, with preflop ranges we are using, and against common tendencies of the smallest limits online.

Do I have to strictly follow the bankroll management rule?

This is just an initial guideline. For example, you will get into a situation where if you move up to NL5 with $125, you will be moving down to NL2 only at $50. If you are struggling you can move down a bit sooner. The Authors also mentioned that a 30Buy-In rule for moving up and down will be safer if you run into trouble initially. It's about finding out what you are comfortable with, and as the guide mentions, maximise how much you make when you are winning while limiting the risk of moving down or ruin when you are losing

Is it legal to use these charts/ranges while playing?

  1. On Pokerstars and other sites - static preflop ranges are not prohibited. Only dynamic ones that automatically adapt to your situation. Our charts all only refer to pre-flop and are therefore allowed because they are static and do not automatically adapt to the situation. You make the adjustments by using the correct static chart for the respective preflop situation/position.

  2. On GG Poker - Anyone who uses the charts themselves should be aware that, according to GGPoker, this is not allowed while playing. You will need to memorise them.

-Paxis, original author

Why are we raising to 3bb and very tight in LJ(EP)

It's simply that you will be playing out of position the most, and we want newcomers to avoid that. Once you graduate and establish yourself beyond the beginner's guide this will be one of the first adjustments you can make - smaller open size in EP with a wider range. We recommend beginners to stick to being tight however in EP. In general, the larger your size, the fewer hands you should open, so the larger 3 big blind open correspond to the tight range.

I am completely new to poker, and I don't feel comfortable opening weak hands like 6♦: 3♦: on the button

Any complete beginner can leave out the lower ends of the ranges if they feel uncomfortable with them and think they can't handle post-flop yet. In practice, it means folding the worst hands lowest in the charts we otherwise recommend playing, but you should quickly get comfortable and start using the charts as they are. The post-fop rules are already very simple and should be easy enough to follow.

Will this strategy work at NL10 and higher?

The strategy is aimed at beginners and advanced beginners. This type of player should play NL 2 to NL 5. Therefore, these limits are also recommended. The strategy is profitable if you implement it correctly. It probably works on NL 10 too if you play it well. But you should be able to adapt better, have a range of thinking, etc. -Paxis

There are some very obvious ways through which you can exploit this strategy, we do not call 3bets out of position, we never call 4bets, and we do not bluff the river for example - the higher you move up, the more you need to be able to use these tools, and adapt to specific situations more fluidly.

Does it still classify as a "steal" if my opponent isolated a limper?

No. It is always a steal when the cut-off, button or small blind raises after everyone has folded beforehand. So no one is allowed to have limped or raised. The term “steal” says nothing about your own hand strength. It doesn't matter if we raise AA or 22 from the BU if everyone has folded before us. Both are called steals. After all, the opponents don't know which hand we hold. - Paxis

If the first position is not present at the table, do I still use the LJ/EP ranges?

No, if there are 5 people at the table, you just act as if you were in the MP/Hijack as you have only 4 opponents behind you, same as if there were 6 players and the first one folded.

Why is the guide so limited? Why not adapt to more boards and situations?

Long story short. The course is aimed at classic beginners who are less experienced and willing to learn, and for them, the course and the rules must be as simple as possible. With the new directions, which you can also see in the ranges, we are significantly more complex and looser than in past PokerStrategy guides. We have already adapted to the modern game and added a lot of complexity, but hopefully not too much than is necessary. Paxis

How many tables should I be playing? I feel overwhelmed and often don't use the strategy correctly when I multitable

If you feel overwhelmed and play more than one table, my recommendation would be to only play one and use the charts at the same time so that you do everything correctly preflop and can concentrate well on the hand to be played. As you get used to the charts and rules and memorise them, you can add more tables as well - Paxis

Really? If small blind minraises we call 100% of hands? And when other positions min-raise we call all suited hands, broadway and Ax? Isn't this way too loose for a beginner's guide?

You'll win the pot post-flop often enough without hitting anything. Due to the large range that a min-raise stealer usually has, he plays check/fold on the flop often enough. The rule for beginners is to play the flop straight away when the PFA checks. So on average, it should be profitable. with the great odds you are getting preflop, you don't have to win post-flop very often to make the loose calls profitable against min raises. - Paxis

This guide isn't simple enough, all these rules make it too complicated and it's hard to follow - why can't we just have a few simpler rules of thumb and positional ranges clumped together like in past guides?

The disadvantage is that there will be people who are put off by the detail we have put in the post-flop section. However, the profitability and comprehensibility of the strategy should and will be the focus. Anyone who can't or doesn't want to take the time to learn will have a very difficult time in today's poker age anyway. - Paxis

The times where you could open 5% of hands with a short stack strategy, bet 2/3 and fold to a raise in every situation and profit right off the bat are gone online sadly.

What if I have a true monster draw on the flop?

One of the first deviations you can make is if you have a monster draw like a straight flush draw, you can start to play just like we play the monster on the flop. This is no longer possible on the turn due to the significantly lower equity.

Should I table select and look for weak players?

Ultimately, you should always try to play tables where there is at least one clear weak player. If everyone has 100bb+ and you don't know that anyone is a bad player, then you should change tables. The first motto is always: Leave any table that you don't feel comfortable at, or that seems more unprofitable than what you can easily find at this limit. - Paxis

Further table selection strategy from Paxis:

Spoiler

As soon as I have enough hands from the players at the table and see that no one is sitting there with at least 35+ VPIP, I change the table. Another thing you can pay attention to is the position you have on the players. If you have a direct position on a weak player, then this is significantly more profitable than the other way around if the player has a direct position on you.

So I'm more likely to play a table where I have a position on a 35 VPIP player than a table where I'm OOP vs a 40VPIP.

However, I also prefer playing OOP at a table against a 50 VPIP player than IP against a 35 VPIP player. So things can get more complicated when you consider all the variables

If you have 120bb or more and there are no loose hobby players at the table + you are so deep against other players at the table = leave the table.

If you have 200bb but everyone else doesn't, then you don't have to go. Or you are deep against others, but at the same time, there is a really bad player who you are in a perfect position for. I would stay there too. Nevertheless, it's always about you having to feel comfortable.

You can also easily find other tables on the small limits.

I would also recommend marking the players with different colors. Ideally a color for regs, i.e. players who regularly play the limit and are among the better players. Then a color for clear hobby players, i.e. players who play poorly and from whom we can easily get money. A third color for players who are somewhere in between and where we're not sure. If you play your limit regularly, over time you will mark all the regs that you often use at the table. This way you can also recognize recurring weak players.

By classifying your opponents by color, table selection becomes easier over time because you can assess the tables more quickly.

My redline is going down? I am losing heavily before the showdown, help!

The entry-level strategy is a Tight Aggressive Strategy (TAG) as it is very profitable to play at small limits and, above all, is easy to implement. The entry-level strategy is not focused on achieving a great redline. It is designed to have a great black line (or blue line in your graph) -Paxis, cjheigl

As you move up the stakes and adjust to different situations, you will naturally do redline-benefitting plays, like bluffing good rivers, attacking weak and capped ranges etc. But these are not necessary to beat NL2 and NL5 regular tables with weak opponents and add complexity.

Are we really folding OESD, Flush draws vs more than min-raises post-flop? Why, this is clearly wrong and you have odds to call most of the time?

The guide clearly states that the very first adjustment you should make is to start calling strong draws to bigger sizing once you understand odds and implied odds. The authors just didn't want to put complete beginners into trouble who do not understand them yet, hence the very tight and strict rule where we fold to more than 2x raises until we have read and understood the articles about drawing hands.

Don't you have this backwards? Why are you telling me to Cbet bigger OOP than IP? Most solvers and pros I watch tell me to do the opposite?!

OOP we bet bigger because the range we bet is also smaller and therefore stronger. OOP is much more difficult to play than IP. So we don't want to play so many hands because otherwise, we'll often end up in difficult situations. So if we play fewer hands, we bet them larger. This also ensures that the opponents continue to play a smaller range against us and the turn/river then becomes easier for us.

We consciously decided against small bets in Raised Pot OOP because we don't want to incorporate pure turn bluffs into the strategy. In addition, we not only bluff flops with 2 high cards but also every flop that is A or K high. Our approach is aimed more specifically at beginners at small limits and exploits the behavior of opponents to a greater extent at this limit.

IP the game is much easier for us than for the opponent and therefore we have situations where we can easily bet our entire range. If we do this, as already mentioned, we want to invest little money and therefore only bet 1/3 pot against an opponent. If our range changes and becomes tighter, i.e. smaller, as happens against two-player IP, then we bet larger according to the rule and bet 2/3. - Paxis

I have a question about the "Step 2.2.2: You've called preflop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!" section. I don't see the first action we take with a made hand. Or do we always check first and only react on the action villain takes?

  • MeanGreen

Yes, unless stated otherwise we always check to the preflop raiser OOP

I see these graphs, what is that and how to get that software?

Be wary that a lot of sites like KKpoker don't support 3rd party huds, but you can get free Hand2Note beta 4 or Pokertracker 4, Holdem Manager 3 14-day trials. Hand2note is free with limited features and you can get a 10% discount on advanced ones (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/poker-software-tools/hand-2-note/) with the tested version - their advanced features are a lot more expensive than the one-off PT4/HM3 purchases however, but you won't be needing them when using this guide.

I have learned how to use the strategy, I beat NL2 and NL5 and I want to get more advanced - what do I do?

  1. check out our video section (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/). If you want to see how to smash NL10 and higher in 2024 with very advanced strategies I recommend Videos from MartaiMrko (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/?query=MartaiMrko), for older videos you can look for my own name and filter for No Limit Holdem BSS.

  2. Post hands in the Hand evaluation forum (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1674) where you will get advice from more advanced standpoints

I'd like encouragement and support from the community

Make sure to Start a blog (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1435), and you can also start a Bankroll Challenge (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/content/Don-t-burn-out-doing-your-Bankroll-Challenge_130587/) to get a chance at winning extra prizes and boost your bankroll!

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Mar 19, 2024, 10:08 PM#4

EVALUATED HANDS with COMMON MISTAKES

Spoiler

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

MP: 113.5 BB

CO: 41 BB

BTN: 78 BB

SB: 88 BB

Hero (BB): 115 BB

UTG: 12.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♠ K♠

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, fold, fold, SB calls 0.5 BB, Hero raises to 6 BB, fold, SB calls 5 BB

Flop: (13 BB, 2 players) 8♣ T♦ 2♣

SB checks, Hero bets 4.5 BB, SB calls 4.5 BB

Turn: (22 BB, 2 players) 2♦

SB checks, Hero checks

River: (22 BB, 2 players) K♦

SB checks, Hero bets 15 BB, SB raises to 41 BB, Hero calls 26 BB

Evaluation

PREFLOP

Played according to strategy. We raise 4BB+1BB for each limper = 6BB

FLOP

We correctly bet 33% of the pot against one opponent when we are IP, as we will be doing with all hands.

TURN

We have a worthless hand now, so we check back.

River

We now have a made hand again (Top Pair), so we bet 2/3 PSB.

According to the guide, we now have to fold to the raise, we would continue only with monsters, which we would re-raise.

Most players, especially at small limits, bluff the river far too rarely, especially as a check/raise, which is why we advise folding non-monsters and it would be correct to follow the strategy.

GG Poker - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

CO: 84 BB

BTN: 133.4 BB

SB: 101.4 BB

BB: 100 BB

Hero (UTG): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♦ K♠

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 2.6 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (9 BB, 3 players) 3♦ 6♠ T♦

SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 6 BB, fold, BB calls 6 BB

Turn: (21 BB, 2 players) 3♥

BB checks, Hero bets 14 BB, BB calls 14 BB

River: (49 BB, 2 players) 8♥

BB bets 77 BB and is all-in

EVALUATION

This is an example we mentioned in the comments - the table has only 5 players, therefore we do not play as the LJ/EP but as HJ/MP and should open to 2.5BB

FLOP AND TURN

We correctly realised we are against 2 players and used the 2/3 PSB with our overpair (non-monster-made hand)

RIVER

The opponent lead (donked) into us - here the special rule applies. One thing I want to mention - technically we do have a 2 pair hand, but in practice when a pair is already on the board, we should treat one pair of hands and overpairs as made hands instead and play according to the rules for them. We will mention these niche obvious deviations in the live sessions.

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

UTG: 70.5 BB

MP: 102.5 BB

CO: 62.5 BB

BTN: 73.5 BB

SB: 101 BB

Hero (BB): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8♦ Q♥

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero checks

Flop: (2.5 BB, 2 players) 3♥ 8♠ 4♠

Hero bets 1.5 BB, UTG raises to 7 BB, Hero calls 5.5 BB

Turn: (16.5 BB, 2 players) Q♦

Hero checks, UTG bets 8 BB, Hero raises to 64 BB, UTG calls 54.5 BB and is all-in

EVALUATION

PREFLOP

Correct check according to preflop chart - we look for ISO Raise

FLOP

We do not have a specific section on limped pots, but you can approach this situation as if you raise OOP Against one opponent rules-wise.

i.e. Betting 2/3 is Correct out of position with our made hand(top pair)

The rule is as follows for the flop:

If the opponent raises to double the bet (min-raised), we call with every Made Hand except for monsters. If the opponent's raise is bigger than a min-raise, we fold every hand except for our monsters.

Our opponent raised much bigger than a min-raise, even if you were not playing with the beginner's strategy, NL2 populations simply do not bluff raise enough to large sizing and this would be a fold.

TURN

Our Made hand improved into a monster, we should be raising, but raising to 3x his bet instead as we do in other SRP situations. We want him to be able to make mistakes with worse hands like mid-pairs and missed draws. An all-in will cause your opponent to fold a lot of things. So I would rather raise to 24bb and push every river. This increases the likelihood of mistakes by the opponent. - Paxis

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Mar 19, 2024, 10:08 PM#5

CHANGELOG

We will be developing this guide to ensure it stays up-to-date, always check this log if you open the guide after significant time has passed.

21.3.24 - Added Index to the first post

10.4.24 - Chart labels changed - BU: orange 3bet vs STEAL ONLY. BB: Light Purple: call vs NON-STEAL

18.04.24 - PREFLOP LESSON video link added (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/54150/)

25.04.24 added: Monster - This category includes all hands that are 2 Pair or better: trips, straights, etc. (Note: On paired boards, we classify as monsters-only hands with trips or better, i.e. additional pair or overpair to the board is classed as a made hand only.)

Fixed: Turn vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand after preflop call IP

Every Made Hand that isn't a monster is called against up to 2/3 PSB. Against a higher bet, we fold except for monsters.

Monsters we raise on the turn to 3x the bet - it was 4x, 3X is correct.

2.5.2024 Postflop guide video link added (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/54164/)

07.06.2024 Added When to change the table section to Bankroll Management

Added MONSTER DRAWS Rule in post-flop - all OESD+FD at the same time are played aggressively

11.11.2024 The button chart has changed - we are iso raising J9s/Q9s/K9s on the button - same as on CO

11.11.2024 Added Note under SB: The hands AJo/KQo are marked green/red because we only play them as a 3bet against a steal in front of us - i.e. when the cut-off or button raises first at the table. We also play Bluff4Bet with these hands when the big blind 3bets are against us.

11.11.2021 new clarification/special rule added: Unraised Pot (Nobody raised before the flop): If we are sitting in the big blind and get to the flop for free because nobody raised before us, then we continue playing from the flop exactly as described in point "Step 2.1.2: You raised before the flop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position (OOP)"!

28.01.2025 Raw ranges removed - outdated

28.01.2025- Charts updated

  • 3.1.1 we left out what happens on turn. " In the end, the explanation of what happens on the turn was simply left out. Because that can be found under the "Turn" section anyway and it says how we play with the made hand when the opponent no longer has any initiative."

  • 3.1.2 Was updated - we are now calling vs a raise in a 3bet pot vs raises oop instead of going all-in with made hands

03.02.2025

Unraised Pot (Nobody raised before the flop): Added If we are sitting in the big blind and get to the flop for free because nobody raised before us, then we always play for 2/3 pot on the flop against 1 opponent.

18.05.2025

Preflop charts updated - the biggest change is a wider call vs SB steal in BB

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Mar 26, 2024, 5:04 PM#6

Streams will begin next week or the week after.

A fact that I didn't know: OOP we cbet 100% on AXX and KXX flops only. On every other flop in almost all situations we check and fold everything but strong draws and top pair or better. That I did know.

That AXX or KXX flops happen around 40% of the time I did not (according to my friend's math who made over $200,000 last year).

Trust in this guide, it is very well designed

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Apr 8, 2024, 12:44 AM#7

The stream for preflop will be on Thursday 11 April at 19:00 CEST guys. If you played with the guide and want to post your hands with Preflop spots - simply reply here and we will include them

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted Apr 16, 2024, 9:51 AM#8

Looks great! I'm seriously thinking about switching to this strategy in favor of my current full ring (ante) games struggle as it's far more advanced than the strategy articles I can read with my bronze status.

Thanks for all the time and effort invested in this!

Edit: A first few items of feedback:

The different colours in the starting hand charts are hard to separate, especially the light green and dark green are very similar. I printed the charts on A4 size, but it's really hard to tell the difference.

The postflop strategy is a pretty big section of text, a summarised overview would be very helpful.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Apr 17, 2024, 7:54 PM#9

Originally posted by MeanGreen

Looks great! I'm seriously thinking about switching to this strategy in favor of my current full ring (ante) games struggle as it's far more advanced than the strategy articles I can read with my bronze status.

Thanks for all the time and effort invested in this!

Edit: A first few items of feedback:

The different colours in the starting hand charts are hard to separate, especially the light green and dark green are very similar. I printed the charts on A4 size, but it's really hard to tell the difference.

The postflop strategy is a pretty big section of text, a summarised overview would be very helpful.

Thank you for your comment!

To the first point, I talked to Barry Carter for his printed books - there is always a struggle when you can't have a high-quality print in colour, they had to do a completely different system of visualisation for black+white, it might be something for the future

We discussed the second point in length, it was my instinct to give a summary sheet, but:

The disadvantage is that there will be people who are put off by the detail we have put in the post-flop section. However, the profitability and comprehensibility of the strategy should and will be the focus. Anyone who can't or doesn't want to take the time to learn will have a very difficult time in today's poker age anyway. - Paxis

The thing is, if we simplify the strategy even further in a summary, worry is that important rules would be left out, and they all work together - it would lead to folks using the simplified version and then end up losing - the guide is more complex than in the past, but will work when used as is. We will talk about heuristics and general rules in advanced coaching, I'd suggest for student to make their own shorthand for their own needs

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted Apr 19, 2024, 6:41 AM#11

So, who else is giving this strategy a go? I've played it again last night and I feel very confident with all this material backing me up. I've partially watched the video and learning to apply this.

Hopefully more people will join in and get interesting discussions going. Back in 2007 when I started I had the same type of energy from this community playing SSS all the way from 2NL to 50NL, great times

FaginNewbie1 posts
Posted Apr 19, 2024, 7:56 AM#12

I started to use this as the basis for my play last week and have continued through this week. Not sticking 100% strictly to it as I feel that at NL10 I need to be able to make some adaptations. I am currently up about 15BI over the last 8 days and can attribute a good part of that to using this strategy.

Having a well thought out strategy behind my play, even just my pre-flop play, has given me more confidence at the tables and I am 3 betting more pre and raising more post flop, winning more hands as a result.

Having the strategy in place has encouraged me to be more focussed at the tables (I generally play 4 tables) and this has also improved my play overall.

I'm less passive now and while I will still call some bets I am also more likely to raise or check raise which frequently ends the hand there instead of finding myself at a river with just a busted draw facing a huge bet I can't call!

I have to give this strategy a huge

Many thanks to those who helped to put it together and present it to the forum

AlergenicNewbie2 posts
Posted Apr 19, 2024, 1:21 PM#13

Thanks for the guide!

I think this is absolutelly amazing work. I want to come back to poker after 7 years break! Those days I started with NL2 and made it to NL25 where I had 3BB/100. Not much but I was learining

I used this bankroll mangement that I came up with myself:

Let me know if need any explanation on that one.

Had to withdraw my money in 2017 and my journey stopped there.

Now I have my fresh and crunchy 100$ in again. Great video, will start with trying out this strategy on NL5 to get to 250$ to move up. Not sure if I need to start a blog though...

Looking forward for the postflop video!

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted Apr 22, 2024, 11:02 AM#14

Isn't the logic behind playing the AK+,QQ+ hands fully aggressive not a little too much? Or is it an advanced move to decide when not push?

I just played AK from the button, facing an open raise (Hijack or Lojack) and 3-bet from the CO. I 4-bet to 21BB, the open raiser folds, CO pushes all-in.

https://my.pokercraft.com/embedded/hhimg/C8EQAUSSDX04Q0S4LVG7N7

Am I misunderstanding the strategy to call the shove? Or are we expecting lots of players to make this move with AQ and worse, QQ and worse? A 5-bet shove seems like it's mostly going to be AA or maybe KK, even on this level.

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted Apr 23, 2024, 6:08 AM#15

Originally posted by Alergenic

I used this bankroll mangement that I came up with myself:

Let me know if need any explanation on that one.

Isn't this extremely conservative? The Pokerstrategy guides talk about 25-30 buyins to move up, your charts start more than twice as slow with 50 buyins.

It comes down to what you are comfortable with, but you are also limiting your speed of earning money and going up the stakes where you can improve your play.

When I feel confident with my play and the level I'm at, I'm in a winning period for a longer period and the bankroll is sufficient, I mix in a single table of the higher stakes while keeping the other tables on the lower limit. I might not move over to the new limit while my bankroll isn't big enough so safely support it, I think there are benefits to being a bit more agressive on the BRM.

Remember: you can always step down when you feel like you can't handle the stakes, for any reason.

AlergenicNewbie2 posts
Posted Apr 23, 2024, 8:33 AM#16

Thanks for the reflection @MeanGreen (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/participant/meangreen/)

Sorry if numbers are confusing there. Basically I am getting 25 buyins to get to NL10 - 250$. I am just adding +5 buying for every higher limit. But you are right, may be it is over conservative 😊 Never got higher than NL25 though.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Apr 23, 2024, 12:14 PM#17

Originally posted by Alergenic

Thanks for the guide!

I think this is absolutelly amazing work. I want to come back to poker after 7 years break! Those days I started with NL2 and made it to NL25 where I had 3BB/100. Not much but I was learining

I used this bankroll mangement that I came up with myself:

Let me know if need any explanation on that one.

Had to withdraw my money in 2017 and my journey stopped there.

Now I have my fresh and crunchy 100$ in again. Great video, will start with trying out this strategy on NL5 to get to 250$ to move up. Not sure if I need to start a blog though...

Looking forward for the postflop video!

Very cool to hear you are giving it a go! Good call to see how many buy-ins you have to win to move up.

For later on when you start to shoot NL100+ your bankroll will depend on a lot of factors, like your living situation, side income, winrate, variance and how many limits and sites you mix

A lot of professionals prefer to have 100+ Buyins when playing poker is their only income.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Apr 23, 2024, 12:34 PM#18

Originally posted by MeanGreen

Isn't the logic behind playing the AK+,QQ+ hands fully aggressive not a little too much? Or is it an advanced move to decide when not push?

I just played AK from the button, facing an open raise (Hijack or Lojack) and 3-bet from the CO. I 4-bet to 21BB, the open raiser folds, CO pushes all-in.

https://my.pokercraft.com/embedded/hhimg/C8EQAUSSDX04Q0S4LVG7N7

Am I misunderstanding the strategy to call the shove? Or are we expecting lots of players to make this move with AQ and worse, QQ and worse? A 5-bet shove seems like it's mostly going to be AA or maybe KK, even on this level.

Hand in Question

Spoiler

If we are IP on the opponent we 4Bet for 2.5x his 3Bet. Exception, the opponent 3Bets smaller than 3x, then we 4Bet 3x.

If we are OOP to the opponent, we 4-bet 3x his 3Bet size.

Opponent 3bet less than 3X so you correctly 4bet to 3X his 3bet and got it in - played like the guide says.

I did mention in the coaching that the rules apply for the vast majority of scenarios, this is a very tight and rare one, where you can make a case for being tighter. AKs is a better call than Queens because we block AA KK and have more equity vs KK Here + the suits add equity, this is a solver output at smaller sizing:

AKo against most people is a good fold, so would be QQ, AKs a toss-up - but because these situations are so rare it wasn't worth it putting in the caveats. If you are more advanced and play regular tables you can basically fold against nittier and solid players, call if you have seen them do anything out of line, you can also size down the cold 4bet.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Apr 23, 2024, 5:01 PM#19

We have coaching tomorrow! Any postflop hands you post here are much appreciated guys and we will include them!

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted May 5, 2024, 2:10 PM#21

I have a question about the "Step 2.2.2: You've called preflop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!" section. I don't see the first action we take with a made hand. Or do we always check first and only react on the action villain takes?

Flop vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

Against a 1/3 PSB and 3/4 PSB Cbet we call all made hands.

Against bets larger than 3/4 PSB we fold all our hands except for Monsters that are raised to 3x the bet and put All In against any further re-raises.

If the opponent bets 1/3 PSB or less, we raise strong draws and monsters to 4x the bet.

If the opponent continues to re-raise, we call our strong draws to up to a min-raise.

We raise our monsters to 3x the bet and go All In against any further re-raises.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 5, 2024, 6:21 PM#22

Originally posted by MeanGreen

I have a question about the "Step 2.2.2: You've called preflop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!" section. I don't see the first action we take with a made hand. Or do we always check first and only react on the action villain takes?

Flop vs 1 Opponent with a Made Hand

Against a 1/3 PSB and 3/4 PSB Cbet we call all made hands.

Against bets larger than 3/4 PSB we fold all our hands except for Monsters that are raised to 3x the bet and put All In against any further re-raises.

If the opponent bets 1/3 PSB or less, we raise strong draws and monsters to 4x the bet.

If the opponent continues to re-raise, we call our strong draws to up to a min-raise.

We raise our monsters to 3x the bet and go All In against any further re-raises.

Yes, we check to the preflop raiser(s) oop unless stated otherwise - good question, adding this to FAQ!

Rra1derNewbie1 posts
Posted May 9, 2024, 10:29 PM#23

Hey Lemon,

This is not the complete hand but i am finding myself again and again in this position where u have AK oop and flop nothing. I cant find it in this course but should u lead AK here. Its not a madehand and the flop is hitting the range of an BB call very hard.

GG Poker - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 3 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

BTN: 107.4 BB (VPIP: 36.11, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 38)

Hero (SB): 274 BB

BB: 165.4 BB (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 20.41, 3Bet Preflop: 8.11, Hands: 101)

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♦ A♣

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 2♦ 8♦ 6♠

Hero checks, BB checks

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 10, 2024, 7:04 AM#24

Yes, preflop is played according to the guide, flop is as well - we don't have a top pair or better, so we would Check and fold here according to the guide:

Step 2.1.2: You raised before the flop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position (OOP)!

Flop vs 1 opponent

If we are OOP and have only one opponent, we bet with every Made Hand for 2/3 PSB. If the opponent raises to double the bet (min-raised), we call with every Made Hand except for monsters. If the opponent's raise is bigger than a min-raise, we fold every hand except for our monsters. We continue to re-raise our monsters to 3x the raise and go all-in against any further raises. On favourable flops for us, we will also bluff with worthless hands for 2/3 PSB. By favourable flops we mean those that contain at least one or . Without them on the board, we will Check/Fold with the worthless hands.

People will overall be too passive and let you get to showdown too much at nl2 and nl5 with AK so you can get away with checking and folding. When you move beyond the guide to NL10+ you can start mostly check calling in this spot and take it from there

perrolocorichiNewbie1 posts
Posted May 10, 2024, 2:25 PM#25

hi nice job:

I have a question for the pre flop table in co and btn, if I raise in co and I have ATs Kjs Kts Qjs that are blue and light blue and I receive a 3 bet from a small blind, can I call or make a 4 bet with those cards? The same question is for the button because there are no cards with a double color of blue and light blue, they are all light blue, it is assumed that with those I can 3 bet, but if I open and they 3bet me in that position that is played more, I could bet 4 with the blue ones. ?

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 12, 2024, 8:44 PM#26

Originally posted by perrolocorichi

hi nice job:

I have a question for the pre flop table in co and btn, if I raise in co and I have ATs Kjs Kts Qjs that are blue and light blue and I receive a 3 bet from a small blind, can I call or make a 4 bet with those cards? The same question is for the button because there are no cards with a double color of blue and light blue, they are all light blue, it is assumed that with those I can 3 bet, but if I open and they 3bet me in that position that is played more, I could bet 4 with the blue ones. ?

CO

ATs Kjs Kts Qjs would be called vs the 3Bet from the Small blind, In Positon we only 4bet QQ+AK, other dark and light blue are called IP.

BU

Button has two charts - consult the (Call vs 3Bet) and you will see we call all those hands against a 3bet - button 4bets only QQ+AK AKA monsters

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted May 15, 2024, 1:07 PM#27

I'm a little short of the adviced bankroll management to move up limits right now, but I'm making very solid progress on NL5 to the point where NL10 will be possible soon. I'm still learning the strategy and improving my play, but how should I prepare to move up? What spots should I focus on? Should parts of the strategy be avoided beyond NL5? Are there plans for an advanced guide?

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 15, 2024, 7:41 PM#28

Originally posted by MeanGreen

I'm a little short of the adviced bankroll management to move up limits right now, but I'm making very solid progress on NL5 to the point where NL10 will be possible soon. I'm still learning the strategy and improving my play, but how should I prepare to move up? What spots should I focus on? Should parts of the strategy be avoided beyond NL5? Are there plans for an advanced guide?

We will have one more lesson on the first adjustments away from the guide coming in a few week (s). The first adjustments are things we will cover - odds and implied odds for when to play draws beyond the "fold if more than 2X" in most guide spots, relative hand strength where 2 pair sometimes isn't a monster etc.

If you want really advanced advice on how to crush NL10 this will be the best thing we (or any site) have to offer, the production value isn't quite on my level but the content is top tier:

https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/53194/

https://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/53118/

If you want to see how a NL10 Crusher studies the same way NL500 winners do read this one:

https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=3468192#post3468192

Beyond the basic adjustments, you will want to focus on the most common spots - the first one I'd say is how to play Big Blind vs the Button against 1 opponent and Blind vs Blind against 1 opponent as those will be both played much looser beyond the guide and occur very frequently

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted May 20, 2024, 5:37 PM#29

Just a small success story: playing this strategy to the best of my ability resulted in $61 profit on NL5 in just under 10k hands. I'm looking at 12bb/100.

Greatly appreciated LemOn36 and Paxis and Fallout86

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 21, 2024, 3:12 PM#30

Originally posted by MeanGreen

Just a small success story: playing this strategy to the best of my ability resulted in $61 profit on NL5 in just under 10k hands. I'm looking at 12bb/100.

Greatly appreciated LemOn36 and Paxis and Fallout86

Awesome, well done putting the work in!

gabrykkstarNewbie1 posts
Posted May 23, 2024, 2:25 PM#31

Hi Lem0n36. How many bb/100 i must have to consider beaten the NL5?

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 24, 2024, 8:37 AM#32

Originally posted by gabrykkstar

Hi Lem0n36. How many BB/100 i must have to consider beaten the NL5?

I got the answer from the godfather of the guide Paxis himself

I always say that on NL 2 and NL 5 the win rate shouldn't play a role in going higher, but rather the bankroll.

As a beginner, the learning curve is still very steep and therefore it is a waste of time to play on the first two limits until you have reached win rate X.

If you play with a BRM of 30 stacks, then you simply move up to NL 10 as soon as you have $300.

From NL 10 onwards I recommend looking at the win rate before moving up further.

nuxiaNewbie1 posts
Posted May 28, 2024, 1:14 PM#33

Thanks for creating the guide.

In the Big Blind - (Raise & 3-Bet) chart is says the following:

→ AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKo, AKs & AQs are to be "Isoraised & 3-Bet vs all position" (shown in orange color)

Does that mean if two people raised before us, and we're on the BB, we don't 4-Bet AA, AK, or KK for example?

StackoffskiRegular32 posts
Posted May 28, 2024, 2:56 PM#34

Thanks this is nice!!! super!

I have a question: You say in the intro post this is more suitable for regular tables than for fastfold tables. Why is that? I play fastfold.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 29, 2024, 1:53 PM#35

Originally posted by nuxia

Thanks for creating the guide.

In the Big Blind - (Raise & 3-Bet) chart is says the following:

→ AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKo, AKs & AQs are to be "Isoraised & 3-Bet vs all position" (shown in orange color)

Does that mean if two people raised before us, and we're on the BB, we don't 4-Bet AA, AK, or KK for example?

For that, the special rule for preflop monsters plays:

Preflop monsters

We didn't mark the monsters in the charts, but every preflop monster will be played aggressively, raised and re-raised until we go All-in. Preflop monsters are AKo, AKs, QQ, KK, AA - In every position, these hands are raised, 3Bet, 4Bet, and shoved All-in.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 29, 2024, 1:57 PM#36

Originally posted by Stackoffski

Thanks this is nice!!! super!

I have a question: You say in the intro post this is more suitable for regular tables than for fast-fold tables. Why is that? I play fastfold.

  1. You have more time for your decisions and apply the guide

  2. On aggregate players on fast-fold tables are tighter and win rates of top players are lower in return on average across stakes.

Fun players will play more hands-on on regular tables, they will play looser and pay us off more often with our strategy that relies on value bets and never bluffs rivers besides a couple of exceptions.

It will still work on fast-forward tables, but you might not see yourself doing as well

StackoffskiRegular32 posts
Posted May 30, 2024, 4:10 AM#37

Originally posted by LemOn36

Originally posted by Stackoffski

Thanks this is nice!!! super!

I have a question: You say in the intro post this is more suitable for regular tables than for fast-fold tables. Why is that? I play fastfold.

  1. You have more time for your decisions and apply the guide

  2. On aggregate players on fast-fold tables are tighter and win rates of top players are lower in return on average across stakes.

Fun players will play more hands-on on regular tables, they will play looser and pay us off more often with our strategy that relies on value bets and never bluffs rivers besides a couple of exceptions.

It will still work on fast-forward tables, but you might not see yourself doing as well

Would you still recommend cbetting 1/3rd pot 100% of the time at fastfold tables?

Usually I 3bet a bit larger, and not 100% (only 62 or so). I know I can get away with cbetting more often (through looking at stats), I am already cbetting more then I used to. I am thinking about trying the cbet 1/3rd 100% as a standard, but the problem I have with this before trying it, is that the counter-action to the small cbet bet does not really provide information about opponent's handstrength (people calling with backdoors oop etc). At fast-fold there already is more lack of information. In other words, I am not really comfortable doing it haha. Maybe I'm chicken. But could you convince me to adapt this play?

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 5, 2024, 1:08 AM#38

!Couple added rules are coming over next few days

  • monster draws played like monsters on flop

  • how deep should we play

Originally posted by Stackoffski

Originally posted by LemOn36

Originally posted by Stackoffski

Thanks this is nice!!! super!

I have a question: You say in the intro post this is more suitable for regular tables than for fast-fold tables. Why is that? I play fastfold.

  1. You have more time for your decisions and apply the guide

  2. On aggregate players on fast-fold tables are tighter and win rates of top players are lower in return on average across stakes.

Fun players will play more hands-on on regular tables, they will play looser and pay us off more often with our strategy that relies on value bets and never bluffs rivers besides a couple of exceptions.

It will still work on fast-forward tables, but you might not see yourself doing as well

Would you still recommend cbetting 1/3rd pot 100% of the time at fastfold tables?

Usually I 3bet a bit larger, and not 100% (only 62 or so). I know I can get away with cbetting more often (through looking at stats), I am already cbetting more then I used to. I am thinking about trying the cbet 1/3rd 100% as a standard, but the problem I have with this before trying it, is that the counter-action to the small cbet bet does not really provide information about opponent's handstrength (people calling with backdoors oop etc). At fast-fold there already is more lack of information. In other words, I am not really comfortable doing it haha. Maybe I'm chicken. But could you convince me to adapt this play?

If your opponents are not check-raising and floating enough, which they won't even at fast forward tables, you can just stick with it - remember - you are doing it only in position

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 6, 2024, 11:02 PM#39

New section added to Bankroll Management that is now renamed to BANKROLL MANAGEMENT and WHEN TO CHANGE TABLES

When do we change the table

This guide is designed to work optimally with a 100 big blind (bb)effective stack size. Effective stack size is the smaller of the stack sizes between the opponents. If you have 200bb and your opponent 100bb, your effective stack size is 100bb and your strategy remains unchanged. As your effective stack size significantly increases, the strategy may work less effectively in certain situations. For example, with a preflop all-in with 150bb+ if we hold AK or QQ. Because the opponents themselves are often only willing to get all in with AA/KK for such large stacks. Postflop All-In situations change too, when it comes to 150bb+.

Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they change a table because they have significantly more than 100bb against one or more players. If the opponents at the table are very bad and you expect to continue making easy wins, then it's better to stay. But if you feel uncomfortable, then you should change tables, regardless of stack size.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 6, 2024, 11:10 PM#40

Monster Draw rule added

Monster draws on the flop: A Monster draw is a flush draw and OESD at the same time. We always play a monster draw aggressively on the flop and are ready to go all in. For example, if the strategy on the flop says that we would play a monster check/call, then we will play the monster draw check/raise to 3x. In any situation on the flop where we get raised, we continue to re-raise for 3 times the opponents raise or go all in. This rule only applies to the flop, from the turn onwards we only hold the “Strong Draw” category even with a flush draw and OESD

YahtoNewbie1 posts
Posted Jun 7, 2024, 7:13 AM#41

Hi Lemon,

When do you leave the table when some big stacks stay at your table, cause often those big stacks outbet you ,to get you all in?

Thanks

acesfullNewbie2 posts
Posted Jun 7, 2024, 12:26 PM#42

Nice guide!

One question: what's your take on having complex preflop charts (such as the ones you posted with bet sizes, 3-bet/4-bet actions etc.) at hand during gameplay? Many sites state that it is actually a simple form of RTA, and for example GGPoker doesn't allow any preflop charts (though it's quite impossible to enforce that rule).

Personally, I think that if player notes are allowed, then anything that can be fit into note format should be allowed, and this probably also includes fairly complex preflop action tables (as written text, at least). The question is, when does it get too close to RTA and should not be allowed? It would be nice to hear some thoughts on this.

Edit: I just noticed that you already addressed this in the FAQ.

acesfullNewbie2 posts
Posted Jun 7, 2024, 2:45 PM#43

I dug a bit deeper into this and found that Pokerstars has published a presentation about allowed reference material: cmsstorage.rationalcdn.com/assets/ps/assets/common/downloads/tpt-reference-guide-march-4.pdf (see pages 16-25)

Only charts for unopened pots are allowed. No 3-bet or deeper information is allowed.

santiqwertyNewbie2 posts
Posted Jun 8, 2024, 3:20 AM#44

Hi!!! Thanks for the guide. I have one question. If we checked pre-flop from the BB. What rules do we follow post-flop??

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 13, 2024, 8:41 AM#45

Originally posted by Yahto

Hi Lemon,

When do you leave the table when some big stacks stay at your table, cause often those big stacks outbet you ,to get you all in?

Thanks

A new guide was added in the bankroll management section. The guide works around 100big blinds, some rules, especially about monsters work less well when you start getting deep - for example preflop hands QQ+AK are always monsters in the guide, you re-raise and get it in, at worst it's a relatively small error in some 100bb positions.

but when you are for example three hundreds effective deep with someone, going all in with AK offsuit will spell trouble as your opponents will show up with a really strong range

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 13, 2024, 8:57 AM#46

For the other two, I will have a clear answer after we discuss it with the Godfather with the guide and look at stars T+C closer

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 13, 2024, 7:57 PM#47

Originally posted by acesfull

I dug a bit deeper into this and found that Pokerstars has published a presentation about allowed reference material: cmsstorage.rationalcdn.com/assets/ps/assets/common/downloads/tpt-reference-guide-march-4.pdf (see pages 16-25)

Only charts for unopened pots are allowed. No 3-bet or deeper information is allowed.

You are correct - Stars have tightened the rules - you need to remember the charts by heart. Of course, there's no way they would find out you opened it or especially printed it - but better safe than sorry - better to use charts where it's allowed, and on Stars and GG remember them. A tip is that you can e.g. record your session in for example a screen recorder and then go over it later, seeing where you deviated from the guide

Of course, we don't agree with this policy, as Paxis says

the terms and conditions regarding static charts that do not adapt themselves to the situation are nonsensical. Firstly, such a chart does not automatically make a bad player a good one, after all, he still has to use it correctly and secondly, GG Poker (or Stars) cannot control whether you have a static image open with a chart and certainly cannot control whether you have a chart in printed form on your desk. Therefore, it actually only makes sense to ban dynamic charts, because then a program recognizes the situation and tells you what to do

but you don't want to risk giving a site an excuse to have an issue with you

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 13, 2024, 7:58 PM#48

Originally posted by santiqwerty

Hi!!! Thanks for the guide. I have one question. If we checked pre-flop from the BB. What rules do we follow post-flop??

If we have checked in the BB, then we can just play from the flop as if we had raised before the flop and were the preflop aggressor.

santiqwertyNewbie2 posts
Posted Jun 15, 2024, 9:30 PM#49

Hi everybody! I wrote a python script for fun for the pre-flop strategy. it is still incomplete but i'll share it in case someone wants to help me finish it and improve it.

https://pastebin.com/xphFMDmd

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jun 25, 2024, 8:29 PM#50

Originally posted by santiqwerty

Hi everybody! I wrote a python script for fun for the pre-flop strategy. it is still incomplete but i'll share it in case someone wants to help me finish it and improve it.

https://pastebin.com/xphFMDmd/blockquote >

Damn that's really cool, I know nothing about Python though- how can I view this!

(Also, careful about site T+C! If using it when playing)

lanzikNewbie1 posts
Posted Jul 3, 2024, 6:15 PM#51

Hello,

i have a question about the Min3Bet rule. If i understand it correctly, i can call any hand if i face a min3bet, even i if am out of position. But how do i proceed on the flop if i call min3bet and i am out of position? The post flop guide only mentions how to play when we are in position when we call 3bet.

Thanks!

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jul 4, 2024, 5:52 PM#52

Originally posted by lanzik

Hello,

i have a question about the Min3Bet rule. If i understand it correctly, i can call any hand if i face a min3bet, even i if am out of position. But how do i proceed on the flop if i call min3bet and i am out of position? The post flop guide only mentions how to play when we are in position when we call 3bet.

Thanks!

we will answer it shortly live

20:00 CEST

https://www.twitch.tv/pokerstrategydotcom

SourlyHalfMicro-Stakes Grinder6 posts
Posted Jul 10, 2024, 9:26 AM#53

The SB chart has AJo and KQo as both dark green and red. Could they not be just red, in the same way AQs etc. are?

  • Dark Green is OR & IsoR, so with only folds or limps before me in the SB, I'd Raise (just as I would the Red ones)

  • Red is OR & IsoR & 3-bet & Bluff4-bet OOP (and Fold to further action), so with an OR ahead, I 3-bet, with an OR and 3-bet ahead, I Bluff4-bet.

So I'm not spotting the difference in how I treat AJo and KQo in different situations, in a way that is different from the Red range.

SourlyHalfMicro-Stakes Grinder6 posts
Posted Jul 10, 2024, 10:16 AM#54

Another question, this time with regard to the special rule for 3Bets vs EP, which says (I've edited for brevity) "Against an EP open we 3bet ONLY the MP, ranges i.e., JJ+, AQ+, AJs+, KQs. This applies to all our positions except for the BB. In the BB, we use the normal 3Bet range because it is already tighter than that from the HJ/MP."

We use the MP 3-bet range in all positions bar BB, therefore we use the MP 3-bet range in SB.

The MP 3-bet range is wider than the BB 3-bet range.

Therefore we have a wider 3-bet range vs EP from SB than we do from BB, which sounds counterintuitive.

Am I interpreting this correctly?

StackoffskiRegular32 posts
Posted Jul 10, 2024, 10:32 AM#55

Originally posted by SourlyHalf

... Therefore we have a wider 3-bet range vs EP from SB than we do from BB, which sounds counterintuitive.

Am I interpreting this correctly?

I understand, you close the action in the BB so you could 3bet more. But: it's because you have the choice to call as well in the BB, instead of only 3betting.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jul 12, 2024, 9:50 PM#56

Originally posted by SourlyHalf

The SB chart has AJo and KQo as both dark green and red. Could they not be just red, in the same way AQs etc. are?

  • Dark Green is OR & IsoR, so with only folds or limps before me in the SB, I'd Raise (just as I would the Red ones)

  • Red is OR & IsoR & 3-bet & Bluff4-bet OOP (and Fold to further action), so with an OR ahead, I 3-bet, with an OR and 3-bet ahead, I Bluff4-bet.

So I'm not spotting the difference in how I treat AJo and KQo in different situations, in a way that is different from the Red range.

Yeah they could be, I will check with the author why we have 2 colours

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jul 12, 2024, 9:57 PM#57

Originally posted by SourlyHalf

Another question, this time with regard to the special rule for 3Bets vs EP, which says (I've edited for brevity) "Against an EP open we 3bet ONLY the MP, ranges i.e., JJ+, AQ+, AJs+, KQs. This applies to all our positions except for the BB. In the BB, we use the normal 3Bet range because it is already tighter than that from the HJ/MP."

We use the MP 3-bet range in all positions bar BB, therefore we use the MP 3-bet range in SB.

The MP 3-bet range is wider than the BB 3-bet range.

Therefore we have a wider 3-bet range vs EP from SB than we do from BB, which sounds counterintuitive.

Am I interpreting this correctly?

This is correct - and the reason is that unlike in the small blind, in the big blind we get to call the hands that aren't 3bet. So we get to see the flop there. On the small blind the only alternative is to fold

SourlyHalfMicro-Stakes Grinder6 posts
Posted Jul 13, 2024, 8:10 AM#58

Thanks for the replies, LemOn36. The SB and BB 3-bet ranges explanation makes sense, thanks. As I'm working through the material there are some more questions, hope you don't mind. Two at the moment are:

  1. The raw ranges are sometimes different from the combined pre-flop ranges, for example MP 4-bet bluff range is AQo/s, KQs and AJs (red) in the combined one, but only AQo/s and KQs in the raw one. Same for 4-bet bluff CO, which is either TT, JJ, AQs/o, KQs, AJs (red in combined) or AQo/s and KQo/s (raw). Is the mistake in the raw ranges or the combined pictures? Or am I reading them wrong?

  2. Other than the pocket pair and suited connector special rules, we don't call IP. This means folding 88 on the BU to a single raise, folding hands like TT and smaller, and ATs in MP to a single raise. What is the theory behind this? Is it that we are behind the open-raiser's range with those hands - Sklansky's gap theory - and therefore rely on draws (sets, quads for the pairs; flush for the ATs type hands) and the odds are not favourable vs. one opponent?

Thanks again.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jul 13, 2024, 8:31 AM#59
  1. Combined ranges are up to date - I'll make sure to update the Raw ones too, thanks for pointing it out! We are making improvements to the guide as we go

  2. The guide is designed to be easy to execute and simple for beginners, and works in tandem with the postflop rules. It's not easy to react to squeezes, and multiway postflop rules are a lot stricter/tighter - so we call as little as possible except when defending the big blinds or fishing for monsters vs 2+ players

That's it - that's the primary goal here- simplicity, playability and ease of use and execution for new players.

As you start moving towards NL10 and fine tuning your strategy, calling more preflop can be one of the first adjustments with the strongest hands the guide tells you to fold.

SourlyHalfMicro-Stakes Grinder6 posts
Posted Jul 13, 2024, 8:46 AM#60

Originally posted by LemOn36

  1. Combined ranges are up to date - I'll make sure to update the Raw ones too, thanks for pointing it out! We are making improvements to the guide as we go

  2. The guide is designed to be easy to execute and simple for beginners, and works in tandem with the postflop rules. It's not easy to react to squeezes, and multiway postflop rules are a lot stricter/tighter - so we call as little as possible except when defending the big blinds or fishing for monsters vs 2+ players

As you start moving towards NL10 and fine tuning your strategy, calling more preflop can be one of the first adjustments with the strongest hands the guide tells you to fold.

Appreciate the replies, thanks.

EDIT - One more for today - Are we really happy to go all-in preflop with QQ? Feels that is behind most player's pre-flop all in range.

SourlyHalfMicro-Stakes Grinder6 posts
Posted Jul 14, 2024, 4:34 PM#61

Some more questions for your LemOn36:

  1. Are we really happy to go all-in preflop with QQ? Feels that is behind most player's pre-flop all in range.

  2. The 3-bet IP post-flop rules say what we do if the opponent checks to us, but not what to do if they donk into us. Can we use the same principles as for PFA IP, i.e., raise 3x with monsters, call with made hands up to 2/3 PSB, fold weak hands?

  3. Also in the 3-bet IP post-flop rules, there is a rule for when the opponent check-raises the flop and checks the turn. What if they check-raise the flop and donk on the turn? We'll be close to all-in if the call or raise, so do we just commit with any made hand (and obviously monsters)? I realise this will be nuanced if we consider their HUD stats and player type, and try to put them on a range, but for the sake of the rule-based beginner's guide, do we just commit?

  4. On reflection of Q3 above and the normal turn/river rule for 3-bet IP, why does the flop check-raise rule exist, since whatever the flop action was, if we are still in the hand on the turn, we bet 2/3 PSB on the turn when they check to us anyway? Minor point, but thought I'd check if I'm missing a detail.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Jul 15, 2024, 2:21 PM#62

Since I just looked in here anyway, I'll answer the questions

Originally posted by SourlyHalf

Some more questions for your LemOn36:

Spoiler

  1. Are we really happy to go all-in preflop with QQ? Feels that is behind most player's pre-flop all in range.

  2. The 3-bet IP post-flop rules say what we do if the opponent checks to us, but not what to do if they donk into us. Can we use the same principles as for PFA IP, i.e., raise 3x with monsters, call with made hands up to 2/3 PSB, fold weak hands?

  3. Also in the 3-bet IP post-flop rules, there is a rule for when the opponent check-raises the flop and checks the turn. What if they check-raise the flop and donk on the turn? We'll be close to all-in if the call or raise, so do we just commit with any made hand (and obviously monsters)? I realise this will be nuanced if we consider their HUD stats and player type, and try to put them on a range, but for the sake of the rule-based beginner's guide, do we just commit?

  4. On reflection of Q3 above and the normal turn/river rule for 3-bet IP, why does the flop check-raise rule exist, since whatever the flop action was, if we are still in the hand on the turn, we bet 2/3 PSB on the turn when they check to us anyway? Minor point, but thought I'd check if I'm missing a detail.

1.)

In most cases where the strategy calls for this, yes. There was already speculation in 2008 about whether this makes sense.

But that is mostly a matter of subjective perception. Because people mainly remember the cases where they go all in with QQ preflop and then lose.

You must not forget that the situation where we play a 4bet with QQ and the opponents simply fold brings us variance-free money and should be included in the situations to find out whether it is profitable.

2.)

There is a rule about donk bets and it applies to the raised, just like the 3bet and 4bet pot.

Spoiler Special Rule - Donkbet: If you were the aggressor on the previous street, but an opponent leads into you on flop/turn/river anyways before you had the chance to act, you call up to his 2/3 PSB with Made Hands with one exception: Monsters. Monsters will be raised to 3x of the opponent's lead bet, regardless of the donkbet size.

3.)

If your opponent check/raise the flop, he can't donk the turn. Because he has the initiative. It is only a donk without initiative.

If you continue to play strictly according to the beginner's strategy, on the turn you call your made hands further down, or go all in if a call leaves too little remaining stack.

With a monster you raise anyway.

4.)

We have written down how we continue to play on the turn after the opponent checks to us if he played check/raise on the flop, so that beginners can see straight away how to continue.

Otherwise they will have to look up how they should continue to play in the 3bet pot on the turn if the opponent had the initiative.

SourlyHalfMicro-Stakes Grinder6 posts
Posted Jul 15, 2024, 2:33 PM#63

Originally posted by Paxis

Since I just looked in here anyway, I'll answer the questions

All makes sense and appreciate the response, thank you.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jul 22, 2024, 12:03 AM#64

Thanks to the godfather for answering while I was being a live poker donkey ♦

VeniVidiViciNewbie2 posts
Posted Aug 1, 2024, 6:28 AM#65

Hi! Thanks for the guide! 👍👍

I have a question, may be a dumb one, but... Do we only get to call an open raise when we are in the big blind and also, according to the special rules, in some situations with pocket pair and suited connectors? Otherwise, we 3bet or fold?

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Aug 1, 2024, 10:04 AM#66

Originally posted by VeniVidiVici

Hi! Thanks for the guide! 👍👍

I have a question, may be a dumb one, but... Do we only get to call an open raise when we are in the big blind and also, according to the special rules, in some situations with pocket pair and suited connectors? Otherwise, we 3bet or fold?

That is correct!

VeniVidiViciNewbie2 posts
Posted Aug 1, 2024, 7:10 PM#67

Originally posted by LemOn36

That is correct!

Thanks, Coach!

shooshteNewbie3 posts
Posted Oct 18, 2024, 6:02 PM#68

Hey, a question about post-flop play that is not answered as far as I can tell. Does the flop/turn containing potential for hands that beat us change the way we play monsters and made hands?

For example we have a straight but the turn completes a flush draw, do we still consider our hand a monster and shove to a re-raise?

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Nov 5, 2024, 12:02 PM#69

Sorry that it took so long for a reply. I hope you're still here.

To your question:

It depends a little on the situation. The beginners' course gives a general game plan that is profitable on average. But of course there can be situations where deviating from it increases profitability.

If you have a straight on the flop and a possible flush comes on the turn, you often still have a monster and can continue to play aggressively. After all, your opponent can have many worse monsters. For example, sets, 2 pairs, top pairs with a flush or straight draw, etc.

Not playing the straight on the turn as a monster would be a mistake in most cases. Because opponents at the small limits can raise their supposedly strong hands on the turn and go all in. So it's usually good if you continue to treat your straight like a monster.

If you're not sure in a situation like this, then take the hand, share it with us in the forum and get advice from players who are more experienced

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Nov 10, 2024, 11:24 PM#70

11.11.2024 Changelog updated: the button chart has changed - we are iso raising J9s/Q9s/K9s on the button - same as on CO

New chart:

11.11.2024 Added Note under SB: The hands AJo/KQo are marked green/red because we only play them as a 3bet against a steal in front of us - i.e. when the cut-off or button raises first at the table. We also play Bluff4Bet with these hands when the big blind 3bets are against us.

11.11.2021 new clarification/special rule added: Unraised Pot (Nobody raised before the flop): If we are sitting in the big blind and get to the flop for free because nobody raised before us, then we continue playing from the flop exactly as described in point "Step 2.1.2: You raised before the flop (Raised Pot) and are playing Out Of Position (OOP)"!

ZimoAXNewbie3 posts
Posted Nov 18, 2024, 10:43 PM#71

Hi guys, thanks for the hard work.

I have a question ‘bout SB chart:

Why is the 3-bet range orange and not light blu..?

Are hands like JTs / QTs / 99 raised vs all position (except LJ) or are these raised only vs a steal..?

I ask because on BB and BTN charts ora he is a 3-ber only vs a steal.

Thanks again for your time, keep up the good work 💪🏻

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted Nov 21, 2024, 7:25 PM#72

Can I please get some feedback on this hand? I really feel I'm beat 99% of the time on NL2 when they bet this big on the river.

I didn't bet the turn because I didn't want to create a very big pot with just top pair, but based on the result I guess it didn't really matter.

taavi1337Regular86 posts
Posted Nov 22, 2024, 11:37 AM#73

vs reg i love to slowplay those and flat pre. if you 3bet pre, your hand is pretty much face up (77+, AJs+). i would try to call him down w tptk to make him bluff. that is my personal opinion which i know is not popular to coach.

ZimoAXNewbie3 posts
Posted Nov 22, 2024, 3:44 PM#74

Well, I’m sure it’s +EV 3-betting AQo on that spot.

But I think we should do some thinking process when we get a 4-bet.

Low Stakes there’s not so much space for a 4-bet bluff in their ranges (unless you have some infos: for sure there are some gamblers among the field)

Anyway you could imagine his 4-bet range is something like JJ+ AQ+.. I mean most of the times you’re not good on this flop when you got called on 7KAr: JJ TT QQ are probably gonna fold.

That said, AA-KK-AK are on the other hand monsters hands that MP wants to check on this board. With a bet you make him call only with better hands that AQ (or maybe AQ as a mirror match if you’re pretty lucky..) and you make fold hands like TT JJ QQ KQs..

So I think you want to check back on that flop, check back turn and maybe you may think about calling one single bet on the River as a bluff catcher vs certain players. That's because the oppo has a range advantage and nut advantage (he has more nuts then you on his range: AA / KK / AK that you shouldn't have because you just called pre flop.

As played anyway, I think it’s a pretty straight forward fold on the River, because I don't think many players would turn hands like AQ /AJ / QQ as bluff pushing river after calling on the flop.

IMHO of course ^^

ZimoAXNewbie3 posts
Posted Nov 22, 2024, 3:52 PM#75

Plus, sticking to this beginner strategy we don’t have a 4-bet call range.. 🤔

MeanGreenMicro-Stakes Grinder12 posts
Posted Nov 27, 2024, 1:47 PM#76

Thanks for the comments!

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Nov 28, 2024, 9:30 PM#77

Sorry that the answer is taking so long again, but Lem0n36 is very busy at the moment and I am not regularly active in the English area. I am actually from the German community.

Originally posted by ZimoAX

Hi guys, thanks for the hard work.

I have a question ‘bout SB chart:

Why is the 3-bet range orange and not light blu..?

Are hands like JTs / QTs / 99 raised vs all position (except LJ) or are these raised only vs a steal..?

I ask because on BB and BTN charts ora he is a 3-ber only vs a steal.

Thanks again for your time, keep up the good work 💪🏻

To be honest, I don't remember why we suddenly chose orange instead of blue for 3Bet in the SB. But that doesn't change how we play the hands

The hands mentioned are a 3bet against any position (except LJ), regardless of whether it was a steal or not.

Yes, in the BB the hands are not played as 3Bets because it is more profitable to just call them. So they are not folded in the BB either. But in the SB we don't want to call because there is another player coming after us, so we don't finish the action and because we haven't invested as much money as in the BB.

Due to the big blind that we have already paid in the BB, it is more profitable for us to call many hands there.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Nov 28, 2024, 9:35 PM#78

Originally posted by MeanGreen

Can I please get some feedback on this hand? I really feel I'm beat 99% of the time on NL2 when they bet this big on the river.

I didn't bet the turn because I didn't want to create a very big pot with just top pair, but based on the result I guess it didn't really matter.

Spoiler

I would recommend that you play according to the beginner's strategy. If you had played according to this, you would not have been allowed to call preflop against your opponent's 4bet. Your 3bet was correct, but your opponent will almost only 4bet with better hands, so we just want to fold.

This also makes postflop play unnecessary, because you cannot get into that situation. Everything else is no longer a beginner's strategy.

From an advanced point of view, however, you must check the flop and must never bet it. Your opponent has the range advantage, not you. Your opponent should have AA/KK/AK in the range and thus the monsters on the flop. You should not have these hands in the range, because you usually 5bet them against a 4bet before the flop, or go all in.

So you must check the flop.

shooshteNewbie3 posts
Posted Dec 17, 2024, 9:16 AM#79

Hey, question about 3-betting vs steals and 4-bet bluffs. How do we play these hands when we get called and hit post-flop?

An example of this would be this hand:

GG Poker - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Hero (BTN): 104.5 BB

SB: 110 BB

BB: 100 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

UTG: 102.5 BB

MP: 90.5 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

CO: 206.5 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♦ 2♦

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 6 BB

Flop: (19.5 BB, 2 players) 7♦ 6♦ K♣

CO checks, Hero bets 6.5 BB, CO calls 6.5 BB

Turn: (32.5 BB, 2 players) 9♣

CO checks, Hero bets 21.5 BB, CO raises to 191 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 67.5 BB and is all-in

River: (210.5 BB, 2 players) 8♦

CO shows J♦ T♦ (Flush, Jack High)

(Pre 44%, Flop 22%, Turn 27%)

Hero shows A♦ 2♦ (Flush, Ace High)

(Pre 56%, Flop 78%, Turn 73%)

Hero wins 206 BB

Playing according to the strategy (if I understand correctly), I have a made hand (flush draw), so I should be calling the turn shove. But I don't think that calling is the correct play here, at least not when thinking the hand trough.

Is playing these hands post-flop too advanced for this beginner strategy or is there a "simple" way to evaluate playing post-flop?

shooshteNewbie3 posts
Posted Dec 17, 2024, 9:24 AM#80

Another example of getting called after a 4-bet bluff for my previous question:

GG Poker - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

BTN: 100.5 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)

SB: 88.5 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)

BB: 410.5 BB

UTG: 101 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)

MP: 117.5 BB

Hero (CO): 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♣ J♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, BTN raises to 7.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 22.5 BB, BTN calls 15 BB

Flop: (46.5 BB, 2 players) 4♦ 3♥ T♠

Hero bets 23 BB, BTN calls 23 BB

Turn: (92.5 BB, 2 players) 9♦

Hero bets 46 BB, BTN raises to 55 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 9 BB

River: (202.5 BB, 2 players) 7♠

BTN shows K♠ K♥ (One Pair, Kings)

(Pre 81%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)

Hero shows J♣ J♦ (One Pair, Jacks)

(Pre 19%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)

BTN wins 198 BB

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Dec 17, 2024, 1:33 PM#81

Originally posted by shooshte

Hey, question about 3-betting vs steals and 4-bet bluffs. How do we play these hands when we get called and hit post-flop?

Spoiler An example of this would be this hand:

GG Poker - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Hero (BTN): 104.5 BB

SB: 110 BB

BB: 100 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

UTG: 102.5 BB

MP: 90.5 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

CO: 206.5 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♦ 2♦

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 6 BB

Flop: (19.5 BB, 2 players) 7♦ 6♦ K♣

CO checks, Hero bets 6.5 BB, CO calls 6.5 BB

Turn: (32.5 BB, 2 players) 9♣

CO checks, Hero bets 21.5 BB, CO raises to 191 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 67.5 BB and is all-in

River: (210.5 BB, 2 players) 8♦

CO shows J♦ T♦ (Flush, Jack High)

(Pre 44%, Flop 22%, Turn 27%)

Hero shows A♦ 2♦ (Flush, Ace High)

(Pre 56%, Flop 78%, Turn 73%)

Hero wins 206 BB

Playing according to the strategy (if I understand correctly), I have a made hand (flush draw), so I should be calling the turn shove. But I don't think that calling is the correct play here, at least not when thinking the hand trough.

Is playing these hands post-flop too advanced for this beginner strategy or is there a "simple" way to evaluate playing post-flop?

Hello shooshte, in the future please don't leave any results in your hands. That only leads to result-oriented evaluation, which we don't need

To A2s

Spoiler Preflop/Flop

Correct beginners play!

Turn

Now it gets a bit more complicated, so let's start at the beginning. Your 2/3 bet is correct. But your call is wrong according to the original strategy. There is a mistake in the English strategy. I don't know how it got in there, but it's good that we've discovered it now.

In the English text there is no maximum for a call with a draw, but in the German original there is. It says:

If an opponent raises, we call every hand from the "made hand" category on the turn, if the raise comes on the river we go all in. Draws on the turn are only called if the raise is not greater than 2.5x.

As you can see, according to the original strategy you should have folded because the raise is greater than 2.5x.

You need about 33% equity to call here, which you are unlikely to have against a logical opponent's range consisting of top pairs, straights, 2 pairs, sets and strong draws.

Ps.:

I will then immediately remove the error in the English strategy text.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Dec 17, 2024, 1:45 PM#82

Originally posted by shooshte

Another example of getting called after a 4-bet bluff for my previous question:

Spoiler

GG Poker - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players

BTN: 100.5 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)

SB: 88.5 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)

BB: 410.5 BB

UTG: 101 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)

MP: 117.5 BB

Hero (CO): 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♣ J♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, BTN raises to 7.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 22.5 BB, BTN calls 15 BB

Flop: (46.5 BB, 2 players) 4♦ 3♥ T♠

Hero bets 23 BB, BTN calls 23 BB

Turn: (92.5 BB, 2 players) 9♦

Hero bets 46 BB, BTN raises to 55 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 9 BB

River: (202.5 BB, 2 players) 7♠

BTN shows K♠ K♥ (One Pair, Kings)

(Pre 81%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)

Hero shows J♣ J♦ (One Pair, Jacks)

(Pre 19%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)

BTN wins 198 BB

To JJ

Spoiler Preflop

Correct beginner play!

Flop

And there I found the next mistake. Your bet is correct according to the English text, but not according to the original strategy, which says:

If we play OOP and only have one opponent, then we bet for 1/3 of the pot with each made hand.

So you should have only bet 1/3 of the pot here. Since our range in the 4Bet pot is so strong, we generally only want to bet 1/3 with made hands, even against more than one opponent. I will also remove this mistake.

Turn

Not played correctly according to beginner strategy. On the turn we bet 2/3 pot size. Since the opponent only has 55bb left anyway, we would simply have to go all in here. In general, it is not a problem to go all in here with JJ. Nowadays, players call against a 4-bet with sufficiently weak hands, especially if they are playing in position themselves. Therefore, we cannot get out of the hand with an overpair like JJ.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Dec 17, 2024, 2:01 PM#83

I have now removed two mistakes from the English strategy text.

At "Step 3.1.1: You've reraised preflop (Reraised/3Bet Pot) and are playing In Position!"

The turn/river now says:

Regardless of the number of opponents, we only bet hands from the Made Hand category for 2/3 pot or go All In - depending on the remaining stack and pot size. Everything worse is played Check/Fold. If an opponent raises, we go all in, except with draws. Draws on the turn are only called if the raise is not greater than 2.5x.

And at "Step 4.1.2: You've reraised against a 3Bet (4Bet) and are playing Out Of Position!" I changed the wrong betsize to the right one on the flop:

If playing Out Of Position (OOP) with only one opponent, we bet 1/3 PSB with every Made Hand. If the opponent raises, we go All In with every hand from the "Made Hand" category. Worse hands are folded.

We check/fold our bluffing/worthless hands except on boards with or :Kx:, those are also Cbet to 1/3 PSB with our worthless hands.

taavi1337Regular86 posts
Posted Dec 17, 2024, 6:45 PM#84

in the future please don't leave any results in your hands. That only leads to result-oriented evaluation, which we don't need

Also we don't have that post-showdown information at the moment when we have to make that decision in question. So I think it is more relevant and more similar to the real gameplay moment, if we leave the results out, when posting hands for review.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Dec 18, 2024, 7:14 PM#85

Yes, good point

_Anonymous_Shark178 posts
Posted Dec 27, 2024, 10:04 PM#86

I just wanted to leave a post here so that I can find the thread more easily.

This strategy works so well on the small limits. I refer anyone on the internet who has problems to the beginners course from pokerstrategy. Unfortunately, many people don't want to know anything about it and just laugh at the topic. Instead, total beginners buy gtowizzard or expensive courses and rarely get any further with them.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Dec 29, 2024, 6:44 PM#87

To be honest, I can understand that to some extent. Our course is free, we have videos that say how good they are, etc.

If you really have no idea about the topic, then at first it sounds like the typical clickbait money-making strategies - "Use our free stock crash course to generate 5-digit sums within a few months!"

And things like that are usually rubbish and then demand money through the back door somewhere.

For someone who doesn't play poker, it's not really obvious that it's not like that with us and that the things we claim are true

Of course, we're not saying that you can make big money with the course. We're just saying that if you follow the course correctly, you can beat the beginner limits in online poker cash games. And that it's simply a good introduction to strategic play.

DesertStingrayNewbie1 posts
Posted Jan 25, 2025, 11:34 AM#88

There seem to be several differences between the condensed pre-flop ranges and the

raw preflop ranges.

For example what we should call on the button facing a 3bet:

PREFLOP RANGES - INDIVIDUAL

Call BU vs 3Bet IP

I'm not sure how important these differences are but it would be nice if there were no contradictions.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jan 25, 2025, 8:53 PM#89

Originally posted by DesertStingray

There seem to be several differences between the condensed pre-flop ranges and the

raw preflop ranges.

For example what we should call on the button facing a 3bet:

PREFLOP RANGES - INDIVIDUAL

Call BU vs 3Bet IP

I'm not sure how important these differences are but it would be nice if there were no contradictions.

Heyo DesertStingray these "Raw" Ranges are older ones - I will remove them when we do a chart update in a week or two with the minor tweaks from the OG German Guide

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Jan 28, 2025, 4:08 PM#90

The ranges have been refreshed with minor tweaks and fixes!

ACM1986Newbie4 posts
Posted Feb 1, 2025, 10:00 AM#91

Someone help with this hand. He gave me too much odds in the river, i payed because of it. But now i am thinking i was on a trap.

Obs: Whats is the best way to post hands from GGPoker here?

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Feb 3, 2025, 12:27 AM#92

Hello ACM1986, I don't know how best to put GGPoker hands here. But the picture of the hand isn't a bad start.

About AKo:

Preflop

Not played correctly according to beginner strategy. In position we play a 3bet to 3x, not to 2.5x. So you should have raised to 45c here.

Flop/Turn

Played correctly according to beginner strategy!

River

Not played correctly according to beginner strategy. A high is not a made hand and is therefore folded against a bet.

But since the bet is very small and you only have to be ahead in ~14% of cases, against this small bet, if you take the rake into account, your deviation from the strategy is absolutely correctly played.

Your opponent can only have A high here, or sometimes with JTs an OESD that didn't arrive. On the flop, he may have called smaller pocket pairs like 55/66 and you are ahead against that too, on the river.

Well played!

ACM1986Newbie4 posts
Posted Feb 4, 2025, 2:19 PM#93

Here i know that i had to raise turn, acording to the strategy. But with flush and straight on the board i thought that the raise would isolated this hands. So i called to keep bluffs and semibluff to call again river. But with this river i had to fold. Even with this board is better raise/shove turn?

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Feb 6, 2025, 5:00 PM#94

Hello, sorry for the late reply to your hand. I'm usually active in the German community, but I'm still trying to help Lem0n out here.

About QJo:

Preflop/Flop

Played correctly according to beginner strategy!

Turn

Your bet is of course correct, as there are still plenty of worse hands, such as top pairs, flush draws, or combo draws (for example JT) calling you.

The opponent's raise is a strange amount of only double, but your adjustment is still correct here. It's better to just call. Any set, flush, or straight beats us. Even if he has a flush draw or combo draw in the range every now and then, we're behind against his range, which he would continue to play as soon as we 3bet.

Better to call and draw cheaply to our full house.

River

As every heart card beats us now, including the hands already mentioned, the fold is absolutely correct.

Well played!

ACM1986Newbie4 posts
Posted Feb 6, 2025, 8:24 PM#95

Thanks Paxis, really helpfull.

A question about the strategy:

Step 3.1.2: You've reraised preflop (Reraised/3Bet Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!

Flop vs 1 Opponent

If playing Out Of Position (OOP) against only one opponent, we bet 1/2 PSB with every Made Hand. If the opponent raises, then we call every made hand. We call draws only if the raise is not greater than 3x. If the opponent checks the turn after raising the flop, we bet for 2/3 PSB with our made hands on the river and go all in against further resistance.


We are out of position here and we cbet with made hand and oponent raise us 2x, then we call. On turn with made hand we bet again? Check? If we bet and he raises us, do we call?

ACM1986Newbie4 posts
Posted Feb 6, 2025, 8:29 PM#96

Do i call this river?

When i have a Top Pair and the board has double cards, my hand is still a made hand or it turn into a worthless hand?

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Feb 9, 2025, 7:07 PM#97

Originally posted by ACM1986

Spoiler Thanks Paxis, really helpfull.

A question about the strategy:

Step 3.1.2: You've reraised preflop (Reraised/3Bet Pot) and are playing Out Of Position!

Flop vs 1 Opponent

If playing Out Of Position (OOP) against only one opponent, we bet 1/2 PSB with every Made Hand. If the opponent raises, then we call every made hand. We call draws only if the raise is not greater than 3x. If the opponent checks the turn after raising the flop, we bet for 2/3 PSB with our made hands on the river and go all in against further resistance.


We are out of position here and we cbet with made hand and oponent raise us 2x, then we call. On turn with made hand we bet again? Check? If we bet and he raises us, do we call?

As soon as the initiative changes, you must continue to play the hand as the strategy dictates when the opponent has the initiative. This usually means that you check to the opponent if you have only called before and do not bet again immediately.

In the 3Bet pot you can follow "Step 3.2.1: You've called preflop against a re-raise (Also called a 3Bet) and are playing In Position!". This describes the game when the opponent is OOP, but you would play made hands, that are not monsters, for example on the turn as Call up to 2/3 pot. So the standard way of playing in your example would be that we first play Check/Call for 2/3 pot.

Of course you can always adapt to the situation and consider whether your hand strength is still good enough against the opponent's range to call again for 2/3 pot.

The opponents will not bet on the turn every time either.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Feb 9, 2025, 7:27 PM#98

Originally posted by ACM1986

Do i call this river?

Spoiler When i have a Top Pair and the board has double cards, my hand is still a made hand or it turn into a worthless hand?

To JTo

Preflop/Flop/Turn

Played correctly according to beginner strategy!

River

We have a 2 pair in such a case. But we have to look at it in context and simply evaluate it as a top pair. Of course only if our pair is higher than the pair on the board.

In this case, if you follow the donk rule, it would be correct to call up to 2/3 pot. However, I would rather look at the rule that tells us up to what amount we can call on the river if the opponent has the initiative and bets the river. That would only be 1/2 pot size.

Our J is not a super strong top pair because we only have the T as a kicker. On average, we cannot call profitably way above 1/2 pot size. Up to 1/2 pot, but should still be a profitable call. The opponent can still have J9/J8/J7s. Every now and then he bluffs A/K high,with which he doesn't know how to continue playing on the river.

If your opponent bets 1/2 pot, this automatically means that you need 25% equity, ignoring the rake. So you only need to be ahead 25% of the time for your call to be profitable. If we add the rake, it should be ~27%. As you can see, you don't really need to be ahead very often for this to be a good call.

So you should have called on the river here.

Maple33Newbie1 posts
Posted Feb 13, 2025, 6:36 AM#99

Is this strategy possible in tournaments? Or only cash games? And is it useable in 9max tables instead of 6max?

I’ve been using it online 6max cash games and it’s been amaaaazing! But my friends want to do live tourneys and they also use 9max. Is this strategy still viable?

VorpalF2FShark242 posts
Posted Feb 13, 2025, 7:13 PM#100

Originally posted by Maple33

Is this strategy possible in tournaments? Or only cash games? And is it useable in 9max tables instead of 6max?

I’ve been using it online 6max cash games and it’s been amaaaazing! But my friends want to do live tourneys and they also use 9max. Is this strategy still viable?

Hi Maple33,

Welcome to PokerStrategy.com

As you play an MTT, you go from playing a 100BB strategy, to hopefully playing a deep-stack strategy. If not, you're playing a mid-stack strategy, then worst-come-to-worst a short stack strategy.

There are other factors like ICM to consider in tournaments as well.

You learn the fundamentals playing cash games, to be sure, but the big money is in tournaments, and live is a whole different ball game.

Tournaments can be a fun social event, or they can be long and tedious, and a pain in the back.

Try a few.

Cheers,

VS

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Feb 14, 2025, 2:21 PM#101

Originally posted by Maple33

Is this strategy possible in tournaments? Or only cash games? And is it useable in 9max tables instead of 6max?

I’ve been using it online 6max cash games and it’s been amaaaazing! But my friends want to do live tourneys and they also use 9max. Is this strategy still viable?

No, unfortunately the strategy doesn't work for tournaments. That's because the stack in tournaments is constantly falling and rising and you can't just buy back up to 100bb or change tables. Tournaments are also referred to as different game phases. Early game, mid game, late game. The strategy in the phases is different and also linked to the number of big blinds in your stack.

In addition, a chip is not always worth the same. That has something to do with when you start getting money in the tournament, i.e. when you are "in the money", and other factors.

The strategy isn't designed for 9max tables either. You're missing the first 3 positions in the charts. You can try to play the beginner's strategy again at the Lo Jack. In general, however, the dynamics are different at a 9max table. And as I said, as soon as you play a tournament, the number of opponents doesn't matter, because the strategy won't work there.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Mar 13, 2025, 8:43 PM#102

Here are the statistical values ​​and winnings from a user from the German community:

He writes:

This is basically 95% beginner-level strategy. A mistake here and there, a stupid call, a stupid raise, etc. But that shouldn't be too significant. The leak tracker in PT4 doesn't show me anything that would suggest I should change anything.

A 4bb win rate after EV on NL 5 is already very good for a beginner strategy, and the 8bb on NL 2 is insane.

There may still be variance in the win rate, but it still shows what a successful strategy we've put together.

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted May 18, 2025, 5:56 PM#103

Hey guys, the ranges have been updated - we are now defending a lot wider against the Small Blind in the Big Blind!

KlausF002Newbie1 posts
Posted Jul 3, 2025, 8:38 AM#104

Interessant, dass 9-max eine ganz andere Strategie erfordert wegen der vielen Positionen. Für mich ist 6-max dynamischer und übersichtlicher, aber ich würde gern mal angepasste Ranges für 9-max sehen. Gibt es da irgendwelche Empfehlungen?

taavi1337Regular86 posts
Posted Jul 3, 2025, 11:25 AM#105

Yeah, folded 53s, shouldve looked at chart.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Jul 3, 2025, 3:53 PM#106

Originally posted by KlausF002

Interessant, dass 9-max eine ganz andere Strategie erfordert wegen der vielen Positionen. Für mich ist 6-max dynamischer und übersichtlicher, aber ich würde gern mal angepasste Ranges für 9-max sehen. Gibt es da irgendwelche Empfehlungen?

Hallo, du bist im englischen Forum, hier kommst du zum Einsteigerthema der deutschen Community, stell da deine Frage am besten noch mal

https://www.pokerstrategy.com/de/forum/thread.php?postid=21276163

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Aug 13, 2025, 5:02 PM#107

We changed the strategy for the situation, where we are the preflop aggressor and are playing Out Of Position:

Step 2.1.2: You raised preflop (raised pot) and are playing out of position (OOP)!

Flop

Worthless hands are checked/folded.

With any strong draw or monster, we check/raise to 3x. Against another raise, we call strong draws up to 2.5x, and with monsters, we go all in.

All other made hands are checked/called up to 3/4 pot.

Turn

Worthless hands are checked/folded.

If we don't have the initiative: With any strong draw or monster, we check/raise to 3x. Against another raise, we call strong draws up to 2.5x, and with monsters, we go all in.

All other made hands are checked/called up to 2/3 pot.

If we have the initiative, or all players have checked on the flop: We bet for 2/3 of the pot with every made hand. Against a raise, we call strong draws up to 2.5x, and with monsters, we raise to 3x.

River

Worthless hands are checked/folded.

If we don't have the initiative: We bet every monster directly for 2/3 of the pot; against a raise, we raise to 3x. Against another raise, we go all in.

All other made hands are checked/called up to 1/2 of the pot.

If we have the initiative, or all players have checked on the turn: We bet for 2/3 of the pot with every made hand. Against a raise, we raise to 3x with monsters and go all in against another raise.

You can allready find the change in the postflop article.

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Aug 26, 2025, 9:09 AM#109

Nice and thx

PallandoNewbie1 posts
Posted Oct 6, 2025, 2:09 PM#110

Just wanted to show my appreciation for this guide! It had been over 8 years since I last played poker / followed it consistently. When picking it up again this summer I was looking for something exactly like this guide; a solid basis regarding hand selection, post flop strategy and bet sizing. After reading the guide, memorising the hand chart and watching the accompanying videos I felt ready to pick up online cash games again - and it is safe to say that my enjoyment so far has greatly benefited from this content.

After getting familiair with the nuances on 2NL, I have moved to 5NL and have found the guide to be a formidable foundation for my play there. It is of course still a small sample size but after 3k hands my all in EV is 14BB/100 with my actual winning far exceeding this. This is most probably due to running hot of course but I don't think capitalising on this hot streak would have been possible for me without this guide.

Thanks guys - will def be using it for the foreseeable future!

LemOn36Regular51 posts
Posted Oct 12, 2025, 10:19 AM#111

Originally posted by Pallando

Just wanted to show my appreciation for this guide! It had been over 8 years since I last played poker / followed it consistently. When picking it up again this summer I was looking for something exactly like this guide; a solid basis regarding hand selection, post flop strategy and bet sizing. After reading the guide, memorising the hand chart and watching the accompanying videos I felt ready to pick up online cash games again - and it is safe to say that my enjoyment so far has greatly benefited from this content.

After getting familiair with the nuances on 2NL, I have moved to 5NL and have found the guide to be a formidable foundation for my play there. It is of course still a small sample size but after 3k hands my all in EV is 14BB/100 with my actual winning far exceeding this. This is most probably due to running hot of course but I don't think capitalising on this hot streak would have been possible for me without this guide.

Thanks guys - will def be using it for the foreseeable future!

It's amazing to hear! Don't forget that you will inevitably encounter some dips along the way - that's poker. Make sure to keep us updated!

PoldiNewbie1 posts
Posted Oct 21, 2025, 10:23 PM#112

Hello, could you check it this hand

FLOP acording strategy is really FOLD ? Against DONK bet max call 2/3 POT ? Including hand like QQ+ ?

NL Holdem 0.10(BB)

HERO ($10.24) [VPIP: 27.6% | PFR: 22.8% | AGG: 39.9% | Flop Agg: 51.5% | Turn Agg: 36.8% | River Agg: 24.7% | 3Bet: 9.4% | 4Bet: 11.1% | Hands: 6335]

SB ($10.46) [VPIP: 22.5% | PFR: 20% | AGG: 26.3% | Hands: 81]

BB ($7.30) [VPIP: 21.9% | PFR: 17.8% | AGG: 34.6% | Flop Agg: 40% | Turn Agg: 50% | River Agg: 20% | 3Bet: 17.1% | 4Bet: 50% | Cold Call: 7.9% | Hands: 77]

UTG ($14.22) [VPIP: 29.5% | PFR: 26.2% | AGG: 39.3% | Hands: 61]

HJ ($16.03) [VPIP: 26.7% | PFR: 24.2% | AGG: 42.3% | Hands: 121]

CO ($11.78) [VPIP: 23.9% | PFR: 21.6% | AGG: 48.8% | Hands: 183]

Dealt to Hero: Q♣ Q♠

UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Folds, HERO Raises To $0.25, SB Folds, BB Calls $0.15

Hero SPR on Flop: [12.82 effective]

Flop ($0.55): T♣ 7♣ 5♥

BB Bets $0.53 (Rem. Stack: $6.52), HERO Calls $0.53 (Rem. Stack: $9.46)

Turn ($1.61): T♣ 7♣ 5♥ 4♦

BB Bets $1.53 (Rem. Stack: $4.99), HERO Calls $1.53 (Rem. Stack: $7.93)

River ($4.67): T♣ 7♣ 5♥ 4♦ 3♠

BB Bets $3.33 (Rem. Stack: $1.66), HERO Calls $3.33 (Rem. Stack: $4.60)

Spoiler

BB shows: T♠ 7♠

BB wins: $10.77

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Oct 24, 2025, 11:56 AM#113

Hello, I'm from the German community and therefore don't check in here very often.

In the future, if anyone here is reading along and wants to discuss hands according to the beginner strategy, they are welcome to use the hand evaluation thread from the German community and simply post there in English. That way I'll see the hands directly and can respond more quickly.

German Hand Evaluation Thread (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/de/forum/thread.php?postid=21322067)

@Poldi (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/participant/poldi/)

In the future, please don't include the results in the hand analysis, not even as a spoiler. That can lead to results-oriented analysis, which we don't want.

And are you playing according to the beginner strategy? As I see, this is NL 10. The beginner strategy is designed for limits NL 2 up to and including NL 5. At NL 10, you should already be a bit more advanced for NL 10.

Regarding QQ

Flop

Not played correctly according to the beginner strategy! If the opponent donk bets, i.e., bets before it's your turn, even though you were the preflop aggressor, then we only call up to 2/3 of the pot with any made hand that isn't a monster. A monster starts from two pair+.

Here you only have an overpair, which is not a monster. So it would have been correct to fold directly against this large bet size.

The larger the opponents bet in such cases, the higher the probability that they are doing this with hands that are stronger than a top pair, or as in this case, an overpair.

He could hold 55, 77, TT, T7s, T5s in the big blind preflop. He then plays the sets and two pairs so aggressively because he's afraid of the flush and straight draws.

Even if he occasionally holds a strong draw himself, we are already behind with our QQ against the possible range, i.e., all the hands he could play like that. Therefore, this is a fold against this bet size.

Turn

As played, this is also not played correctly on the turn according to beginner strategy. If we ignore the flop and only consider the turn, we would also only call up to 2/3 pot size here according to beginner strategy. The opponent bets significantly larger again, and we have to fold here. Same reasoning as on the flop.

Especially in this case, it should also be noted that our call on the flop was already a mistake. The opponent now bets very large twice, which is an easy fold on the turn. With 86, a completed straight is also possible, which he could be holding.

River

Just like on the flop and turn, you should have folded here according to beginner strategy. The beginner strategy only calls up to 1/2 pot size on the river. But since we should have already given up on the flop and turn, this only reinforces the reasoning that we are definitely behind against the possible hands with which the opponent is playing like this. Fold!


I would recommend that you play at a lower limit and work through and apply the beginner strategy; then you would have played this hand correctly, for example.

If you have any further questions, just ask.

VorpalF2FShark242 posts
Posted Oct 24, 2025, 4:17 PM#114

Originally posted by Paxis

Hello, I'm from the German community and therefore don't check in here very often.

In the future, if anyone here is reading along and wants to discuss hands according to the beginner strategy, they are welcome to use the hand evaluation thread from the German community and simply post there in English. That way I'll see the hands directly and can respond more quickly.

Thanks for the invitation!

PaxisMicro-Stakes Grinder20 posts
Posted Oct 24, 2025, 8:25 PM#115

You are welcome.

FourDeNewbie1 posts
Posted Jan 29, 2026, 12:25 PM#116

Hello everybody!

I have been trying this beginner strategy now for a couple of weeks and it seems quite nice! Here is one hand which came to me yesterday on NL5 in 888 poker.

In my opinion everything went okay untill river, when I made some mistakes and also was confused with the board. Technically I had a monster, but in paired and 3 on board it didn't really feel like it..

I was quite sure I was behind and will be check-raised so I was thinking just to check behind. For some reason I made a small bet. Partly because of confusing board but also because I forgot what is the correct play for this ♦.

So what should I have done here and any opinions on adjusting to situations like this? Thank you

Pacific Poker - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players

Hand converted by PokerTracker 4 (http://www.pokertracker.com/)

Hero (CO): 122.2 BB

BTN: 110 BB (VPIP: 8.33, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 5.41, Hands: 84)

SB: 73.6 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)

BB: 136 BB (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 25.97, 3Bet Preflop: 17.86, Hands: 80)

UTG: 141 BB (VPIP: 60.98, PFR: 55.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 44)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♥ J♠

fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, SB calls 2 BB, fold

Flop: (5.8 BB, 2 players) 6♦ Q♠ Q♦

SB checks, Hero bets 1.8 BB, SB calls 1.8 BB

Turn: (9.4 BB, 2 players) K♦

SB checks, Hero checks

River: (9.4 BB, 2 players) T♠

SB checks, Hero bets 3 BB, SB calls 3 BB

hruskaNewbie2 posts
Posted Feb 16, 2026, 8:17 AM#117

Hi everyone,

I recently started studying this beginners’ guide and it looks really solid and well structured. However, there are a few things that are not clear to me.

Could someone please explain why there is no calling range after an opponent open raises? Maybe I’m misunderstanding the charts, but it seems that versus an open raise we either fold or 3-bet. The only situations where calling appears allowed are in the special rules section, referring to pocket pairs and suited connectors when there is an open raise and at least one caller before us.

Doesn’t this approach give up set-mining opportunities? I’m also worried that following this strictly might lead to having a 3-bet range that is too high and potentially exploitable by other regulars.

Thanks in advance for any clarification!

VorpalF2FShark242 posts
Posted Feb 16, 2026, 6:03 PM#118

Hi hruska,

Welcome to PokerStrategy.com

Originally posted by hruska

Hi everyone,

I recently started studying this beginners’ guide and it looks really solid and well structured. However, there are a few things that are not clear to me.

Could someone please explain why there is no calling range after an opponent open raises? Maybe I’m misunderstanding the charts, but it seems that versus an open raise we either fold or 3-bet. The only situations where calling appears allowed are in the special rules section, referring to pocket pairs and suited connectors when there is an open raise and at least one caller before us.

Doesn’t this approach give up set-mining opportunities? I’m also worried that following this strictly might lead to having a 3-bet range that is too high and potentially exploitable by other regulars.

Thanks in advance for any clarification!

Have a look here...

Starting Hands Chart: Which Hands Should You Play? (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/bss/play-before-flop-starting-hands/)

Notice the section "Low Pairs"

In that section, the chart does indeed recommend calling if a player raises. The "Call20" is a rule-of-thumb that says, "Call if the effective stack size is 20x the required bet". It is a very conservative rule — other players and coaches will call if the effective stack[1] is as low as 10x the required bet.

What I do disagree with in those charts is the "call" when all players before you have folded or called. That's a limp. I never limp. Lots of people do, but I don't limp or overlimp in cash games. Tournaments are a different matter.

Note: If you were referring to a different chart, create a specific post either in General Poker Discussion (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1408) or Questions and Answers (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1430)

Cheers,

VS

[1] "Effective" stack is the smallest of the stacks in the hand. It assumes that if you do hit your set, you can get a stack. This is rarely the case against better players.

hruskaNewbie2 posts
Posted Feb 16, 2026, 7:13 PM#119

Hi!

Thank you for the quick response. I will most definitely take a look at that chart. However i was referring to the chart present in this very topic : "2026 BEGINNER'S GUIDE - Simple modern strategies to beat the lowest stakes online". As i was going through i did not see any calling range with the exception of a couple of special rules.

simplemindedMicro-Stakes Grinder8 posts
Posted Feb 16, 2026, 7:38 PM#120

It’s great that there’s finally a modern beginner guide – but then linking to an article from the early 2000s kind of defeats the purpose. That’s a bit unfortunate.

Modern online poker is very different. There’s much less flat calling overall. “3-bet or fold” has basically become the standard in many spots.

The big exception is the big blind, which is defended much wider than it used to be. The recommended ranges should already be included in the original post.

There are also a few calling exceptions worth mentioning. For example, when multiple players have already called, it can be reasonable to overcall with certain hands like pocket pairs or suited connectors, trying to hit a strong postflop hand in a multiway pot.

But overall, today’s games are much more aggressive. If you call too often, you’ll frequently get pushed out of the pot by a 3-bet preflop. Postflop play is tighter as well, and calling purely for set mining is usually not a good enough reason on its own anymore.

Just my two cents – I think the guide should reflect how the game is actually played today.

nsavovMicro-Stakes Grinder10 posts
Posted Feb 17, 2026, 8:03 AM#121

Originally posted by hruska

Hi!

Thank you for the quick response. I will most definitely take a look at that chart. However i was referring to the chart present in this very topic : "2026 BEGINNER'S GUIDE - Simple modern strategies to beat the lowest stakes online". As i was going through i did not see any calling range with the exception of a couple of special rules.

Hint:

Spoiler The instrument in the picture is called "rake"

gsshsshNewbie4 posts
Posted Aug 27, 2026, 10:24 AM#122

Position was probably the most useful concept for me to understand. Beginners often focus almost entirely on the strength of their cards, but the same hand can be easy to play in late position and very uncomfortable out of position. A simple preflop range also makes later decisions much clearer.

Real players. Deep discussions. Better poker.poker.forum