Crush Live Poker published a great training video on YouTube on preflop play titled “Full length Training Video: Critical Fundamentals of Preflop Play.” It provides excellent strategies for all of the situations that you will find yourself in preflop:
- Opening
- Responding open raises
- Dealing with limpers
- Responding to 3bets
The Crush Live Poker video covers several critical poker concepts and strategies, such as:
- Ranges
- Raw equity vs realized equity
- Bet sizing
- Position
Below are the 12 lessons I learned from Crush Live Poker’s training video. I’ve also embedded the video here for your viewing pleasure.
Preflop Open Raising
1. Be aggressive
Crush Live Poker recommends erring on the side of being aggressive preflop. Betting gives you two ways to win:
- Your opponent folds preflop
- You win postflop
You can win postflop if your opponent folds or if you have the best hand at showdown.
Limping only gives you one way to win: postflop.
That’s why Crush Live Poker recommends open raising as opposed to limping, most of the time. That doesn’t necessarily mean to raise with a wide range. It does mean to raise rather than limp within your range.
2. Open your range from later position
Position provides a significant in advantage in poker. When your opponents act before you, you gain information. Their actions and physical tells give you an indication of the strength of their hand. Generally speaking, late position is better than early position, and the dealer button is the best position that you can have.
I find having position to be particularly valuable postflop. When my opponent acts first and I read weakness, I can bet and win the pot even when I don’t have a strong hand.
In terms of preflop play, Crush Live Poker recommends playing a slightly looser range from late position, and a slightly tighter range from early position. When there are fewer players left to act, your chances of being 3bet raises are reduced, and if you’re betting with the purposes of winning the blinds, there are fewer players that you need to get through.
3. Adjust your ranges based on your opponents
Poker is different than roulette in that you are playing against other players, not just probabilities. Your opponents will have different strategies, different strengths and weaknesses, and different ranges of cards that they will play preflop. Crush Live Poker says that you need to adjust your preflop ranges based on these factors:
- Game texture
- Stack sizes
- Who’s to your left
- Who’s in the blinds
For example, if you have nits to your left who almost always fold, open wider. If you have aggressive players to your left that often 3bet reraise, open tighter.
4. Open for 3-4x the big blind
Crush Live Poker recommends betting strong hands preflop. But how much? In the video, the instructor recommends opening for about 3-4x the big blind. So, if the big blind is $5, bet between $15 and $20.
I’ve found that in the $1-2 cash game that I play, the average open bet size is about 5x the big blind ($10). Sometimes people will open for 7.5x the big bling ($15) and occasionally they will open for around 2.5x the big blind ($5). However, I still keep my average bet size to 4x the big bling ($8) and I seem to get the same responses even though my average open size is lower than most others’.
5. Don’t change bet sizing according to the strength of hand
It’s common for amateur players to bet small when they have a mediocre hand and bet big when they have a great hand. I’ve been guilty of this. It would seem that getting more chips in the pot when you have good cards is a good idea. However, the major downside is that players will figure you out. Then, they will fold when you bet big, and call or reraise when you bet small. That means you won’t get paid off when you have good cards, and you won’t be able to see flops when playing speculative hands.
Crush Live Poker recommends using range software to decide what preflop starting hands you will be playing and how.
6. Isolate limpers
Crush Live Poker recommends raising, as opposed to limping, into pots most of the time. However, many players, particularly at low stakes, will frequently limp into pots. In situations where a player to your right open limps to you, and you have cards within your range, you have two options:
- Limp along
- Isolate the limper
Your best course of action depends on the skill level of the imper(s), the number of limpers, and stack sizes. For example, the more limpers there are, the less likely a reraise will fold them all out, so you can tighten your range in these situations.
Most limpers limp in attempt to see a cheap flop. In this case, reraising is generally a good counter strategy. Some limpers will limp with strong hands hoping to get re raised. In this case, the best counter strategy is of course to limp along.
If the limper is a weak player, you can give yourself a major advantage by isolating the limper so that you can play one on one, particularly if you are in position. When raising limpers, Crush Live Poker recommends sizing your bet by adding one big blind per limper to your normal open size.
7. If you’re going to limp...
While Crush Live Poker does not recommend limping into pots very frequently, the video does suggest when there is a “limp party” you can add a few speculative hands into your limping range. For example, low pocket pairs are difficult to play postflop, so it doesn’t always make sense to raise, but if you hit a set, you can get a big pay off. Consider limping with 22 or 33 when more than three players have limped ahead of you and the players left to act aren’t very aggressive.
Responding to Preflop Open Raises
8. Consider your three courses of action
Aggressive players who often open raise preflop can make it difficult for your to take control of the hand. However, focusing on what you can control and taking the best action makes it a lot easier. Here are the three ways you can respond to a preflop open raise:
- Fold
- Call
- Reraise
Crush Live Poker recommends defining a range for each of these courses of action. Knowing your range in advance makes it easier to make decisions when a tough situation comes up, and prevents your from impulsively taking risks.
Reraising gives chance to win immediately, thins out the field, builds a bigger pot, and can isolate weak players. However, you also put more of your chips at risk, and because the pot size is larger, you’re likely going to have to risk more on later streets. If you reraise, your opponent(s) then have the same three options: call, fold, or reraise. Consider the probability of your opponent responding in each of these three ways.
9. Avoid the two most common preflop mistakes
Crush Live Poker says that the two most common preflop mistakes are:
- Calling too much
- Not 3betting enough
Calls adds up. After a few rounds, you may realize you’ve spent 15 big blinds on mediocre hands that you didn’t win postflop. Crush Live Poker recommends playing a slightly tighter range than your opponent’s opening range. For example, if she’s likely to have JJ or better, only play QQ or better. It’s always tempting to want to be the tough guy and call with speculative hands, such as J10s, and it can work some of the time, but it’s probably not going to be profitable in the long run. It’s generally better to get your money in when the odds are in your favor.
3bet reraising when you and your opponents have big stacks, can give you the chance to win a major pot when you hit the board. It can also isolate your opponents. It’s generally easier to play against one opponent, particularly when the opponent is weak or you are in position.
10. Consider raw equity and realized equity
Crush Live Poker covers an important and advanced hold ‘em concept. Raw equity is simply the percentage of the time that your hand winds. For example, 22 beats AK slightly more than 50% of the time. 22 Has more raw equity than AK. However, 22 is very difficult to play post flop. Unless you hit a set, you’re going to have to fold to a bet on a lot of boards. AK, on the other hand, can continue more frequently because it will have more outs. AK has more realized equity.
Hands with high realized equity included big pairs, high cards, suited and connected cards. Hands with low realized equity include low, unpaired, offsuit and disconnected cards.
Responding to 3 Bets
11. Consider your three courses of action
If you have a large opening range, your opponents may counter by 3bet reraising you. In these situations, here are your options:
- Fold
- Call
- 4bet
Crush Live Poker recommends considering pot size, position, effective stack size, implied odds, the probabilities of your opponents responses to a reraise, your opponents range, and your image (the range that your opponent is likely to put you on based on how he’s seen you play in the past).
12. Add a couple bluffs to your 4bet range
Because poker is an iterated game, you can’t only have top hands in your 4bet range. You need to have a few bluffs. Otherwise, your opponents will, in theory, almost always fold when you 4bet because they will be confident that you have a top hand. You want action when you 4bet with a top hand, so you can win big pots. Incorporating some bluffs into your 4bet range will make it more difficult for your opponent to put you on a top hand. However, you don’t want to 4bet bluff so often that people start calling you more frequently, and you lose more from your bluffs than you gain from getting action with your top ands. You also need to have plan for when your opponent 5bet reraises.