14 Sep 2024 bet sizing open raise ranges I started my poker journey with live games, where I felt comfortable and confident. However, after some time, I made the decision to fully transition to online poker, and it has been a tough but rewarding shift. Today, I want to share some of the challenges I faced during this transition, so you and other players can overcome them more easily. Here’s what I learned along the way. More Aggressive Preflop Ranges When I played live, I played super tight (very few hands, very conservative). I rarely bluffed, 3-bet, and never 4-bet as a bluff. When I started playing NL25 online, I realized that I couldn't win with that nitty strategy. I needed to be more aggressive and adjust my preflop ranges to achieve a positive win rate. It was about 10 years ago, and back then there wasn’t much free material to help me with this. Even if I paid for content, I didn’t know where to start. Nowadays, you can easily find optimal starting ranges for all formats of poker and limits. These ranges are aggressive, but they’re built based on GTO and population tendencies. We use GTO as a base, then identify how players are deviating and slightly adjust our default ranges to exploit the opponents. By starting with the correct preflop ranges, you'll make the transition to online poker much easier and boost your profitability. Bet Sizing Adjustments Another issue I faced was bet sizing. Live games tend to have larger bet sizes than online, both for open raises, 3-bets, and 4-bets. This also applies postflop, so here are the three postflop bet sizes you should use if you're playing NL100 or lower: 30% of the pot. Use this size when you want to bet frequently with a wide range of hands (up to 100% of your range). For example, if you open-raise to 2.5 bb from the BTN, the BB calls, and the flop comes K♣7♠2♦, you can range bet here with a 30% size. This means you can bet with any hand in your range. 66% of the pot Use this size on wet flops where you don’t want to range bet. For example, you open-raise to 2.5 bb from the BTN, the BB defends, and the flop comes J♣T♦6♣. It’s a pretty draw-heavy dangerous board. So, you can't bet all hands, but you shouldn't check everything either. Hands like KJ, AQ, and flush draws are good to bet 66% with. 120% of the pot (overbet) Use overts when you have the nut advantage, which means that your range contains more strong (nutted) hands than your opponent's range. For example, you call a raise in the BB, the flop comes Q♠5♣6♣, and it checks to the turn, which is a 2♦. On the flop, your opponent had the nut advantage because he was the preflop aggressor and you were the caller. But after they checked back on the flop, they capped their range, so it likely no longer contains strong hands like sets, two pairs, overpairs, or strong top pairs. Therefore, on the turn, the nut advantage is now on your side, and you can use a large bet size with a polarized range (i.e., strong hands and draws). A larger bet size also allows you to increase the number of bluffs in your range. So, if you have a strong hand like 6♦6♠ or a big draw like 7♣8♣, you can bet 120% to apply more pressure. Use Bet Sizes Wisely Remember, your bets are your weapons. You wouldn’t use a pistol to take down a plane, just like you wouldn’t use a bazooka to deal with a person standing two meters away from you, right?! Don’t worry about getting everything perfect right away. Start by using the recommended flop sizes, get comfortable with them, and then start thinking about other situations where these sizes fit while you play. Poker is about patience and practice. It's better to go slowly in the right direction than rush and make mistakes!