In multi-table tournaments, you quickly become familiar with a variety of situations. But as we learn the essential MTT Poker Basics, there is no spot more crucial than raising from the dealer position (commonly referred to as BTN) and playing post-flop vs. the big blind.

As discussed in the first article of MTT Poker Basics, preflop ranges will vary drastically based on opening position. Early positions trend toward suited, broadway-type hands. But as we approach the BTN, the opening range expands as we attempt to steal the blinds. If played correctly, mastering BTN vs. BB will become your most profitable spot throughout MTTs.

From the beginning stages to late game, ICM-rich scenarios, stealing the blinds will fuel your tournament poker game and keep your stack afloat. But while this game of cat and mouse is common, misunderstanding the nuances across the flop, turn and river can risk punting your stack for a relatively small return. Recognizing key heuristics across each street can help you stay balanced as you try to win the easy pots consistently.

BTN vs. BB Play: Flop

The key to attacking BB as the BTN in single raised pots is recognizing which cards favor who, even with wide ranges on both sides. Since both sides are dealing with the top 40-50% of hands, we can eliminate the stronger hands from the BB range as they would 3-bet our raise preflop. Knowing that we are opening quite wide from the BTN, competent opponents are more likely to 3-bet playable Ace high and Broadway hands.

With this in mind, we can attack Ace high and Broadway boards consistently. On a board like A83 rainbow (flops with three different suits), we will always fire a small continuation bet because our opponent should never have strong hands with an Ace.

The same goes for flops with any combination of King, Queen, Jack or Ten. If we haven’t already flopped top pair on these boards, our range contains more hands with straight draws, backdoor flush draws, etc. Our opponent will have a difficult time continuing with third pair or worse past turns when we continue to assert our range advantage. As a result, we are able to c-bet these flops quite small, risking little to win the whole pot often with nearly our entire range.

Since our range contains the best big pairs and our opponent’s should not, there won’t be flops that the BB has an equity advantage. But make no mistake, there certainly are flops that trend closer to 50/50 equity, and these are where the BTN should be most cautious.

For example, take a low connected board like 764 with a flush draw. Considering the BB’s wide defending range, they will have many hands that should continue vs a small c-bet. They have flopped straights and two pairs, along with all straight draws and flush draws since they defend so many suited hands. Because their range is full of value hands and draws, we should check these flops more often to protect from getting check-raised. Savvy opponents may even check-raise these flops with junk from the BB, understanding that they hit this flop much better than us on average.

For a more thorough deep dive into these flops, check out Gareth James’ DTO Coaching lesson on BTN vs. BB at 30bb below. James breaks down these boards and many more, along with a closer look at c-bet sizing.

More from Gareth James: MTT Poker School: Play & Train Like the Pros

BTN vs. BB Play: Turn

The turn can be a tricky street to play, as it’s often a fork in the road for the size of the pot. If bluffed incorrectly, it can set up for disastrous rivers where you feel pot committed to keep firing your bluff with nothing but a prayer. But there are two simple types of turn cards you can recognize before taking your action.

Proceed cautiously when the second or third pair from the flop pairs on the turn. Since our BB opponent must continue with a wide range, they should rarely fold a pair from the flop. So when our A83 rainbow flop example brings another 8 on the turn, it puts us in a nasty situation where they often make trips.

Even with an Ace, we are less likely now to get three streets of value from worse hands. It’s worth considering checking your weak to medium top pairs on this turn to protect your checking range. This helps keep your King and Queen high river bluffs credible as you could believably play your top pairs the same way.

Getting called on the flop with a nothing hand can be nerve wracking, but rest assured, our equity can drastically improve without even making a pair on the turn. For example, sticking with A83 rainbow, let’s say that the Jack of spades arrives on the turn. This could bring our unpaired hands like KTss (King Ten of spades) a gutshot and backdoor flush draw, along with two overs to our opponent’s most likely pairs. Not only have we added all these strong draws, but we can fire another c-bet as the Jack is a pair we can reasonably have that now beats the 8 or 3. This is a hand that we are going to want to bet larger, roughly between half to full pot often.

If you were a fan of Gareth James’ DTO coaching on the flop, definitely watch his next session focusing on the Turn as well. His coaching is invaluable for a spot that may leave inexperienced players left unsure past the flop.

BTN vs. BB Play: River

By the river, we need to be polarized, often betting large either for value or as a bluff. Recognizing which draws have completed and which parts of your opponent’s range may fold is key to picking the best opportunities to steal an inflated pot on the river vs. BB.

As a beginner, it’s always helpful to pick the low hanging fruit. There are obvious draws that you can be wary of when they hit and attack when they miss.

For example, you may consider firing all three bullets of your bluff on a river from an Ace high flop when a flush draw has missed. But this bluff becomes more profitable when your own hand doesn’t contain the flush draw suit, adding more flush draws to your opponent’s range. Ranges will vary based on flop texture, but we are more inclined to be aggressive without showdown value when there is reason to believe our opponent may have a hand that can give up easily.

But even without showdown value, there will be certain rivers you must give up on. Consider a different board, let’s say A76 with the lower cards being of clubs. Imagine a nasty runout of the 6 of hearts and 5 of clubs.

Sure, this flop was relatively good for your range originally. But by the river, our opponent has made flushes, straights, trips and two pair so often that bluffing a hand without relevant blockers like JTo could be a disaster. At this point, even a bare pair of Aces as strong as AKo is willing to check, even with the Ace of clubs!

Keep in mind, these types of rivers are only the tip of the iceberg. There are a number of factors to consider. For an excellent flowchart of decisions to consider ahead of your river bluff, I recommend this PokerCoaching.com video from Jonathan Little.

“Perfecting” common BTN vs. BB spots

“Practice makes perfect” is easier said than done. While recognizing key cards to bluff and understanding equity shifts are essential tools, they are a nuanced means of attack best deployed carefully considering opponent tendencies. The optimal play vs. a poker solver may be torching your stack vs an opponent that’s never considered the same details.

That said, continuing to practice and use heuristics to your advantage is a perfect way to have a strong strategy to default to. I chose to focus on BTN vs. BB play because it is one of the most common spots to win chips consistently throughout MTTs. Next time you are in a tournament, try to take notes on at least three different opportunities you had to steal the blinds. Consider how your preflop range applies to each street across the hand. Whether you won or lost the hand, it’s important to review and understand your decision making and thought process.

A newfound appreciation for the process will help you critique the finer details of hands. In the long run, appreciating these small decisions will add up in your pursuit of perfecting these most profitable spots. Before you know it, you’ll be paying the same attention to detail to the more advanced spots still to come.

As we begin 2023, tournament poker may be as exciting as we have ever seen. Live poker has made a tremendous comeback following the early days of COVID-19, online tournament series are growing bigger by the season, and mystery bounties are being pulled for $1 million. If you have an interest in poker, the tournament scene is hard to ignore these days.

But make no mistake: tournament poker is a game of precision among chaos. Unlike the steady deep stacked cash games you know and love, tournaments can be a tilt-inducing minefield of all ins, dwindling stacks, and major swings. They can be a roller coaster of emotion for the faint of heart but a rewarding path to glory for those willing to cut their teeth and learn the fundamentals.

As a recreational player who has started taking the game seriously, I can tell you the number one way to bring some level of order to this chaos is simple. You must learn your preflop ranges to succeed consistently in tournament poker.

Adjusting to opening positions

If you are reading this, you have likely played poker and are familiar with solid hands. (If not, we’ve got you covered.) There are simple things that everyone knows. Big pocket pairs are good. Two face cards are nice. Connected small cards can make sneaky good hands. But learning how each of these common beliefs holds true across stack sizes and situations is key.

For example, at 80bb (80 Big Blinds, for those learning online poker-speak) from early position you look down at QTo (Queen-Ten offsuit. We see you!). You have two cards that might make top pair or straights occasionally. How quickly can we put the raise in, right?

That thinking may have flown in years past, but these lesser offsuit broadways have become easy folds as the game has progressed. With several players left to act, hands like these leave you in trouble postflop out-of-position far too often. Since we are more likely to play out of position, we prefer to raise our best suited holdings from early position. At 80bb, we basically fold all offsuit hands worse than ATo and KJo. This way, we can comfortably call 3bets with the best parts of this opening range and flop both strong hands and draws when we go postflop.

If you are raising first to act at an eight-handed table, you are only opening the top ~17% of hands. This includes these very best offsuit hands, all of the suited broadways and Aces, and suited two gappers down to about 98s. We can even fling pocket pairs like 22, 33, and 44 into the muck at some frequency.

The range of hands you should be willing to open will widen as you approach the BTN (Button, to the right of the small blind and in position. I’m sorry.) At 80bb on the BTN, you can widen your range to more than 50% of hands. The opportunity to steal the blinds and play in position postflop is so valuable that you now open hands as weak as J3s, 74s, K5o! It’s night and day compared to early position, and it’s crucial to open this wide. Players still play too snug from the blinds and you will pick up more chips from late position than anywhere else.

For more on these broad preflop concepts, I highly recommend starting with this PokerCoaching.com video from Jonathan Little:

Once you’re ready to go into more detail, create a free account on GTOwizard.com and start exploring their Solutions tab. This area is totally free and allows you to study opening ranges across stack sizes up to 100bb. Understanding how your opening ranges change is key, and GTO Wizard offers the best free preflop resource out there.

Practice makes perfect

It’s great to learn about different groups of hands in your ranges. You need to refer to these charts away from the table when you review your play. But in my experience, there’s no better way to get your opening ranges down than good old fashion drilling.

Pick a position and stack depth, then pull up a random poker hand generator online. Generate 20 random hands and write each down with “Raise” or “Fold” as you move along. Once you’re done, log into GTO Wizard and double-check if your responses were right. You can run through 20 hands pretty quickly, and if you’re doing this even a handful of times a week, then you are going to make progress fast.

Sometimes being card dead can get a little boring too. One way to keep yourself busy is drilling at the table. When you are dealt a hand you clearly fold from an early position like 92s, ask yourself, “What’s the worst suited 9 I should raise here?” Asking these questions and reviewing later is a great way to constantly challenge your understanding.

One of my favorite PokerCoaching instructors Matt Affleck has a great free video below that dives deeper into studying and memorization that I highly recommend as well. You can’t go wrong watching any videos they offer on this subject.

Preflop is only the first step

It’s one thing to know where you open QTo from, but what to do when you face 3bets out of position? When you get called by four people and go multiway to the flop? Which hands should you be calling all ins for 8-10bb with? Or even 15-20bb?

There are tons of concepts and situations to understand, and they will not come overnight. My advice is try not to get overwhelmed by that. If you take learning this format one step at a time, you will be surprised how quickly results may come in your favor.

Let’s be clear: improving preflop alone is not going to win you any WSOP bracelets. But as a beginner, it’s the surefire first step toward success. Focusing on preflop accuracy early on may be your best bet at the tournament tables.

And that’s exactly the idea behind the MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course developed by Red Chip Poker. Instead of being all over the place and giving you a bit of this and a bit of that, the course focuses on one very particular and very important segment of tournament play and breaks it down in detail, answering many questions about how to build your original shoving ranges, how to adjust them to your opponents’ tendencies and various tournament situations, and much more.

Red Chip Poker MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course: A Breakdown of the Components

Although the course provides a wealth of information, it does so in a very condensed, time-saving format, with six videos lasting about 40-50 minutes each (apart from the last one), broken down by positions:

• Theoretical part introduces and explains how the course is structured
• Two videos cover play from the blinds (big and small)
• One video address play from the cutoff and the button
• One video deals with early and middle position
• The final lesson looks into particular situations (early, final table, satellites)

The main instructor, Ben Hayles, who created all but the final video, takes this positional approach instead of a situational one and then goes through different tournament situations for each position. As a student of the game, this approach definitely felt like an easier one to follow and it makes everything presented in the course more structured.

Building Ranges with Holdem Resources Calculator and Factoring in ICM

Throughout the MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course, Hayles uses a program called HoldemResources Calculator (HRC), which is a really nice piece of software that lets you construct your ranges based on the opponents’ perceived ranges, which you can further adjust to be more in line with games you play in.

The first video lays out the structure of the course and main ideas that will be highlighted in every video, such as stack sizes, fold equity, EV calculations by chip EV (cEV) and when factoring in the ICM ($EV), opponents’ ranges and tendencies, etc. in this first part of the course, we’re introduced to all of these concepts and provided with explanations how each one of them comes into play when constructing our 3-bet shoving ranges.

The final part of this introductory video contains a Questioning Drill, which raises several questions that will be used in all of the later videos when figuring out what to do in particular situations and how to decide what hands should and shouldn’t be included in your 3-betting ranges in different spots.

Red Chip Poker MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course: Moving Around the Table

First two videos in the course address the play from the blinds. In the first video, Hayles constructs ranges for the big blind and explains some interesting and relevant ideas about the big blind. While it is usually considered one of the two worst positions to be in, 3-bet shoving helps you get rid of the positional disadvantage. At the same time, being last to act before the flop, you get to have most information before you make your move. He also mentions the ever-important concept of pot odds, which is especially important in the big blind, when you already have money in the pot.

The second video discusses small blind and although many of the ideas are similar, we always have to factor in for the big blind still to act behind us, as they could potentially wake up with a hand. One important takeaway from both of these videos, though, is that we should have pretty wide 3-bet shoving ranges in the blinds but always keep in mind things such as fold equity (or non-existence thereof), ICM, and our opponents’ calling ranges.

The video on the cutoff and button play is structured in the same way, going through all the same motions where we consider the position of the original raiser, our stack depth, and ICM. However, at this point, Hayles also introduces the idea of constructing calling ranges, which aren’t as big of a consideration when playing from the blinds. He emphasizes the importance of building both of these ranges together and including more hands into your calling range as stacks get deeper, especially on the button where we are guaranteed to have position after the flop.

Finally, we look into constructing 3-bet shoving ranges from early and middle positions. This is where our ranges become much more rigid as we have so many players to act behind that we can’t afford to play too wide. With deeper stacks, especially, there will be far more hands included in our calling range.

Contsructing ranges

In all of the videos, there are several hand examples explaining concepts that have been discussed at various stages of a tournament:

• Shallow stacks with no ICM implications
• Deeper stacks with no ICM
• How things change when ICM comes into play

Red Chip Poker MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course: 3-Bet Shoves at Different Stages

The final video in the MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course was produced by Gareth James, and although it is shorter than other lessons (only about 25 minutes), it helps wrap things up nicely by looking at 3-bet shoving ranges at different stages of a tournament:

• Early on with no ICM considerations
• In satellites, with one player away from the bubble
• At a final table, where ICM becomes a very important factor

The video uses the same approach, applying HRC calculations to come up with optimal ranges for different scenarios. This one is an excellent resource to understand just how big of an impact ICM has in tournaments, especially in satellites with a short stack and several similarly-sized stacks.

In a satellite with a short stack and several similarly sized stacks, the original opener should fold 100% of their range to your shove, including pocket Aces

Of course, the video also addresses the issue of your opponents’ playing without taking ICM into consideration and just using the standard cEV calculations. In this kind of a scenario, we must change our 3-betting ranges quite significantly and tighten up as we can’t afford to get looked up lightly with significant money jumps imminent and shorter stacks waiting to bust.

Red Chip Poker MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course: Well Worth The Price!

Paying for resources is often a painful point with poker players because there genuinely is so much useful poker information online for free. While this is true, you won’t find this type of information organized in such an easy-to-follow way and presented with in-depth explanations and great examples.

As such, at just $69.99, Red Chip Poker’s MTT 3-Bet Shoves Crash Course is really a steal. It will help you greatly with constructing your shoving ranges at various stack depths and at different stages of a tournament that it will surely end up paying for itself many times over. The additional cherry on top is that you can actually download the course to your computer (around 500MB in total) so it can be yours forever.

If you’re looking to improve your MTT game and figure out how to be more aggressive in the spots that make sense, you’ll definitely want to buy this course. It will help your ROI increase by quite a margin in no time!

I liked it enough to get the “Road to Success” Premium package, which offers more than 90 lessons and supplements. For those who don’t have the bankroll to splurge, PokerNerve also offers a payment plan (three payments of $249) or a “Basic Package” for $139. The latter is a scaled back version of the course with just 20 lessons and supplements.

Special for Cardplayer Lifestyle readers! Use promo code CPL to save 25%!

You’ll be taught by Kelvin “Acesup” Beattie, who has amassed more than $4 million playing online over 14 years. During that time, he has also won 10 triple crowns. Not surprisingly, he was at one time the No. 1 ranked online poker player in all of Australia according to PokerStake.

PokerNerve MTT Training: Disclaimers

Before going any further, let me be clear – I am not an online player. I’m based in the United States and I won’t play on unregulated sites. As such, the only opportunity I have to play poker online is when I’m in Las Vegas for the WSOP each summer. Even so, I find that a lot of online MTT strategy can be tailored to fit live play. At the very least, it helps me understand online players better when I encounter them across the table in live tournaments, like World Series of Poker events.

Also, note that the MTT Training course must be accessed via a web browser, as there’s currently no mobile app for PokerNerve. That said, the functionality of the site is solid, due in no small part to its simplicity.

PokerNerve MTT Training: Course Breakdown — What Do You Get?

Here’s a look at what you get from PokerNerve’s MTT Training course:

• 40+ Premium Theory Videos
• 50+ Supplemental Learning Videos
• Guided Learning from Beginner to Expert
• Plus, access to an ever-evolving video library

The videos average 40 minutes in length, so getting the most from the course is certainly a time commitment. It’s worth noting, however, that they’re not frivolous videos. By that, I mean that you don’t have to watch tons of footage before getting a tidbit of wisdom. Instead, Beattie gets to the point quickly. The videos are focused and reliable.

As for the lesson plan, it’s laid out in a linear path. You simply start with Module 1, Lesson 1, and work your way through in sequential order. As many training sites I’ve tried lack organization, the simplicity of that sequential order can’t be understated.

PokerNerve MTT Training: Modular Breakdown

PokerNerve’s MTT Training course is comprised of six Modules, with two each devoted to basic lessons, intermediate lessons, and more advanced strategies.

Module 1 includes a basic introduction, ranging from topics like hand values to board texture to post-flop strategies to positional awareness. Module 2 then moves into stack sizes, implied odds, and play based on your stack size (short, medium, and deep). If you’re an experienced tournament player, you’re likely familiar with most of this information. Still, it never hurts to review the basics.

Module 3 kicks things up a notch by introducing semi-bluffing, playing from the blinds, and profiting from aggression. Module 4 piggybacks off this by discussing bluffing, hand planning, bet sizing, and isolating. It’s also here that you’ll learn about using a heads-up display (HUD), which, as mentioned above, wasn’t really applicable to me. That said, it was nice to get a sense of what sort of tools are available to online poker players.

In the advanced strategies portion of the course, Module 5 takes a look at the different stages of a tournament, from the early levels and then progressing on through final table and heads-up play. You’ll also learn about bubble play and the Independent Chip Model (ICM). For me, mastery of the information presented here is really what separates serious players from recreational ones.

To give you a personal example, I recently played a $200 buy-in tournament at my local casino. Six players remained but only five would get paid. I had a meager 5bb stack, but, amazingly, two other players had stacks of just 2bb. The blinds were going to hit them before me, so – long story short – I ended up folding Big Slick to a raise. They thought I was crazy, and then I mentioned there were too many ICM implications.

“What’s ICM?” a lady at the table asked.

“It means making it into the money,” another player responded. Neither had a clue, and I wasn’t about to educate them (why should I give away the lessons I pay to learn?!). Anyway, there are few things more important late in a poker tournament than understanding ICM, so if you don’t, find a way to learn. As mentioned, PokerNerve’s MTT Poker Training course can teach you.

Back to Module 6, it’s here that concepts like advanced opening ranges, continuation betting and over betting are examined. This is the dessert after digesting the meal. If you’re good, the lessons here will make you really good.

I thoroughly enjoyed working my way through PokerNerve’s MTT Poker Training course and came away feeling I got my money’s worth. But don’t just take my word for it; take it from the UK’s Jack Sinclair, who was one of 2017’s hottest players.

He’s best known for finishing eighth in the 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event for $1.2 million. A month later he took down the partypoker German Poker Championships €25,000 Super High Roller for $294,735.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without the Road to Success,” said Sinclair, who saw a 100,000% return on his initial $690 investment for the course. “Two years ago, I was struggling to beat the low stakes. Getting on the Road to Success was the best decision I ever made. It taught me the skills I needed, not just to beat the low stakes, but to go on to crush the mid- and even the highest stakes available.”

PokerNerve MTT Training Bonus Module — 2 Months 50K Challenge

If there is one thing that poker players know how to appreciate, that’s putting your money where your mouth is. That’s exactly what Kelvin does in the bonus module, entitled “2 months 50K.” As you could guess from the title, the module features Beattie as he straps in to do some serious grinding and try to reach the $50,000 profit mark within two months.

The module contains 14 videos in total with recordings of real-time tournament play. You get to see every step of the journey, which makes these videos not just very educational (as Beattie explains his thought process in all important spots), but also quite entertaining.

So, does he get there in the end? No spoilers in this review. You’ll just have to watch it for yourself to see how this challenge ends.

PokerNerve MTT Training: Worth the Price?

There are a lot of training sites out there, but few have the intimate and personalized feel of PokerNerve. Perhaps more importantly, they give you the opportunity to experience it for free with the aforementioned 7-day trial, so there’s really nothing to lose and no excuse for not checking them out if you’re serious about improving your game.

Special for Cardplayer Lifestyle readers! Use promo code CPL to save 25%!