PRE FLOP
AA AKs AKo
KK KQs AQs
QQ QJs AJs
JJ JTs KJs
But what about preflop? How wide can we stack for 100bbs? This depends on our position at the
table.
• UTG/MP or versus UTG/MP - Stack KK/AA
• BB/SB/BTN/CO vs a player in those positions - Stack QQ+/AK
POST FLOP
ABC for value
The first step is understanding how many streets we should be betting with various value
hands. Naturally the following is just a rough guide since we face a wide variety of different
situations at the table. But...let's keep it ABC.
With Initiative
• 2 pair or better - Bet 3 streets for value
• Top Pair Top Kicker - 3 streets for value if your pair is Q and above
• Top Pair - Bet 2 streets, give up on the river
• 2nd pair - Bet 1 street, or bet 2 streets for a smaller sizing. Give up on river.
• Bottom Pair - Fire once and give up
Without Initiative – Facing Cbets
• 2 pair or better - Raise flop and stack off
• Top Pair Top Kicker (Qx and above) - Call flop, Call turn, Decide River
• Top Pair - Call flop, Call turn, Fold river
• 2nd Pair - Call flop, decide turn
• Bottom Pair - Call flop, Fold turn
What if we Improve though? What if we call the flop with something like 2nd pair and
improve on the turn?
• Top 2 or better – Raise turn and stack off
• 2 pair (but not top 2) – Call turn, Call river
ABC Semi-Bluffing
Semi-bluffing is extremely profitable in hold'em and should be considered as part of a standard
ABC strategy.
With Initiative
• Flush-draws - Fire 2 streets, give up on the river (exceptions in bluffing section)
• Open ended straight draws - Fire 2 streets, give up on river
• Nut gutshots with overs - Fire 2 streets, give up on river
• Gutshots - Fire 1 street, give up on the turn
• Backdoor nut or second nut flush-draw - Fire flop, barrel turn if we pick up FD otherwise x/f
Without Initiative – Facing Cbets
• King-High-FDs and better - Raise
• Q-high-FD's and lower - Call
• Nut-gutshots - Raise
• Other gutshots - Raise
• Nut opened ended straight draws - Raise
• Other opened ended straight draws - call
• Backdoor nut flush-draw - Raise, unless texture is very dry, then call
But what if our flop-raise gets called?
• King-high-FD's and better - Fire turn
• Nut-gutshots - Fire if it's still the nut draw otherwise x/f
• Other gutshots - Check/fold
• Nut OESD's - Fire turn
• Backdoor nut flush-draw - Fire turn if we pick up the draw otherwise check/fold.
What if we just call? If we improve to a made hand we can think about raising the turn for
value.
• Top 2 or better – Raise turn and stack off
• 2 pair (but not top 2) – Call turn, Call river
• Any pair (with redraw) – Call turn, Fold River
ABC Bluffing
Bluffing can be used sparingly as part of our ABC strategy, but there are some awesome spots
where we should nearly always bet.
Bluffing Spots – Without Initiative
We cold-call IP and......
• Villain skips his flop cbet - Always bet
• Villain fires flop and skips his turn cbet - Always bet
We cold-call OOP and....
• Villain checks back flop - Always bet turn
• Villain cbets flop but checks back turn - Always bet river
Bluffing Spots – With Initiative
We will reach the river with some of our busted oesd's, flush-draws and gutshots. Should we ever
fire? Depending on what you consider ABC, you don't have to, but as part of this particular ABC
strategy we will say that if our showdown value on the river is 9-high or lower then we will always
fire.
We should also look out for situations where the river comes 4-to-a-straight or 4-to-a-flush, in
which case we should always fire.
Facing a Flop Raise
This is a tricky spot which it makes sense to have a default strategy for. We cbet and get raised, how
wide should we call?
• Top-2-and-better - 3bet/Stack
• 2 pair - Call flop raise, call turn bet, decide river
• Top Pair Top Kicker - Call flop, Call turn if our pair is Qx and higher and we have A or K
kicker
• Top Pair - Call flop, fold turn
• 2nd Pair and lower - Fold Flop
• Flush-draws and Oesd's - Call flop and play turn according to pot-odds
• Gutshots and weaker - Fold flop
Facing a Turn Raise
Continue with top 2 and better for 100bb stacks, fold all other hands.
A couple of important things to keep in mind if you are new to poker is that this guide has not
touched on 2 important principles involved in making the best decisions :
• Effective stacks
• Board Texture
Often we will decide to play our monster hands slowly on a dry texture
Also, the stacking ranges are based on 100bb effective stacks. It’s important to understand that
the deeper the effective stacks the tighter we must stack off, while the shallower the effective
