I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first seven parts of the series:

• Early Position Standards
• Playing In Early Position
• Middle Position Standards
• Playing In Middle Position
• Cutoff Standards
• Playing In The Cutoff
• The Button

Welcome to the penultimate installment in this apparently epic series on Building A No-Limit Hold’em Starting Hand Chart. Blind play. Here’s my advice: Don’t play.

I suppose I should be a little more specific than that. Playing from the blinds is tempting, but often I think it’s a bad idea and should be avoided, even if you feel like your opponent may be stealing. The main issue, obviously, is that you’ll be out of position for the entire hand. So while the fact that you’re in position preflop may tempt you to play, your postflop disadvantage will do you in.

This reasoning holds only if the postflop stacks will be significantly deeper than the preflop pot. That is, if the SPR is relatively high. If you’re going to have a low SPR (due to short stacks or preflop reraising), your positional disadvantage is blunted, and you can play slightly more aggressively.

That’s the overview. Remember, this is Poker Made Simple, and the advice will reflect that. Blind play can get very complex, and I’m aiming to remove nearly all of that complexity here. So please don’t take these recommendations as gospel. They are simple and solid, no more.

When One Or More Limpers Have Entered the Pot

If you have limpers and no raisers, and you’re in the big blind, check most hands. You can raise your tip top hands and some other ones as semibluffs, particularly when a squeeze is available. What you raise (and how much you raise it) depend on the stack sizes. For 100BB stacks and relatively docile opponents (i.e., the raise will get called or folded to, but very rarely reraised), I raise big pocket pairs and sometimes small ones all the way down to deuces. I also raise big cards down to about KJs or KQo if I can anticipate a good SPR for myself. I think it’s usually better to check these hands than to raise them setting up an awkward SPR out of position.

I do semibluff/squeeze with some frequency, because otherwise this raising range is very narrow and readable.

From the small blind I play similarly, though I’m slightly less willing to raise because I’m extra out of position, and the big blind is, as yet, unaccounted for.

When It’s Raised To You

I don’t play much in this situation in the big blind, even if it’s a cutoff open-raise. When the cutoff players are open-raising light, they’re saying, “I have position on you, and that means I can play against you with less of a starting hand and still make money.” And, depending on how well they play, they’re right.

Obviously I play all pocket pairs unless the stack sizes are totally wrong. I also play AK and AQ consistently. Against most players I also add some of the big suited hands like AJs, ATs, KQs, and KJs. I also frequently play KQo.

Notably, I don’t play most suited connectors, especially the ones lower than JTs. They don’t play well out of position, because they rely on lots of steal equity to be profitable, and you really suffer in that area when you’re out of position. I also don’t play small suited aces for the same reason. I definitely don’t play small offsuit aces.

Against players who I think are raising too loosely (or just normal loose button open-raises), I don’t fight back by calling. I fight back by reraising, both for value with good hands and as a semibluff with bad ones (including suited connectors). But if you do that, realize that you will walk into some sticky postflop situations if you get called.

In the small blind, I play the same way except, again, slightly tighter.

So, to sum up, I recommend with most hands that you find a reason not to play. You can play all pocket pairs and the big cards: AK, AQ, KQ, AJs, ATs, and KJs. As the raiser’s range gets looser, you can add more hands and reraise much more often, both for value and as a semibluff.

Against a Reraise

If there’s a raise and a reraise to you, then you should play very tightly and possibly push all-in with anything you choose to play. Candidate hands for playing this way are AA-QQ and AK. If the reraise is only 6-8% of your stack (and the stacks of the relevant opponents), you can consider calling with pocket pairs also.

Blind Versus Blind

When it’s folded to the blinds, the big blind has a big positional advantage. I play tightly out of the small blind. Sure, it’s only $1 more to call with Q5o in a $1-$2 game, and sure, the big blind probably doesn’t have much. But in no-limit the money is made postflop, and you’ll be at a positional disadvantage. In particular, I don’t do a ton of stealing out of the small blind, because most big blind players know they can call very light and count on their position to carry them through.

(For the curious, heads-up tables are quite different because the small blind is on the button.)

If you’re in the big blind, you can call the small blind fairly loosely. And you can also raise fairly loosely if the small blind just calls. I tend to play even more hands for raises here than I would opening from the button, since I know I have just one opponent, and they’ve already showed some weakness by merely calling.

Since it’s heads-up, the actual ranges to use depend very strongly on your opponent’s ranges. But in general, I just fold a lot of my small blinds when it’s folded to me, but I fairly rarely fold a big blind if it’s just me and the small blind.

So that’s all the positions. I hope you enjoyed this series.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first six parts of the series:

• Early Position Standards
• Playing In Early Position
• Middle Position Standards
• Playing In Middle Position
• Cutoff Standards
• Playing In The Cutoff

Whew. The button. We’re almost there. Since most of the principles I use to build the chart should be fairly clear by now, I’m going to speed through these two final installments before I post the final chart.

Obviously, on the button you have all the advantages. So you want to play fairly loose as long as your opponents haven’t shown real strength yet.

If You’re Opening The Pot

When everyone folds to you on the button, you can play loose, and you should essentially always open-raise. How loose depends how well you play compared to the blinds. Which hands you choose depends somewhat on your opponents’ weaknesses. If your opponents tend to be “sticky” and call flop and turn bets without too much, then prefer hands that have better showdown value like stiff aces and kings. If your opponents play tighter or more aggressively, small suited cards are preferable because they give you more strength in semibluffing situations. If your opponents are really bad, play both.

I’m just going to put a range out there that’s a decent first approximation for what you should play first in from the button. Adjust it to suit your situation and play:

22+, A2+, K2s+, K5o+, Q9o+, Q5s+, J9o+, J8s+, T9o, 98o, T9s-54s, T8s-64s

That’s about 44% of all hands, and it still has a sizable equity edge against two random hands. You can get away with playing even looser in some situations.

If You’re Playing After One Or More Limpers

If you have one limper, and he’s bad, then you can play almost as if you’re opening the pot. Play the loose range listed above (perhaps slightly tighter), and raise with it. If he’s good, then obviously tighten up a bit, but you can still play loose with position.

Exceptions to raising would be if your opponents are so loose preflop that you will be guaranteed two and can reasonably expect all three remaining players to call. Then raising loses much of its upside with the weak hands (but gains value with many of the strong ones). Also, if your opponents are crazy wild postflop and love to play allin pots with bad hands and draws, then you can limp and rely on implied odds to carry the day. In most circumstances, however, you should raise one limper.

With two or more limpers, you can still play loose, a la the above range. Prefer suited hands to the big-little offsuit ones, though, so perhaps substitute out the K5o for J7s or 96s. If your opponents are bad, again you may not have to substitute anything out and can just add. And if they’re good, tighten up a bit.

It’s not a nearly automatic raise anymore, however. You have to consult SPR and see whether your hand will play well or be awkward in a three- or four-handed raised pot. Your advantage on the button is diminished if you jam the pot preflop to the point that the flop will put you in marginal situations that blunt your hand reading advantage.

If You’re Playing Against A Raise

Against a single raiser, you can play fairly loosely still against an aggressive or bad player. Don’t call with weak offsuit hands, though. Your playing range should perhaps look something like:

22+, A2s+, ATo+, K9s+, KJo+, QJo, Q9s+, JTo-98o, JTs-54s, J9s-64s

This playing range assumes that the raise is small (no more than 3-4%) compared to the stack sizes. If it’s bigger than that, you need to tighten up considerably. Your plan with the weaker suited hands is to use your position as a weapon to push your opponent off marginal hands.

It’s fine to tighten up from this range. If you don’t feel like you have control over your opponents, for instance, then surely tighten up – particularly omit the small card hands.

Reraise all of these hands occasionally and reraise your strong hands most of the time. Against a very tight raiser, perhaps only QQ+ and AK would qualify for a “most of the time” reraise. Against a looser raiser, perhaps 99+, AK-AJ, and KQ.

Against a raise and one or more calls, play a similar range, except dump the weakest hands because you have less fold equity. And reraise more often. Since there’s plenty of dead money from the callers, you have more upside to reraise with a hand like T9s.

If You’re Playing Against A Raise And A Reraise

A raise and a reraise usually means a strong hand is out against you, and the SPR will be low. That means you can’t play loose anymore, even though you have the button. Your positional advantage won’t work for you against a strong hand with a low SPR. Stick to the good stuff: QQ+ and AK. You might even fold QQ and AK against some reraisers. Against looser players, you might carefully add a couple more hands. See the advice from playing in the cutoff.

Wrapping Up

The button is a great position, and against bad players with medium and deep stacks, you can play loosely and use your position to generate postflop equity. If good players have entered the pot, particularly for a raise, you can still play fairly loosely, but toss some of the weakest hands that you might play against a typical player.

The next installment covers playing from the blinds.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first five parts of the series:

• Early Position Standards
• Playing In Early Position
• Middle Position Standards
• Playing In Middle Position
• Cutoff Standards

In the last part, we talked about what hands to play from the cutoff. The cutoff is the most complex position since you have position (and therefore want to play), but you are also very sensitive to what the button might do. What hands to play in a given situation can depend a lot on your opponents’ hand ranges and tendencies. Similarly, how you play them can depend also. Let’s take a crack at it.

If You’re Opening The Pot

Raise. While theoretically situations can arise where you might want to limp in from the cutoff, in practice you’ll usually want to raise. While you’re still learning no-limit preflop play, I think it’s fine to raise every time.

I raise about 3x to 4x the big blind with most hands I play. I might deviate from that standard if the player in the big blind is highly atypical. For instance, if they are super-loose, I might raise up to 10x BB with my good hands. This decision really comes down to basic raise-sizing which is covered well in Professional No-Limit Hold ‘em: Volume I.

One case where I might limp is if the button is hyper-aggressive. I might limp planning to reraise the button’s expected auto-raise. But I wouldn’t do that with just any stack size; I’d want a favorable SPR after the button calls the reraise. But certainly, when in doubt, raise.

If You’re Playing After One Or More Limpers

If there’s only one limper, I tend to raise also. The raise is designed to juice the pot in position with my good hands. It’s also designed to juice the pot with my bad ones. If the pot gets heads-up or 3-way and I have position, I’m happy even if my hand is near the bottom of my range. I’m counting on the combined chances of making a hand and leveraging my position to steal the pot to make a profit. Both of these plans work just fine in a raised pot so long as the stack sizes are deep enough that my opponents won’t feel immediately committed with just a pair.

Indeed, one of the worst common no-limit leaks is to play too many raised pots out of position. If you find someone who likes to limp in a lot and then call your raise, you’re in a great situation. You can exploit that weakness obviously by raising your good hands, but you can exploit it also by raising your so-so hands. Position is that important.

If I expect at least one player to call the raise, then I size it according to the principles of SPR.

If I expect three or more opponents after the flop, or if I expect the button to call, then I’m more judicious with my raising. Raising with a so-so hand is good only if I can count on stealing a lot of pots. With too many opponents or with someone on the button disrupting my plans, I can’t steal as many. So in that event I’m more inclined to simply limp with my weaker hands. I still tend to raise my pocket pairs, even the small ones. It’s a lot easier to stack someone in a raised pot than a limped one, so I find that it’s usually worth risking a few extra chips at the outset to juice the pot in hopes of flopping a set. Also, don’t forget that you can steal postflop when you hold a small pocket pair. (It’s easy to get into a “set it or forget it” mindset with small pairs. It’s not a bad mindset, but sometimes steal situations will pop up. Don’t miss them just because your hole cards are paired.)

Against multiple limpers, I tend to raise my strong hands that I want to play a big pot with and limp with everything else. This rule in particular has me limping sometimes with hands like K Q after a few limpers. Sure, it’s a strong hand that has a good shot with position. But if you build too big a pot preflop, you can end up with an awkward SPR on the flop if you catch top pair. Just last week I was playing $2-$5 and absent-mindedly raised four limpers with KQo. Everyone called making it $150 in the pot preflop. The flop came KT9, and because the preflop pot was so big (and because I had a straight draw to go with my top pair and because he played his hand well) I was essentially forced to commit my remaining $400 against someone who flopped top two. Obviously, that’s just one outcome out of the millions possible, and many outcomes will have you winning more because you raised preflop. But overall you have more flexibility to exploit your position if you don’t juice the pot to an awkward SPR with big offsuit cards.

So against one limper, I tend to raise unless I expect a whole lot of callers. Against multiple limpers, I tend to raise hands that I want to play a big pot with and limp the marginal ones. I tend to raise a larger amount against more limpers, though I take stack sizes and player personalities into account before choosing the size.

If You’re Playing Against A Raise

In middle position, I recommended just calling if you’re first in after a raise. It’s an unenviable situation. You are sandwiched between a raiser and four or five unknown hands. In the cutoff, you’re not so bad off, since you have only three players behind you. You can still flat call, but I tend to reraise more often as well, especially when the initial raiser is loose. I’ve noticed online that many loose raisers will happily call a reraise with almost any hand. That’s a big weakness, and you can exploit it only by reraising your strong hands.

For instance, say you’re playing with 100BB stacks and a loose player makes it 3.5BB to go. If you make it 12BB to go and he calls, the preflop pot will be 25BB, leaving you with an SPR under 4. That’s a great SPR for your hand, and if you flop top pair, you’ll have no problem committing. You have position, and you likely have the stronger hand. It’s really an ideal situation for you. Sure, stuff can go wrong. You can miss the flop and get pushed off your hand by an all-in checkraise. You could even get 4-bet preflop and have a tough decision. There’s no way to completely insulate yourself from trouble. But if your opponent likes to open a lot of hands and then call reraises out of position with them, you can put him in a lot of difficult situations by reraising your strong hands.

Against a raise and callers, I tend to reraise my good hands nearly every time, call with small pocket pairs and perhaps some other “big pot” hands, and also sometimes reraise as a squeeze.

If You’re Playing Against A Raise And A Reraise

This is such a specialized situation that there isn’t much general advice I can give. Presumably, if you’re playing in this situation, it’s because you have a terrific hand, and you’re not afraid to end up all-in with it preflop. So realistically, your choices are typically whether to simply push preflop or to call preflop and push on the flop. You don’t want to call too much attention to yourself, though whatever you do the fact that you didn’t fold will attract attention. So I guess I’ll just recommend that you use your judgement.

The main thing to avoid is calling preflop and then folding to a lot of postflop action. If there’s a raise and a reraise preflop, expect your opponents to have good hands. Expect a lot of postflop action. It makes no sense to call a big preflop bet only to lose your nerve on the flop when your opponents are following through as expected. Obviously if you have KK and an ace flops, you might very well be toast, so you could consider a fold given the right circumstances. But if you’re calling a raise and a reraise preflop, the stacks are 100BB (or otherwise not super-deep), and the flop comes 8 5 3 , you have no business folding on the flop.

If you’re in a situation where you might feel compelled to fold on the flop, often you should instead have pushed (or perhaps folded) preflop. Ace-king is the most prominent example. Naturally you would be inclined to fold AK to a lot of action on an 853 flop. But your opponents’ postflop action is merely a continuation of the preflop action, since no one expects to have hit the flop, and you likely still have significant equity. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right to call, but it does often mean that you should have simply pushed preflop.

So if you’re against a raise and a reraise, you should be thinking either that you’ll push preflop or get it all-in postflop. You shouldn’t be planning to call and “see what happens” on the flop, because typically you’ll be risking too large a percentage of your stack in such unclear circumstances. Occasionally everything will go wrong postflop and you will end up folding, but folding isn’t a plan in this case – it’s what happens when the plan falls apart.

Next up is playing on the button.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first four parts of the series:

• Early Position Standards
• Playing In Early Position
• Middle Position Standards
• Playing In Middle Position

The cutoff is like the button. Except it’s not the button. There’s a player between you and the button. Depending on how they play, the character of the cutoff can change a lot. If the button is tight, then you can play the cutoff more or less like it’s the button (loose and aggressive). Sometimes you’ll get caught with your pants down if the button picks up a good hand. But if they are truly tight, then you’ll likely make up for those bad outcomes by getting a second button hand per round every other time. Typically you’re playing two blind hands to have the opportunity to play once on the button. If you get to play twice on the button, that’s terrific.

Most buttons aren’t tight. Or, at the very least, they will interfere fairly often in your button-grabbing plans. So I’ll write the rest of this article assuming that the button player is reasonably likely to enter the pot, but not almost guaranteed to do so.

If You’re Opening The Pot

The cutoff is a flexible position. The better control you have over your opponents, and the bigger your hand-reading edge over them, the looser you can play. Potentially, if it’s folded to you, the button isn’t too worrisome, and the blinds are bad, you can play a ton of hands, perhaps 50% or more. For this series, though, I’ll go conservative. But realize that there’s a lot of leeway once we get to the cutoff and button.

Even conservatively, you can open with a lot of hands. Any pocket pair, any two cards both ten or higher (e.g., Q T ), any suited ace, decent offsuit aces (down to maybe A8 or so), suited connectors down to 54s or 86s or Q9s or K9s (these boundary hands are somewhat arbitrary), and perhaps some offsuit connectors down to maybe 98o or so. That’s a decent default opening range. Again, you can play much looser under optimal conditions, and you might have to tighten up a bit under adverse circumstances.

Again, that range was:

22+, A2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, 54s+, 86s+, A8o+, KTo+, QTo+, 98o+

If You’re Playing After One Or More Limpers

I wouldn’t change the above range too much due to limpers. In general, the more multiway the pot is, the more value being suited has, and the weaker offsuit high card hands like KTo become. So if there are four or five limpers to you in the cutoff, you might add a few extra suited hands and perhaps avoid weak offsuit aces if you’re worried about how you’ll play them after the flop. In medium- and deep-stack no-limit, if you’re playing with position and only for the price of the big blind, you have tremendous flexibility. Even if you limp in with a totally trash hand like 9 2 , your “error” only costs you a fraction of the big blind. If you play a whole lot better than your opponents do after the flop, you may find that you easily make up for that “error” by preying on your opponents’ much bigger postflop mistakes.

It’s not an argument for playing 92o. But it’s an important no-limit principle: If you’re out of position or playing against a raise, hand values matter. If you’re in position and it’s limped or folded to you, you can get away with playing some junky hands. The better you read hands after the flop, the more you can get away with.

So, for simplicity, I’ll just keep the after limpers range the same as the opening the pot range:

22+, A2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, 54s+, 86s+, A8o+, KTo+, QTo+, 98o+

In the next installment of the series, you’ll see the difference between these two situations: Opening the pot I almost always raise, but after limpers I’ll raise only some of the time.

If You’re Playing Against A Raise

Whenever someone has raised already, you should tighten up. The preflop betting is now a much larger percentage of the stack sizes, and someone has represented strength.

If you’re the only player in the pot besides the raiser, the button will affect your play a lot. If the button is bad and/or tight, then you can call with some marginal hands. If the button is loose, aggressive, and overall annoying, then you should avoid marginal hands and reraise more often to shut them out.

Also, the looser the raiser, the more inclined you should be to reraise.

I’m getting ahead of myself a bit, as the raising versus calling decisions will be in the next installment. So let’s talk about standards. Only the raiser is in the pot for now. With a tight raiser and a normal, not-so-scary button, I’d play any pocket pair, AK, and AQ, AJs, and KQs. If the raiser were loose and a bit of a weak player (as I find usually to be the case), I’d add a lot of hands: primarily AJo, KQo, suited aces and suited connectors. I’d still avoid weak offsuit high card hands like KTo or A7o. If the button is worrisome, I’ll avoid calling with marginal hands (but sometimes reraise with them).

Why play suited connectors but avoid weak high card hands? Steal equity. When you’re playing in position against a loose raiser, you’re counting on stealing equity to make up a lot of the value of your hand. You’re generally not looking to play make-a-hand; you’re looking to punish your opponent for building a pot out of position without enough values. Suited connectors work well for stealing since they afford so many semibluffing opportunities.

If there are several limpers before the raise and/or if the raise is bigger than “typical,” tighten up a bit. If you call, you run the risk of getting limp-reraised. You also run the risk of playing in a four- or five-way raised pot with a weak hand and without much steal equity.

If there’s a raiser and then several callers, you can think about squeezing.

So against a raise, my ranges will vary considerably. Sometimes I’ll play as tightly as:

22+, AK, AQ, AJs, KQs

And sometimes I’ll loosen up to something like:

22+, AJ+, KQ, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, 54s+, J9s+

It depends on the raiser, the button, and the other circumstances.

If You’re Playing Against A Raise And A Reraise

Tighten WAY up! Against most reraisers, this isn’t a situation to mess around in. Even most pocket pairs are no good here since the price is too high to see the flop (compared to what you’d expect to win if you hit your set). The original raiser is also a threat to push on you.

AA and KK are the only hands I’ll reliably play against a raise and a reraise. If the reraiser might be a bit light, I’ll play AK and QQ also, and perhaps a few other hands. But generally two raises in front of you should be a signal to sit this one out.

The cutoff is perhaps the most complex preflop position. It’s late enough that you have a lot of flexibility. But you always have to think about what the button might do. Today’s post was a lot to digest (and it’s only a brief summary of cutoff play, at that). When it doubt, tighten up a bit. I always suggest that you start off playing tight and then add more hands as you gain confidence.

Next time we’ll talk a bit about raising versus limping in the cutoff.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first three parts of the series:

• Early Position Standards
• Playing In Early Position
• Middle Position Standards

Remember from the first part that we’re assuming that we’re playing in a 10-handed game where most players have approximately 100BB stacks. If the stack sizes were substantially different, then the recommendations might be substantially different also. In a 6-handed game, middle position represents the first two seats, and you can use these recommendations as if you were playing 10-handed and the early position players had folded.

In the last section, we broke the recommendations into three groups: opening the pot, playing against limpers, and playing against a raise. We’ll do the same here.

If You’re Opening the Pot

When opening the pot from middle position, I recommend generally that you raise. I made a similar recommendation for early position play, but it’s more compelling from middle position for several reasons:

• You’re less likely to run into a big hand.
• You have a better chance to win the blinds.
• You have a better chance to play the hand in position against the blinds.

With most of the hands you might open from middle position, you’d like either to win the blinds or to play in position in a raised pot. The worst case is that you get reraised by someone behind you; callers behind you is another unwanted scenario.

Before I continue, I want to make one point. Say you have 87s, and the player in the big blind likes to defend with a wide range of hands against preflop raises. You have two choices from which you can freely choose. You can limp in and play the hand heads-up against the big blind, or you can raise to 3-4BB and play against just the big blind. Which would you choose?

Some people might prefer the limped pot because 87s is a speculative hand, so they’d figure they’d want to risk as little as possible before the flop. I, however, would generally prefer the raised pot. Why? I have position. In no-limit, your cards are only one part of the profitability equation. “The situation” is another important part. The situation is a combination of your opponent’s hand range, the betting, how much risk your opponent likes to take, and more. If the situation is sufficiently good, you can turn a profit with any hand, and having cards with value just adds a little something extra.

I like the raised pot because it produces more profitable situations. Since I have position, I’ll win more often. I’ll steal more hands. And therefore I have more equity in the pot (and want it bigger). Not only that, but with the 100BB stack sizes, a modestly-raised pot tends to set up situations where I can exert a lot of pressure on my opponent after one or two bets. Maybe my cards, 87s, would prefer to see the flop cheaply, but that factor takes a backseat to the profitable situation of playing in position in a raised pot. (This logic doesn’t hold against some opponents, but I find it’s true against most.)

So that’s a major reason I like raising. For the above reasons, I also don’t spread my raise sizes as much from middle position. I don’t have to be as cautious about running into a big hand or bad situation, and I’m more comfortable building a slightly bigger pot because I have a better chance to play the hand in position. Typically I’ll raise somewhere between 3 and 4BB when I open. If the “table standard” raise is higher than that, and I have a hand I don’t mind playing an even bigger pot with, I’ll raise up to or even slightly more than the standard. In this situation, SPR plays a significant role in my raise-sizing decision.

So basically, if I open the pot, I do it for a raise, usually in the 3-4BB range, but sometimes more depending on game conditions.

If You’re Playing After One or More Limpers

If there’s one limper, I’m also likely to raise. In this situation, it’s even more likely I’ll get to play the hand in position (though less likely I’ll steal the blinds). I’ll generally make it 4-5BB, slightly more, because more players and money are in the pot.

Against two or more limpers, I’ll sometimes limp along as well. To backtrack a bit, if the limpers and/or big blind are tight and might fold often to a raise, then I’ll generally again raise all my hands, increasing the size to account for the limpers. But if the limpers and big blind are likely to call (setting up a 4- or more-way pot), then I won’t raise every hand anymore. In this situation, my decision is strongly guided by SPR considerations. With a hand like a suited ace or suited connector, I’ll content myself to play with a high SPR and just limp. With a big card hand like a big pair or AK, I’ll typically raise an amount that will produce a comfortable SPR if I get the expected number of callers. That number can change depending on the stack sizes and exactly how many callers I expect, but 6-8BB with several expected callers and 100BB stacks will produce an SPR in the 3-5 range which fits the bill.

If I can get away with it, I’ll also make smaller raises with pocket pairs. It’s easier to stack someone in a raised pot than in a limped one, and with pocket pairs in multiway pots, I’m definitely looking to stack someone. I don’t want to give away my hand with my raise size, so I try these shenanigans only against players I feel confident won’t decode my play. I also don’t do it with aggressive or unpredictable players still around, because I don’t want to get reraised. I save the play for when I can fairly predictably expect nothing but calls all around.

If your opponents are sharp and can figure out that you’re making big raises with big hands and small raises or limps with small hands, then switch it up enough to confuse anyone who might be paying attention. Limp with a hand like AK or raise with a suited connector.

If You’re Playing Against a Raise

If you read the last part, you’re already folding most of your hands in this dangerous situation. If my hand is strong enough to play, I tend just to call if I’m the first into the pot after the raise. It’s a dicey situation to be playing against a raise on your right and multiple unknown hands on your left. You risk getting squeezed. Reraising tends to leave you quite vulnerable with a weak hand, and if you reraise only with AA and KK you’ll be very predictable. I’ll reraise more often if the raiser is loose or if other players at the table are loose (particularly if they might call the reraise cold with a weak hand) and/or predictable.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to give a good rule because play always becomes situational quickly once one of your opponents raises, but I think if you’re in doubt, I prefer calling.

If one or more players has called the raise already, however, then the dead money makes reraising more attractive. After a raise and a call or two, I tend to reraise AK, other big hands, and also sometimes small hands like T9s. With pocket pairs (not the biggest ones) I sometimes reraise and sometimes call; since pocket pairs play excellently in raised, multiway pots, calling is still a strong option. But it’s not the only option, as reraising to collect the dead money is still worth considering.

So against a raise, first, tighten up! Once you’ve done that, if you’re first in after the raiser, tend just to call since you’re in a vulnerable situation and you don’t want to expose yourself to a huge pot. If your opponents are very loose and you have a strong hand, though, you can reraise for value despite your poor position.

If you’re playing after a raise and one or more calls, often reraise. With pocket pairs, however, you have a choice to make because both calling and reraising will likely generate favorable outcomes, and you have to decide which you prefer in your given situation.

In the next installment I talk about playing from the cutoff.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first two parts of the series:

• Early Position Standards
• Playing In Early Position

I recommended playing very tightly in early position (the first four seats of a 10-handed game), suggesting you play only any pocket pair, AK, AQ, AJs, ATs, and KQs. In middle position (the next two seats after early position), I still recommend you play tight, but if your game is good you can mix things up just a bit.

I call middle position the two seats after the four early position seats. That is, they are the seats two and three off the button. This corresponds to UTG and UTG+1 in a 6-max game. I’ll break my recommendations down into three categories: if you’re opening the pot, if you’re playing after one or more limpers, and if you’re playing against a raise.

If You’re Opening the Pot

Everyone in front of you has folded. Either it’s because multiple people folded in a ring game, or because you’re first to act in a shorthanded game. Mathematically speaking, the situations are identical. In practice, they can play a little differently because full ring players generally have different expectations and playstyles from 6-max players. But that’s not always the case, and in any event, you should always tailor your play to how your opponents play, not how many opponents started the hand.

You’re in a little better situation opening the pot from middle position than you are from early position for three reasons:

1. It’s more likely that the hand will end up with you playing in position against just the blinds.
2. It’s more likely that you’ll steal the blinds if you give a little raise.
3. It’s less likely you’ll run into a monster hand.

Obviously, it’s also more likely that you’ll play second-to-last in a multiway pot, and so forth.

For that reason, I open up my standards a bit. In most games, in addition to pocket pairs, AK, AQ, AJs, ATs, and KQs, I’ll add AJ, KQ, AT, KJs, QJs, and A9s-A8s. In some games, I’ll mostly stop there. I’ll stop when loose and tough players are behind me, and they aren’t letting me get heads-up with the blinds like I want to be. When I open with a weakish hand from middle position, I definitely want a decent chance to play in position against the blinds. If that’s unlikely, then I want really bad players behind me. If I have loose and tough players, I’ll typically pass on all the marginal stuff.

Note that the marginal stuff includes some popular hands like weak suited aces and small and medium suited connectors. These can be good no-limit hands, but they tend to play poorly out of position in raised pots against tough players. Since you’re out of position, you won’t have the typical bluffing equity you might normally have. And the stacks won’t be the right size to try to make a hand and win a monster. Overall, you’ll end up in too many awkward situations.

If I’m not as worried about the players behind me, either because they are tight or because they play badly, then I tend to open with suited aces and suited connectors also, as well as some of the weaker big card hands like KTs, KJ, and so forth. I often avoid these hands even in good games in early position, since it’s just too likely I’ll run into a big hand and/or end up in an undesirable postflop situation.

So I open in middle position with AA-22, AK-AT, KQ, A9s-A8s, KJs, and QJs. And if the game is soft, I’ll add A7s-A2s, JTs-54s, KJ, KTs, and a few more hands for flavor.

If You’re Playing After One or More Limpers

The main difference here, obviously, is that you have less chance to win preflop without a fight, and more chance that you’ll end up playing a multiway pot. As a first approximation, you can adopt the same standards as above and then adjust them somewhat depending on who has entered the pot and what the game is like. That is, if a really bad player has entered the pot, you might loosen up (and even raise all of your hands to isolate) more than you would if you were first to enter. And if a really tight player has entered, you might skip the weaker big card hands (e.g., A8s or KJ) for fear of being dominated. (Though you might play them anyway if the tight player is also predictable enough that you won’t lose much with a second-best kicker.)

Unfortunately, it’s hard to come up with firm adjustments to the hand range when limpers have entered just because limpers can change the complexion of a hand in numerous and differing ways. But the no limpers hand range is indeed a reasonable try.

One minor thing I’ll point out before moving on. I significantly prefer the higher suited connectors to the lower ones if I feel a multiway pot is brewing. I think T9s has a few little perks that 54s misses out on:

• Not every pot you win will be either a monster or a steal. Sometimes even in multiway pots, you’ll flop a pair and take it down. You’re a lot more likely to beat four opponents if you flop a T to T9 than if you flop a 4 to 54.
• You’re a lot more likely to end up on the good end of flush-over-flush with T9s than you are with 54s. It doesn’t happen that often, but they can be big pots and therefore big swings.
• Bigger suited connectors can have “intangible” advantages also. They tend to connect with more threatening flops than the smaller connectors. Someone with AA is going to fear a JT8 flop a lot more than a 642 flop. That can be good and bad for your hand, but since connectors win a lot of their value by stealing, it’s probably a net positive to be able to push harder on scarier boards.

A little anecdote about big versus small suited connectors. Just today I played a hand where I had 8 7 . I had opened for a raise from middle position, and I got called by the button and a blind. The flop came A 9 5 . I bet about half the pot and got called by both players. (I probably should have bet more because they would call that bet with a lot of hands.) The K came on the turn, and I decided to take another shot at the pot with about a two-thirds pot bet. I got called by the button. The river was the J , so I missed entirely. I checked. My opponent checked behind and showed 3 2 for another busted straight-and-flush combination draw. Since my eight played, I won the pot.

If You’re Playing Against a Raise

Tighten up! One player has already announce a good hand, and if you call, you could easily get sandwiched between the raiser and one or more players with position on you. This is an unenviable situation, and quite frankly, you usually need a strong hand to get value out of it. Unless the raise is uncommonly large, I still play any pocket pair, because pocket pairs are incredibly strong hands. I also still play AK. Depending on the raiser, I might stop there. Or I might add AQ, AJs, KQs, and perhaps even a couple more hands. But that’s about it. You’re asking for big trouble if you play loosely from middle position against a raise. Specifically, please do yourself a favor and don’t play weak suited aces or suited connectors. You’re too likely to end up in a big pot, out of position and squeezed. It’s bad news.

Now occasionally you’ll find someone who makes little dinky raises that don’t carry much more meaning than a limp. Against one of those raises, you can mostly treat it as if you were playing against limpers. But most players don’t make those raises, and even if your opponent is loose and aggressive, they still can make a hand, and you are still sandwiched between the raiser and potential callers.

All-in-all, I think many players play too loose for their own good from middle position. From two and three seats off the button, there’s still a good chance you’ll end up playing out of position. If your game is soft and you have good postflop control and hand-reading, then you can wade in with some marginal hands. But if there are some sharp players behind you, play barely looser than you do in early position. This is true whether you’re playing in a full ring game where a few people have folded, or if you’re UTG or UTG+1 in a 6-max game.

In the next installment, I talk about how to play these hands from middle position – whether to limp with them or raise (and how much), and whether to call a preflop raise or put in a reraise.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also.

But then I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

If you haven’t already, read the first part of the series Early Position Standards.

Last time out, I recommended that in early position (the first four seats of a 10-handed game), you play any pocket pair, AK, AQ, AJs, ATs, and KQs. I had you folding everything else, except occasionally mixing this range up by playing a small suited connector.

In this installment, I’ll talk about how to play those hands – whether to limp in or to raise (and if so, how much).

The Basics

You are vulnerable in early position, even with a strong hand. Playing 100BB stacks, a top pair or an overpair may not be a strong enough hand to commit your entire stack on a favorable-looking flop. If your opponents are tough enough to test you with big bets and semibluffs when they have position, you may want to play conservatively up front, event with the top hands.

Indeed, I want to dispell a few no-limit myths right now. Open-limping is not necessarily a bad play. It’s not necessarily a bad play even if you have pocket aces. Some people say, “Open-limping with aces is stupid because you’re just asking someone with trash to flop two pair and stack you.” The problem with that statement is the second part, “and stack you.” If you limp in with pocket aces, the whole idea of the play is to make sure you don’t lose a big pot with just an overpair. In a limped preflop pot with 100BB stacks, generally speaking you need to hit the flop (usually either by catching another ace or a nut flush draw) to play for your stack. So limping in with aces is pretty bad if you are willing to defend any old overpair with your whole stack. But if you aren’t, then it can be an ok play in early position.

The same goes for the often-maligned min-raise. Making a 2BB raise isn’t necessarily a “donk play” any more than limping in is. In fact, I min-raise from early position with some frequency. Generally speaking, if you min-raise with a big pocket pair, you similarly shouldn’t commit your whole stack with just an overpair.

Playing the Big Hands

Ok, back to the main discussion. You are in early position and are sticking to premium hands. How should you play them? You have two major considerations:

1. You want to protect yourself and your stack since you are out of position.
2. You want to get value from your premium hand.

First, assume that your opponents are weak and unlikely to test you with big bets and bluffs. For instance, say you flop top pair with AK, make a pot-sized bet, and get raised the pot. If you can be fairly confident that you are, on average, a big underdog once you get raised big, then you don’t have much to worry about. You can play aggressively preflop by opening for a solid raise. How big the raise can be depends on what your opponents will call. In some games (particularly in online games) players will be sensitive to raise size and may not call a raise bigger than about 3.5BB or 4BB. If that’s the case, raise that. If you’re playing in a looser game where people will call 6BB or even 8BB raises, then raise that. Because your opponents are timid and won’t test you after the flop, you can get maximum value for your premium hands even from early position.

Now assume your opponents are the opposite. They are wild and make big raises and calls postflop with weak hands and draws. You still have nothing to fear, because you can now safely commit your stack with top pair or an overpair if you get challenged after the flop. So again, you can make a solid raise, as big as your opponents are likely to call.

If your opponents are tricky, however, and can put you in difficult postflop situations when you have just a pair, then you should be more careful. Start limping or making min-raises when you open from early position. Again, you do this to avoid getting stacked after the flop. You also do it for deception. When you limp or min-raise, your opponents are less likely to give you credit for a strong hand, and you’ll find yourself getting raised (or reraised if you min-raised) more often than if you had opened for a larger amount. Generally, you can reraise with your strong hands (AA-QQ and AK at least). And you can reraise sometimes with your weaker hands like 66 as well, especially if the person who raised you is a loose raiser.

The Small and Medium Pocket Pairs

Let’s talk about the small and medium pairs for a moment. Playing these hands does two things for you:

1. It balances your hand range so you don’t always have big cards when you play up front.
2. It allows you to flop sets and win big pots occasionally.

Above, I recommended that against weak players you make big raises with your big early position hands. What about the small and medium pairs? You don’t want a huge pot with a small pair, since usually you’ll fold on the flop. So you don’t want a huge raise either. But you might want to make a small raise rather than limp, because it could make it easier to win a big pot if you “sweeten” it somewhat with a small preflop raise.

The Bottom Line

Against bad players, you want to make big raises (as much as the table is generally calling) with big hands. This is true whether your opponents are timid and fold too much postflop or they are crazy and get all-in too often with bad hands. You want to limp or make a small raise (2BB-3BB or so) with small and medium pairs.

Naturally, making different-sized raises with different hands can be a giveaway to an observant player. So disguise your general plan – sometimes min-raise with pocket aces or make it 4BB with pocket fives. If your opponents are barely observant, then you barely have to disguise your plan. Remember, you won’t be playing much from early position, so your opponents won’t have many data points on you to form a pattern. If you play just a few hundred hands with someone, they’ll be hard-pressed to figure out how you size your early position raises.

If your opponents are tougher and use position well enough to put you in difficult situations post-flop, then play more cautiously. Limp and make small raises (2BB-3BB again) with all of your hands. Also default to this strategy if your opponents are observant and you’re worried that spreading your raises is tipping your hand. If you get raised, then reraise usually with your big hands (AA-QQ and AK) and sometimes with weaker hands (particularly small pairs). If a tough player who has position on you raises, you may even throw away the weakest of your hands (e.g., AQ, AJs, ATs, KQs). In general, avoid limping/min-raising and then calling a raise behind you.

Remember, no-limit is an extremely complex game, and these recommendations are in no way meant to override a situation-by-situation analysis of each hand. It’s merely a general plan that should get you started on the right track.

Move on to the next installment of the Building a No-Limit Hold’em Starting Hand Chart series where we talk about playing in middle position.

They said it couldn’t be done. They meaning me. A starting hand chart for no-limit? Can’t be done. There are too many variables. For as long as I’ve been writing about poker, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with starting hand charts. Mostly skewed towards hate. They are, by their nature, quite imprecise. Yet they have an air of faux precision about them that impels some people to quote them as gospel. No matter how many disclaimers I put in about how this is just a guide or suggestion, and good players will alter the plays from this chart based on situational variables, yada yada, I see over and over again people saying, “Raising is bad because Ed Miller’s chart from four years ago said to limp.” Ugh.

But I do also love them. I think for many players they do more good than harm. They give people confidence and point them in the right direction. Used correctly, a starting hand chart can be a big boost.

I’ve always thought a true starting hand chart for no-limit was out of reach. Preflop play in no-limit cash games is very malleable; a wide array of different styles and strategies can work well, and your opponents’ stack sizes and styles matter a lot also. But then I got this question from Wayne:

I’ve been doing a lot of reading on NL and believe I am starting to absorb some of the concepts. I just bought Professional NL Holdem and will start reading that shortly.

Unfortunately, I feel like I am learning the game backwards. Even though I have a reasonable understanding of many of the post flop concepts, I have absolutely no idea which hands to play from various positions, how much to raise, what hands to call a raise with, what hands to re-raise with etc…. preflop.

When I learned limit from SSH, I used the starting hand charts as a basis for my play and slowly made adjustments over time to isolate weak players, steal more often, plays some extra hands when condition warranted etc… I feel like a need some kind of cookie cutter pre flop standards to help me get going, but when I’ve looked at the Harrington book and Theory and Practice, the standards are different enough to keep me lost.

Can you give me some advice on how I could build a starting hand chart just to get through the first few months of play so I don’t make any terrible mistakes?

And I figured, what the heck. Let’s try to build a decent starting hand chart, step-by-step, on NPA. I’ll write about the reasoning that goes into the chart. Then at the end we’ll compile the whole thing. That way, if someone (mis)reads the chart without the reasoning behind it, which is the most important part, it’s not hanging over my head.

This post is part of the Poker Made Simple series. As with the other articles in the series, the emphasis here will be on solid concepts and ease of understanding. I’m not going to talk about every exception, condition, or possibility. My goal is to build a basic, serviceable starting hand chart that shouldn’t get people into too much trouble in the worst of circumstances. You won’t find the Holy Grail here.

Let’s get on with the chart-building.

For the chart I’ll assume we’re playing 10-handed and that the stacks are mostly roughly 100BB. If you play 6-handed, you can still use the chart, just start with the later positions. The stack size assumption is important, because different sizes can change hand values drastically.

Early position is the first four spots, that is, from four to seven off the button. In general, you simply don’t want to play in early position. It will leave you out of position and vulnerable for the remainder of the hand.

In particular, you don’t want to call raises from early position. Not only does a raise increase the stakes (while you’re in a precarious position), but it also gives the initiative to another player and escalates the postflop betting. Being out of position starts you at an information deficit. Then with escalated betting, you may have only one or at most two postflop bets to figure out “where you’re at” before you have to commit to your hand. Combined, these factors will leave you often guessing in tough decisions, which is decidedly not how you make money at no-limit.

The answer is simply not to play. Some hands are so good that you can win with them despite the problems. But most aren’t. That includes some good-looking hands like A 8 or A T or T 9 . Out of position these hands will bring you headaches, not profits. Avoid them.

So what is worth playing? Pocket pairs (up to and including deuces) are virtually always worth playing if no one has raised yet. And usually they’ll be worth it for a single normal-sized raise. Ace-king is also worth playing. I tend also to play AQs-ATs, KQs, and AQo. Often I fold even AJo and KQo, and since I’d like this chart to be nice and conservative out of position, I’ll recommend you fold them here too.

Before we go any further, I want to debunk a common no-limit myth. There are two words that have almost magical meaning to many no-limit players, encouraging them to play any and all hands as long as the stacks are deep enough. They are “implied odds.” The thought process goes like this:

“Sure, T 8 isn’t a very good hand. But every once in a while it’ll make a monster. And if I catch someone with top pair when I flop, say, two pair, trips, or a straight, I’ll win a whopper that will make up for all the little preflop bets I lose when I miss.”

It’s an alluring thought. And it can be used to justify playing nearly any hand there is. Unfortunately, the logic is basically bogus. Why?

Well, the goal of winning poker is to get an edge over your opponents. Whenever you think about playing a hand, don’t think about how you could win with the hand, think about how it will give you an advantage. Everyone gets dealt two cards. How do your two cards give you enough of a leg up on the competition that you’ll beat the rake on average?

Say you played with 10,000BB stacks (now that’s deep). Theoretically, even 72 could flop a big hand often enough to turn a profit if you managed to stack your opponents most of the time. But if you’re winning with 72, then what are your opponents doing with JT or QQ or K6? Are they all winning too? Does everyone win once the stacks are deep enough?

Of course not. Poker is zero sum (less than that if there’s a rake). If you are a long-term winner on average with your hand, then someone else must necessarily be a long-term loser with theirs. If you have 72, then what hands are you victimizing?

Well, it is indeed possible to make money with 72 with a deep stack, but you need something beyond your cards to build that edge for you. One thing you can do is concentrate on building bigger pots with your winning hands and losing smaller pots with your losing ones. That is one way to generate an edge. Another way is to steal. Since 72 will make a hand less often than your opponents’ hands, you need to steal a lot more to compensate.

So sure, any two cards can make a hand and win a big pot. But each of your opponents gets two cards too, and that’s exactly what they’re thinking, “If I make a big hand, I can win a big pot.” That’s not where your major edge is going to be. You’re going to steal smarter. You’re going to steal more often. And you’re going to win more with your medium-strength (e.g., two pair) hands than they do.

So what’s the point? The point is that out of position with bad cards, you don’t have an edge. Your opponents have cards too, and they have position on you. It’s easy to get seduced by “implied odds” and play small cards out of position, but the reality is that those implied odds are mostly illusory. If you’re in early position, just fold. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief.

So I’ll recommend playing pocket pairs, AK, AQ, and some of the big suited hands in early position. Occasionally you can mix it up with a hand like T9s, but basically stick to those hands. In the next installment of the Building a No-Limit Hold’em Starting Hand Chart series, I talk about when and why to raise or limp, how to choose a raise size, and then hammer out the chart suggestions for early position.

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