In the latest of our Pro Concepts series, Luke ‘desultory’ Hatfield looks at the ideal opening ranges for no-limit hold’em
Raising is a fundamental part of poker, and is so deeply embedded in most of our strategies few of us ever stop to think about why we are doing it. But why should we open raise in the first place?
If our primary goal is to make money from playing poker, we should only open because we think our hand will be profitable and hold a positive expected value. In other words, it is +EV to do so. Our hand may be +EV because our opponents are folding an exploitable amount preflop or it may be +EV because we think we can significantly outplay our opponents postflop.
Let’s look at each of these in turn to see if we can define the value of preflop raising more clearly.
Exploiting preflop tendencies
If you are opening to three big blinds (which is a standard opening size) and all opponents fold preflop you win a total of one big blind and one small blind. You are risking 3BB to win 1.5BB. This means you need to win preflop 67% of the time on average to make a profit, if we are ignoring postflop play.
If your opponents are folding greater than 67% of the time then they are exploitable as you can simply check-fold everything postflop and it’s still +EV to open 100% preflop. Please note that adjusting your opening amount to four big blinds or two big blinds and/or adding antes to the equation will change this figure and you can therefore tighten or loosen your range accordingly.
The more opponents left to act, the less chance preflop is exploitable and therefore we should open less hands. Conversely, the fewer opponents left to act the more we should open. For example, when you have eight players left to act it makes no sense to open 100% of hands, but playing against a tight-passive player heads-up it probably makes sense to open 100% of hands dealt to you.
Note, however, that players adjust to your range. So even if theoretically you think you can open 100% of hands against a tight preflop player right now, if you do that for a certain period of time even the most brain-dead of players will start three-betting you light and stop folding so much.
As you start to play higher limits you will begin to notice that the better players adjust far more and are not exploitable preflop. The loose-passive ‘fishy’ types who will call a huge amount are also not exploitable preflop. So don’t make the mistake of associating being unexploitable preflop with being a better player. But either way, when prefl op play becomes unexploitable you have to rely partly on your postflop edge.
Outplaying your opponent postflop doesn’t necessarily mean you need to win every pot by making loads of fancy postflop moves. Every player has leaks and we can outplay our opponents long-term by leaking less than them. Postflop is beyond the scope of this article, but I want you to realise that choosing an opening range is heavily dependant on how your opponents play postflop.
Mixing it up
It is rare that decent players open any more than the hands listed in the middle/early position range discussed below. I know you might see some players open other strange hands on TV, but, in my opinion, these players are not proven winners long-term and they are not as good as the TV programmes make out.
The main exception is in deep ante games where players might open some weaker hands for deception, but I don’t think it is necessary and I don’t think they are profitable on average against pretty much any group of players.
When you are on the button and cutoff you want a wider range because of your positional postflop advantages and because you have more chance of winning the blinds preflop than you did from earlier positions. Some players open a wider range from the cutoff, but opening simply your early/middle range and no more from the cutoff would be fine. It all comes back to how many times you win the blinds and how much you think your positional advantage is worth against specific opponents.
When on the button, I add the suited two-gappers (Q-9s to 7-4s) and hands such as K-9s to K-2s and Q-8s to Q-5s that have high flush draw potential along with T-9o to 5-4o for straight draw value. I will also add suited three-gappers such as J-7s to 8-4s. Alongside these there are hands such as A-7o to A-2o, K-9o to K-5o, Q-9o to Q-5o and J-9o to J-7o that are all middle of the park kind of hands. They aren’t great but occasionally flop decent pairs and disguised two pairs. They also block the chance of our opponents having a great hand like A-Ko to J-J because we have one of the four cards in the deck.
That’s a total of 55% of hands. I personally think anything else is really scraping at the barrel. I would describe all of the above hands as ‘playable’, and I can describe a reason for them being valuable postflop. I know heads-up guys play 70%-100% of hands, but that is because the blinds will eat away at their stack if they don’t. In six-max and full-ring there is less urgency to win the blinds in order to neutralise the times when you pay the blinds so you would only play other hands because you think the opponents are exploitable preflop or you can significantly outplay your opponent postflop.
Postflop play
Given postflop play is mathematically unsolvable, what you should open against different types of opponents becomes very open to interpretation and this is why you get quite a wide variety of opening styles, especially from late position.
For instance, from the button some long-term winners open 100% and have exploitable fold to three-bet ranges, so in theory we could three-bet them 100%, fold to four-bet 100% and check-fold every flop and still make a profit.
These guys obviously think that the money they make from winning more blinds plus their positional advantage when in a pot outweighs the times they get three-bet and lose their initial bet. Some other long-term winners open 100% and defend more to a three-bet by either calling more or four-betting more as a bluff and for value.
These guys are probably very experienced in heads-up play and they treat the situation like it is a heads-up game. They significantly value their positional advantage even though they will often be dominated preflop in a three-bet pot. It might even be fine to go as low as 30% if your opponents are super loose-aggressive.
I’m still fairly torn on what I think is best and I tend to mix between all of the above, depending on what I think my opponents think of me and what I think of my opponents. But my current average seems to fall around 55%, and I think the majority of long-term winners will fall into that category as well.
Opening ranges
What hands to open from early and middle position
To give you an idea of what choices you have when opening I will look at various hand groups and explain their advantages and disadvantages:
A-A to Q-Q and A-K
These have the best potential to win at showdown. They are the highest of all the cards and they therefore dominate all other holdings. By ‘dominate’ I mean having the same card as your opponent’s hand but having a better kicker. Take the example of holding A-K against K-Q. Yes, you are likely to lose when the fl op comes Q-3-2, but this is neutralised by the times you win when flop is A-3-2 and dominance occurs in the times when the fl op is K-3-2.
You are likely to get three streets of value and potentially stack your opponent on this board. Dominance therefore becomes a very important concept to understand before you start opening.
J-J to 7-7
These are the mid pocket pairs. They have a high potential to win at showdown when all-in preflop or on the flop and they are therefore powerful hands to open and commit with when you have smaller stacks. Given that the flop will often bring a higher card they can be tricky to play with bigger stacks, but when you hit a set on the flop you can be sure your hand will win the majority of the time. Most players open these hands from every position with any stack size.
6-6 to 2-2
These are the low pocket pairs. They also have a decent potential to win at showdown when all-in preflop, but more often they will be dominated by higher cards. Therefore, you have to be more cautious with these hands when you have a small stack.
However, because of their set value, when you have 100BBs or more, the vast majority of players will open these hands from every position. The more loose and aggressive your opponents are postfl op the better these hands are, as you will get more money when you hit your set. If players are tightpassive postflop (rarely bluffing three streets and folding top pair good kicker to a lot of action) then they become less valuable.
A-J to K-Q
These are the higher Broadway hands. Their value allows for a lot of domination and they can therefore be opened from all positions by all stack sizes. You have to be aware that these hands can be ‘trap’ hands because they can be dominated by standard three-bet ranges and the high looking cards make them seem more valuable than they actually are. Anything below these hands always has the potential to be a trap hand, as your top pair may not have the best kicker.
A-Ts to J-10s, K-Js, Q-Js, T-9s
These hands have strong potential to make good flush draws and straight draws. The opening value is largely dependant on your opponent’s range; the wider he is the better these types of hands are as you will dominate more calling hands like A-6s, K-9o etc. These hands are usually used in every 100BB opening range from all positions.
A-9s to A-2s
These hands have the potential to make the nut flush draw and they therefore become very valuable when stacks get deep. Some players open these hands more than others from early or middle positions, but most players will open these from cutoff and button. Because they have a decent potential to win the showdown they are also good hands commit to if you have a short stack.
9-8s to 5-4s
These are the mid suited connectors. When stacks are 100BB or deeper they have good potential to hit straight draws on boards you wouldn’t expect players to generally be strong on. They also have potential to hit flush draws, but be wary that there might be a better fl ush draw out there.
These hands are similar in value to the A-Xs hands, but some players favour one or the other. Differing players use these alongside the A-Xs hands in their early position opening strategies and most players open these from the cutoff and button.
A-10o to A-8o, K-Jo to Q-Jo, K-10o to J-10o
These are the lower Broadways. They are mostly trap hands and good players therefore don’t open them from early or middle position. Because they have no flush draw value this makes them worse than the other hands mentioned for 100BB games. However, they are considered valuable enough to open from the cutoff and button because opponent calling ranges become wider against these positions.
J-9s to 6-4s
These are the suited one gappers. They have the advantage of hitting disguised straight draws and unexpected two pairs alongside hitting flush draws. Most players do not open these as standard from early or middle position but the tricky players do like to add some of these hands to their open strategies so they have more of a mixed range of hands hitting different boards.
They are slightly less valuable on average than the suited connectors because they hit slightly less straights and straight draws but when they do hit they are more disguised. Most players open these hands from cutoff and button.
Button range
Alongside your early and middle position range, you should add the following hands from the button
Q-9s to 7-4s
These suited two-gappers are similar to suited one-gappers, but have less value.
K-9s to K-2s and Q-8s to Q-5s
These hands still have high flush draw potential.
J-7s to 8-4s
Suited three-gappers are the limit of what you should open.
A-7o to A-2o, K-9o to K-5o, Q-9o to Q-5o, J-9o to J-7o
These are all middle of the park kind of hands. They aren’t great holdings but can occasionally flop decent pairs and disguised two pairs.
T-9o to 5-4o
These hands may not instantly look attractive but can be opened from the button for straight draw value.
