Flatcalling

QUESTIONS BEFORE ANY ACTION PREFLOP...

1. WHO RAISED?
• Exploitative approach
• vs nits: we play tighter range
• vs loose players: we play wider range
2. WHO IS BEHIND?
• Tight players behind:
• we play more hands as we will have position postflop
• Maniac behind: 
• we tighten our range
3. WHO IS IN THE BLINDS?
• Fish/whale in the BB-> 
• we loosen up our range
4. WHAT ARE THE STACKSIZES?
• We only call SCs vs big stacksizes and good top pair hands vs small stacksizes

In EP, we want very tight flat-calling range

In LP, we loosen up our flat-calling range

Hand selection:

-Pocket pairs, suited connectors and Ax suited hands

-We want to be careful with our offsuit hands as we have less implied odds

IMPLIED ODDS

-vs good players, we want high implied odds

-vs weak players, we do not need high implied odds

• Low pocket pair [22-66]
• More valuable vs strong range
• Low suited connectors
• More valuable vs strong range
• Less valuable vs weak range
• Offsuit broadways
• Less valuable vs strong range
• More valuable vs weak range

ALWAYS BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF

-ARE WE ABLE TO FOLD 2 PAIRS OR TRIPS WHEN ACTION GETS BIG?

-IF NO THEN WE SHOULD STICK TO PLAYING TIGHTER RANGES.

Isolating/Overlimping

VILLAIN'S LIMPING RANGE ARE PLAYER DEPENDENT
-loose fun player: limp very wide and raise strong hands-> discount big hands from his limping range
-good regular: limp small PP, small AXs, SCs

ISOLATING RULES:
-Add 1 BB for every limper
-Use every live reads we have: villain limp fold often: iso wider
-Bigger raise size vs fish for max value and to get the pot HU
-Always iso-raise tighter than our RFI range (Iso 1 position tighter range)
-vs many limpers-> we iso-raise tighter [88+, QTs+, KTs+, A9s+, ATo+]

OPEN-LIMPING RULES:
-ONLY on weak tables: open limp weak pocket pairs, suited Ax and suited connectors from EP

OVERLIMPING RULES:
-Do not limp weak offsuit hands or weak flush hands [A2o, 32s]
-Limp offsuit broadways, suited Ax and suited connectors

SB ISO-RAISING RANGE
-Very tight range as we're OOP [88+, AJo+, ATs+]
-We overlimp most of our range vs other limpers.

VS WEAKER OPPONENTS
-We generally want to iso-raise wider to get HU- but still not too wide
-vs tight players behind we want to iso-raise wider especially if there is a fish or a whale in the BB
-See if there's any fold equity by iso-raising vs many limpers-> if there isnt any , we rather overlimp.

Opening Ranges 100BB+

UTG

UTG+1

UTG+2

MP1

MP2

HJ

CO

BTN

Raise from Blinds

Opening Ranges Approach

PLAY A TIGHT/AGGRESSIVE STYLE

BEFORE OPENING ANY HAND (VERY IMPORTANT!!!):

1. ALWAYS identify player types/positions/stacksizes- make this into a habit
2. Where are the weak players?
3. Who is in the blinds? If fish- open more hands
4. Who is in LP? Looser player behind- tighten our range

AGAINST DIFFERENT STACKSIZES
-tighten up vs smaller stacksizes- play hands that will make good top pair hands [KQ, AJ, TT]

-vs big effective stacks- play hands that makes strong 5 cards hands [A5s ,44, 67s]

SIZING

-open 3-5x standard- adjust to table sizes

-use bigger size in EP and smaller size in LP

EXPLOITATIVE SIZING
-where are the fish?

-eg. we open AA to 8x when fish is in the BB

Overall Approach, Mindset and Goals

SELF AWARENESS IS KEY IN POKER
-Be honest with your game and your mistakes.

THINK OF POKER AS ONE LONG SESSION
-Every decision counts, develop tough mindset

NO EGO
-Make profitable decisions based on information on each street

STRONG MINDSET IS KEY
-Tilt must be eliminated
-Try to overcome tilt by writing the emotions down to understand it for later sessions

WRITE DOWN LONG TERM GOALS + BREAKDOWN TO SHORT-TERM GOALS
-Make them attainable and create structure/process we can follow



LONG-TERM GOALS:

1. Be the best player at the table and be a profitable player
2. Make the correct decisions when playing
3. Being able to put them in a range

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

1. Study and fully understand each concepts in poker
2. Overcoming tilt and bad swings
3. Think of poker as one long session
4. Stay calm and focused at the table