The Scenario

This week we're playing a common final table tournament spot where we are defending the Big Blind as a medium stack against the chip leader at the table. Due to the presence of final table pay jumps and 2 shorter stacks, there is significant ICM pressure on us in this spot. We are highly incentivized to avoid getting stacked while the 2 shorter stacks are still alive at this final table.

Because of this, the chip leader in the Cutoff seat can open raise preflop with a much wider range than normal. Our defense range in the Big Blind is narrower than it would be if there were no pay jump considerations. This final table spot changes not just our preflop ranges, but our post flop play as well.

Like most Big Blind defense scenarios, we typically start by checking to the raiser. Our play will often continue to be passive against the chip leader in many spots in an attempt to play smaller pots in general. One exception to this general rule is when we hold high equity but vulnerable hands, such as a medium ranked top pair or overpair. These hands are almost certainly best at the moment, but often suffer greatly from slowplaying. Check-raising all-in on the flop should be part of your toolkit at this stack depth with these types of hands.

Also, even though we typically play passively in this spot, do not be afraid to value bet the river in spots where we are very likely to have the best hand against Villain's calling range. You can also successfully block-bet very small for a cheap showdown at times, especially when holding nut blockers.

To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through the five (4) FREE solved hands from this scenario.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

You don't have to be the world's best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don't have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.

Why use the WPT GTO Trainer?

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of post-flop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.

If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT® GTO Trainer™.

Register for your FREE account today (only email address is needed) to play hands and see true GTO Trainer™ strategy in real-time.

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ has over 1 billion unique solved flops, turns and rivers that are fully playable.

As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and played percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO Trainer™ strategy.

The full selection of scenarios for the WPT® GTO Trainer™ are only available to members of LearnWPT™, however we're giving ClubWPT™ fans FREE access to the GTO Trainer™ on a regular basis with the WPT® GTO Trainer™ Hands of The Week.

Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.

The Scenario

This week we're highlighting a fairly tricky spot where you 3-bet to 12 BBs in a cash game versus an open raise of 3 BBs from a tough player in the Cutoff seat. When they flat call your 3-bet, you go to a flop out of position against this tough opponent with a Stack to Pot Ratio (SPR) of just over 3.

In this scenario, there will be a fair amount of mixing between c-bets and checks, with many c-bets sized down to 1/4 pot. In general, you'll often want to consider checking when you have the board locked. A great example of this is when you flop top set and block your opponent from having top pair.

You'll also want to consider checking with hands worse than top pair that are not as vulnerable to turn cards. These hands typically want to avoid building a large pot out of position.

With strong hands that do not block top pair, you'll often want to take aggressive actions at every opportunity.

Playing 3-bet pots out of position against a GTO player is one of the trickier scenarios in No-Limit Hold'em, so don't get discouraged if your plays show significant EV Loss at first.

To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five (5) FREE solved hands from this scenario.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

You don't have to be the world's best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don't have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.

Why use the WPT GTO Trainer?

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of post-flop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.

If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT® GTO Trainer™.

Register for your FREE account today (only email address is needed) to play hands and see true GTO Trainer™ strategy in real-time.

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ has over 1 billion unique solved flops, turns and rivers that are fully playable.

As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and played percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO Trainer™ strategy.

The full selection of scenarios for the WPT® GTO Trainer™ are only available to members of LearnWPT™, however we're giving ClubWPT™ fans FREE access to the GTO Trainer™ on a regular basis with the WPT® GTO Trainer™ Hands of The Week.

Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.

The Scenario

Today you'll be playing as the open raiser in a Tournament facing a call from a tough player defending their Big Blind.

In position as the open raiser, you'll be c-betting with a high frequency. You can size your c-bets up on dynamic (or coordinated) boards and down on static (or dry) flops. You can also size down your c-bets on monotone flops, which are when the flop comes all of one suit.

Given the relatively wide range of the Big Blind, you may be able to find some thin river value bets with hands worse than top pair.

Always pay close attention to when you hold nut hand blockers, as they will often incentivize you to continue in the hand aggressively.

When approaching GTO play, think of how the particular turn or river card helps or hurts your range compared to your opponent's range, rather than simply how it affects your hand. You'll often be in spots where it's correct to fire a second or third barrel on a card that helps your range more than your opponent's, even though the card did not help your actual hand at all.

For more GTO hand analysis, you can play through five free solved hands from this situation.

To access the free five hands, click here.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

You don't have to be the world's best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don't have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.

Why use the WPT GTO Trainer?

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of post-flop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.

If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT® GTO Trainer™.

Register for your FREE account today (only email address is needed) to play hands and see true GTO Trainer™ strategy in real-time.

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ has over 1 billion unique solved flops, turns and rivers that are fully playable.

As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and played percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO Trainer™ strategy.

The full selection of scenarios for the WPT® GTO Trainer™ are only available to members of LearnWPT™, however we're giving ClubWPT™ fans FREE access to the GTO Trainer™ on a regular basis with the WPT® GTO Trainer™ Hands of The Week.

Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.

The Scenario

Today we're focusing on a common spot where you are defending your Big Blind against a tough opponent on the Button in a cash game.

Due to the wide, capped range with which you defend from the Big Blind, your opponent will typically have a range advantage on the flop and therefore you should usually check to the raiser.

However, because your opponent's hand range is so wide, you should often continue against c-bets with hands as weak as Ace high with a backdoor draw. Your ace high hands are often good against a wide button hand range.

Another important concept is knowing when to attack capped hand ranges. When your opponent checks behind on coordinated boards and is less likely to have big made hands, you can both value bet and bluff with bigger sizings and at a higher frequency. This is a key betting strategy to get additional value on one pair hands that many players miss.

Finally, be aware that large overbets from tough players are often polarized and some of your strong hands will often simply be calls in these scenarios.

To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five solved hands from this exact scenario. To access the five (5) FREE hands, click here.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

You don't have to be the world's best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don't have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.

Why use the WPT GTO Trainer?

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of post-flop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.

If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT® GTO Trainer™.

Register for your FREE account today (only email address is needed) to play hands and see true GTO Trainer™ strategy in real-time.

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ has over 1 billion unique solved flops, turns and rivers that are fully playable.

As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and played percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO Trainer™ strategy.

The full selection of scenarios for the WPT® GTO Trainer™ are only available to members of LearnWPT™, however we're giving ClubWPT™ fans FREE access to the GTO Trainer™ on a regular basis with the WPT® GTO Trainer™ Hands of The Week.

Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.

The Scenario

The featured hands this week showcase correct play at a major final table with short stacks when you have a medium stack out of position against the chip leader.

Due to the presence of the short stack players along with the pay jumps at this final table, the big stack can exert ICM pressure on you. ICM Pressure occurs when you are highly incentivized to not bust out before the other players at the table with shorter stacks. Your preflop opening hand ranges should be narrower due to this effect and a good player who is in position against you will exploit you for open raising too frequently.

Postflop, this pressure should dictate extensive passive line adjustments for any medium stacks so as to avoid all-in confrontations versus larger stacks. This often means checking in spots where you might otherwise continuation bet.

With hands that have high equity but are also vulnerable the medium stack should sometimes check-raise all-in rather than taking a check-call line that risks allowing their opponent to catch up.

To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five solved hands from this exact scenario. To access the five (5) FREE hands, click here.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

You don't have to be the world's best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don't have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.

Why use the WPT GTO Trainer?

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of post-flop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.

If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT® GTO Trainer™.

Register for your FREE account today (only email address is needed) to play hands and see true GTO Trainer™ strategy in real-time.

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ has over 1 billion unique solved flops, turns and rivers that are fully playable.

As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and played percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO Trainer™ strategy.

The full selection of scenarios for the WPT® GTO Trainer™ are only available to members of LearnWPT™, however we're giving ClubWPT™ fans FREE access to the GTO Trainer™ on a regular basis with the WPT® GTO Trainer™ Hands of The Week.

Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.

The Scenario

This week we're highlighting a common spot where you 3-bet preflop from the Button vs a Middle Position Open.

Against most opponents you will have a fairly high c-bet frequency in this spot and you can often size down your c-bets to 25% of the pot on static flops.

However, you can use larger c-bet sizing on dynamic boards with a more polarized range that consists of bluffs with blockers and vulnerable but high equity value hands.

Remember that missed draws are often good candidates to round out a bluffing range and provide overall balance to your aggressive lines.

You will often be put to tough decisions with marginal hands, with the correct decision often coming down to understanding the effects of blockers and the specific suits you hold.

To see more examples and test your skills, you can play through five solved hands from this exact scenario. To access the five (5) FREE hands, click here.

Regular play on the WPT® GTO Trainer™ will help you adjust your decisions closer and closer to GTO strategy.

You don’t have to be the world’s best player to use GTO Strategy, and thanks to the WPT GTO Trainer, now you don’t have to buy expensive software or have expert level knowledge to study GTO.

Why use the WPT GTO Trainer?

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ lets you play real solved hands against a perfect opponent in a wide variety of post-flop scenarios for cash game and tournament play.

If your goal is to be a tough poker player then you should try the WPT® GTO Trainer™.

Register for your FREE account today (only email address is needed) to play hands and see true GTO Trainer™ strategy in real-time.

The WPT® GTO Trainer™ has over 1 billion unique solved flops, turns and rivers that are fully playable.

As you make decisions in a hand, you receive instant feedback on the specific EV loss (if any) and played percentage for every action you take as compared to GTO Trainer™ strategy.

The full selection of scenarios for the WPT® GTO Trainer™ are only available to members of LearnWPT™, however we’re giving ClubWPT™ fans FREE access to the GTO Trainer™ on a regular basis with the WPT® GTO Trainer™ Hands of The Week.

Use this weekly series of articles to practice the strategies you learn on LearnWPT™ (or at the table) and test your progress by playing a five-hand sample each week.