A simple plan to learn at home. Memorize it. Never look it up at the table.
New to live poker? Start with Low-stakes basics.Draft — pending review by a live-cash coach
Study before, review after. Memorize it. Never look it up at the table. Nothing in this app is for use during a hand.
Each tag says what a claim rests on: a theory baseline holds in any game, a live-game adjustment assumes loose, passive low-stakes tables, and confidence is our draft read.
Before the flop
Play fewer hands up front and more hands on the button.
Theory baseline · high confidence
Why: Acting last gives you more information, so the same hand is worth more there than in early seats.
Raise or fold. Do not just call, which is called limping.
Theory baseline · high confidence
Why: Raising can win the pot right away and builds a pot when you have the better hand. Limping does neither.
Raise to about 5 big blinds, plus 1 more big blind for each limper.
Live-game adjustment · medium confidence
Why: Loose tables call a lot, so a bigger raise charges them more when you hold a strong hand.
Tighten up when someone has raised before you.
Theory baseline · high confidence
Why: A raise usually shows a stronger hand. If you call with a weaker one and pair, the raiser often has the same card with a better kicker.
Treat the chart in the app as a starting point, not a law.
Live-game adjustment · medium confidence
Why: Real tables vary. The chart gives you a simple plan, and experience will teach you when to adjust.
After the flop in loose, passive games
Bet strong hands bigger and thinner against players who call a lot.
Live-game adjustment · high confidence
Why: Players who call often will pay you with weaker hands, so you can get more value from yours.
Rarely bluff players who never fold.
Live-game adjustment · high confidence
Why: A bluff only works when the other player can fold. If they always call, you just lose the bet.
Fold one pair to a big river raise from a quiet player.
Live-game adjustment · medium confidence
Why: A big raise from a player who rarely bets usually means a strong hand, and one pair is seldom good enough.
Play smaller pots with one pair when several players are in the hand.
Theory baseline · medium confidence
Why: The more players there are, the more likely someone has you beaten, so keep the pot small.
Raise to isolate limpers when you have position.
Live-game adjustment · medium confidence
Why: Playing one weak player with the last action is easier than playing against a crowd.
Bankroll and tilt
Bring only money you are fine losing.
Theory baseline · high confidence
Why: Scared money leads to poor choices, and a loss should never put your bills or your peace at risk.
Your stop-loss is the budget you set at home, never more.
Theory baseline · medium confidence
Why: A fixed limit set at home keeps a bad night from turning into a worse one.
Leave when you are tired, tilted or drinking.
Theory baseline · high confidence
Why: Your decisions get worse in each of those states, and the table will still be there tomorrow.
Judge your decisions, not your results.
Theory baseline · high confidence
Why: Poker has luck in every hand, so a good choice can lose and a poor one can win in the short run.
Preflop chart
Draft starter ranges — pending live-cash coach review
Live-game adjustment · medium confidence
This chart covers raising first in and raising over limpers at a 9-handed live $1/$2-$2/$5 table. It does not cover straddled pots, facing a raise or a 3-bet, or short-handed tables. Those need a coach-reviewed chart.
Raise with the hands listed for your seat, and fold everything else. In the big blind, when nobody has raised, check instead of folding. A plus sign means that hand and every stronger one of its kind. An s means suited, an o means offsuit, and a bare pair like 77+ means 77 and higher. Seats run from earliest to latest.
Under the gun (UTG)
Nobody has entered the pot
77+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, AQo+
7.5% of hands
After one or more limpers
88+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+
6.2% of hands
UTG+1
Nobody has entered the pot
77+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, AJo+, KQo
9.4% of hands
After one or more limpers
88+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+
6.2% of hands
Middle position (MP)
Nobody has entered the pot
66+, A9s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+, KQo
11.0% of hands
After one or more limpers
77+, ATs+, KJs+, AJo+, KQo
9.0% of hands
Lojack (LJ)
Nobody has entered the pot
55+, A8s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, ATo+, KJo+
13.9% of hands
After one or more limpers
77+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, AJo+, KQo
9.4% of hands
Hijack (HJ)
Nobody has entered the pot
44+, A5s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, ATo+, KJo+, QJo
17.3% of hands
After one or more limpers
66+, A9s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+, KQo
11.0% of hands
Cutoff (CO)
Nobody has entered the pot
22+, A2s+, K8s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo
23.7% of hands
After one or more limpers
55+, A8s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, ATo+, KJo+
13.9% of hands
Button (BTN)
Nobody has entered the pot
22+, A2s+, K5s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, A7o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o
31.8% of hands
After one or more limpers
44+, A5s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, ATo+, KJo+, QJo
17.3% of hands
Small blind (SB)
Nobody has entered the pot
22+, A2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, 87s, A9o+, KTo+, QJo
21.3% of hands
After one or more limpers
77+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, AJo+, KQo
9.4% of hands
Big blind (BB)
Nobody has entered the pot
Nothing to decide here: if nobody enters the pot, the hand ends and you keep your blind.
After one or more limpers
88+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+
6.2% of hands
Raise these; check everything else (it is free).