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Preflop ranges in six-max cash

Alex Martin talks about the need to establish your preflop range when playing six-max cash games.

By Alex Martin on Wednesday 1 Jul 2009 09:00

Part of the following series: Six education – playing six-max ring games


Cards spread beside a player's hand

Position is crucial in six-max cash games. Get the edge with our guide to six-max raising ranges

Position is incredibly important in six-max cash games, and you need to approach every seat very differently. Obviously there are no absolutes in terms of what hands you can raise from each position preflop, but here we've given some suggestions for typical small and mid-stakes cash games.

UTG and UTG+1

Because of the positional disadvantage, you should be more inclined to fold than do anything else in the first two seats. There are subtle differences between an under-the-gun (UTG) and UTG+1 range, but in general opening the pot in early position will lead to problems unless you are an exceptional post-flop player.

Bad opening bets are often the start of compound errors down later streets. You can ensure better and more consistent results by only playing your strongest hands out of position. Voluntarily entering pots out of position makes it harder for you to know when to value-bet or bluff correctly. Being first to act amplifies your own mistakes while making it easier for your opponent to reduce theirs. Out of position you have less control, less information and fewer options than your decent opponents. In most reasonably tight six-max games you should be opening a relatively tight range.

Early-position ranges

Your standard UTG and UTG+1 raising range should generally include all pocket pairs. At the really loose tables ditch the small pocket pairs that will be tough to play post-flop against multiple players. A-K and A-Q offsuit are the daddies of the unpaired world and you should open with these on every online single six-max cash game from under the gun. K-Q and K-J suited can also be opened on a vast majority of tables. You would need to be playing tough opponents to warrant folding these holdings preflop.

Open-limping is nearly always a mistake as is varying your bet-sizing against decent, regular players, although you can normally vary your bet sizes against fish and bad regulars. You want to avoid setting yourself up with hands that have negative implied odds (i.e., they could easily be dominated and lose you a big pot). Even though I think domination is generally overrated, hands like Q-J and K-J unsuited are junk in early position and should be treated as such. If they are suited you can open with them but only if you are confident in your post-flop reads and skill advantage. You should also be aware of the table dynamic. If you are being three-bet a lot of the time then you should not open the betting. Also if you are getting called every hand by loose-aggressive post-flop players then don’t open the betting.

In the blinds

When considering big blind hand ranges you will be thinking about the range of hands with which you will defend against a steal with – walked pots are somewhat of a rarity in six-max. It is difficult to assign a range to what will be a call, overcall or a three-bet, but here are some ideas about what should influence your decisions on the hands you play from the blinds.

Generally in the blinds we will be facing a raise from a variety of positions. Your response to each of these opens will be based on the specific villain and his position. If a loose-aggressive player opens the button, you can three-bet 2-2 from the small blind. However, if a good tight-aggressive player opens from under the gun and it is folded round to you in the big blind folding small pocket pairs is fine. In general, I like to play relatively tight from the blinds, balancing a three-betting and calling strategy.

For example, if a tight player opens in early position and the pot will be heads-up, I would advocate flat-calling any pocket pair above sevens, and K-Q suited and above. If the player was super tight then all pocket pairs and some suited connectors would be fine as you have true implied odds as he will often have a big pocket pair.

Big blind considerations

If you were in the small blind and the big blind was a huge loose fish then you would call with the pairs also, knowing that the pot will be three-way a lot of the time. The presence of the fish forces the preflop opener to play more honest and gives you better-implied odds.

In the big blind, if the small blind completes and no one else has entered the pot, you effectively have the button with less players in the pot, so you can play a similarly wide range (obviously with a raise).

If there are multiple limpers, raising from the blinds is obviously an option. Generally, I like to have a very tight range for these spots. Players that limp-call preflop often put you in marginal situations. I would advocate a very tight range like pocket eights and above and suited cards of A-J and higher for a raising range. Also crank up your opening bet size to something like four big blinds, plus one big blind per limper in an effort to narrow the field or take the dead money preflop.

Cutoff and button

The cutoff and the button are the positions from which you will make the majority of your winnings. Objectives from this position are to steal blinds, isolate limpers and isolate bad players that open before you. Because you have position throughout the hand you can open a very wide range of hands. If you raise, you will be playing a raised pot in position, which is a surefire way to make money. A good continuation-betting strategy will also ensure you a lot of winnings without a showdown. People generally play worse against aggressive opponents in raised pots when the opponent has the initiative. They make big errors like running huge dumb bluffs, let their opponent control the pot size and often fold the best hand.

The button and the cutoff should be played aggressively provided the right conditions are in place. Firstly, the table cannot be full of bad players. However, the button can be abused when you are playing weak-tight regulars at 100/200 no-limit, who won’t give you too much grief post-flop and have easily identifiable betting patterns. Be wary about playing too loose on the button if the blinds contain good aggressive players who will three-bet with a very wide range. From the cutoff, be especially wary of opening a wide range if the button is a good aggressive player who abuses position. Playing against a regular three-bettor out of position is a real headache.

Soft table range

The following gives a rough idea of a decent range at a soft table. By no means is this the type of range you should have 100% of the time. You should identify the player types and tweak your strategy based on the various factors in play.

You should be looking to play all the hands you would open in early position from this stronger position as well as A-x suited, K-x suited, Q-x suited and occasionally any two suited cards. Suited hands allow you to put pressure on weak tight opponents. Often you will flop hands with reasonable equity with which you can apply pressure. You would also be looking to play all Broadway hands, most suited connectors and gapped suited connectors from 4-6 suited and higher. Your range should also include most decent connecting cards from 8-9 offsuit and above.


Comments

I can only talk micro-stakes here but here's my opinion..

1. OK the straight is hidden and dangerous but how often is this hand going to hit the flop that hard?
2. If you hit the flush and bet, only better flushes (with position on you) are really like to be calling the turn and river
3. If you're a weak post flop player you could get sucked in with a low top pair if your 7 or 8 pair on the flop - Be honest how would you play a 8 5 3 flop - ready to waste money on it?

Comment by step7 - 15/07/09 (Report)

Why not open sometimes hands like 87s from UTG? When you hit big on the flop, your hits are well covered in most cases and your opponents might easier call your cbet and you get good value to your hand.

Comment by Frande1982 - 09/07/09 (Report)

Edited on: 09 Jul 2009 12:58

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