Building a No-Limit Hold’em Starting Hand Chart – Middle Position Standards

Ed, for a NL newb like myself, this stuff is just great. Really looking forward to the other articles in the series.

Another thing I’m never sure about is when my open raise is reraised behind me. Will you be able to cover this also at some point?

Thanks

Sorry this is off topic but it’s important:

SERIOUS QUESTON FOR ED:

Hi Ed,

Is my 1-2NL and 2-5NL Hold ‘em games at my local casino not profitable? Is the casino ripping everyone off?

My local casino does not have a rake, but instead they collect “time”.

For 1-2NL they take no rake, but charge each player $5/half-hour to play. (total of $10/hour)

For 2-5NL they take no rake, but charge each player $6/half-hour to play. (total of $12/hour)

After doing some research it seems that a realistic winning BB/100 would be about 3BB/100. (for 1-2NL that would be $6 profit per 100 hands)

A hot streak BB/100 would be about 17BB/100. (for 1-2 NL that would be $34 profit per 100 hands) This is a short term hot streak BB/100 and from what I understand this is NOT maintainable in the long run.

So if we are playing 1-2NL at my local casino, you pay $10/hour to play. And you will see about 35hands/hour. This means that you will see 100 hands in about 2.86 hours.

So lets be generous, and lets say you are doing well making 17BB/100 at my local casino, which means you will profit $34 per 100 hands.

It took 2.86 hours to see those 100 hands, 2.86 x $10/hour = ~$29 to see those 100 hands

Your profit $34
Minus cost to play $29

means you have a grand profit of $5 for 2.86 hours of play. You are making on average in the long run, $1.75 per hour! Yikes! Better off working at Burger King!

this BB/100 of 17 of course is not realistic! In fact realistically everyone is losing playing 1-2 NL at this casino!

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Now lets do the equation for 2-5NL.

2.86 hours to see 100 hands on average

$12/hour to play

You are a lucky pro making 17BB/100

(17 x 5) – (2.86 x 12) = 85 – 34.32 = $50 for 2.86 hours of play

so for 2-5NL you would be making $17.50 an hour at best

But again this is being optimistic with 17BB/100… which is not realistic!

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So in fact is my casino ripping people off who play 1-2NL and 2-5 NL?

1-2NL max buy-in is $300 (150BB)

2-5NL max buy-in is $500 (100BB)

It seems the only play to make money playing at this casino is playing 5-10NL or more where the “time” is still $12/hour. And therefore the casino is either intentionally or mistakenly protecting the fish by keeping them out of games that the pros know are profitable?

Small correction… 5-10NL they charge $16/hour with no rake. Which makes it a better (not necessarily good) than 2-5NL.

starting hand query – first, very helpful articles, really filling a void between “play tight” and “any two cards can win”

why did you define early position as first four seats ? isn’t three the norm ?

i can understand how this would help to keep me out of trouble in a tough game but $2/$5 in AC isn’t exactly Doyle Brunson land

This is great. Im doing much better at the big game now with these tips. Im really looking forward for the best part: Playing in position.

And STRAN, early position are the four sits after the button including the blinds. So they are the SB, BB, UTG and UTG+1.

I have 2 problems with this range. The first problem I have is that A9/8s should not be treated different from A7/6s. AJ/Tu are dangerous enough in middle position, but giving people the impression that A9/8s allow them to be more aggressive with their weak Ace because of their “higher” kicker is the equivalent of letting a child play with a loaded gun. You are never going to make a lot of $ from a weaker Ace, but you can lose a lot of money to a stronger Ace at show down. The second problem I have is that I can’t see a reason not to add KTs and QTs as default choices to the range, especially QTs, which isn’t even mentioned in the article and superior to both KJo or QJo in average BBs. Considering these hands are played for their flush, straight and two pair potential, the difference between a J and T kicker isn’t that significant.