Small Stakes No-Limit Hold'em - Topic: Hands to open UTG 9 handed

mountainman on Hands to open UTG 9 handed

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:35:27 +0000

LOL, saying only AA is good enough to open without steal equity is just silly. When people open utg with KK, QQ, JJ, AK, they are NOT merely trying to steal a pot. Those are all hands with excellent showdown equity.

pythoneer on Hands to open UTG 9 handed

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:47:36 +0000

Well, the first part of the book is about this. Any hand is good enough to open UTG, if your stealing equity added to your pot equity is > 0. And only AA is good enough to open without steal equity. Experience will tell you how likely you can steal, and that information makes you decide whether to open or not.

Scott on Hands to open UTG 9 handed

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:56:25 +0000

What hands are strong enough to open UTG at a 9 handed table? If we want no more than a 10% chance we are dominated by someone yet to act, AA-QQ, AKs, and AKo are strong enough to raise. JJ just barely misses the cut as it leaves us with an 11% chance of being dominated. For these calculations, I assume domination as anything less than 43% showdown equity against 1 opponent. I chose to use 43% as this is reasonable once you come in for a raise and figure in the blinds.

Is a 10% chance of being dominated too low? If I bump it up to 20%, our range opens to include JJ-99 and AQs, AQo. Just trying to get a feel as to what an acceptable domination risk is...