Professor Plotkin ep 1

This chart is a great way for us to visually spot where we can open up our 3-betting range or open up or defending range to avoid being exploited. Before we go into breaking down the numbers, I need to explain how this chart works.

The Open % is an assigned range a player will raise from the varying positions around the table. As you can see, the range gets looser as we approach the BTN and Ls BTN stands for Loose BTN. Combos is the combination of hands a player will have given the Open %. The 4 categories after Combos is a players 3-bet defend range. The bottom chart is a breakdown of the hands that correspond to a players defending range. The output in the 4 categories is how often a player is defending given their position/open % and 3-bet defend range. So for example, if a player opens UTG with 16% of his hands and is super tight versus 3-bets, he will be defending versus a 3-bet 16% of the time. Mathematically, it would be 2.6/16 = .1625 or 16%.

The chart basically states that the looser a player's open range is and the tighter they defend versus 3-bets the more liberally you can 3-bet them. This is the case up until your opponents or you start defending with a Loose range. We should always be looking out for players who defend too tightly because they are basically free money to 3-bets, but not the case versus a Loose defender because we are going to have to play pots post-flop and lose the benefit of scoring an immediate profit. Conversely the chart tells us that if we are opening wide, we must widen our defending range otherwise we will become exploitable.

Couple of things the chart has emphasized for me is:

• Take advantage of the nits who fold to 3-bets too much
• Be aware of my steal range and whether it is exploitable by another solid player
• Adjust versus opponent's 3-bet by either opening up my defend range or lowering my steal range which proportionately increases my defend range because I will have more strong hands with respect to my overall range.
• Depolarize my 3-bet range versus players who do not fold by significantly increasing my 3-bet value hands.
• Attempt to 3-bet more because it can be very profitable if done correctly, especially IP.