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.

The Scenario

This week we're focused on a typical tournament spot where you are out of position against a tough player on the Button after calling their raise from the Big Blind.

There are a few flops where you could construct a leading range from the Big Blind in this spot, but for the vast majority of flops you can begin by checking to the preflop raiser. Checking is preferred as a default because the preflop aggressor in this spot will typically have an equity advantage.

It is however important to keep in mind that the player on the Button will have a wide hand range, typically at least 40% of all hands but sometimes much wider. This should cause you to take more hands to showdown in this scenario compared to spots facing narrower Villain ranges.

As a general rule, you want to check-raise the Button's continuation bet with some very strong hands and some lower equity draws (backdoor draws, gutshots with overcards, etc) so that your check-raising range is somewhat polarized. You can typically check-call with medium strength hands and draws.

Donk-betting, or leading out when you called the previous street, is usually only viable on equity changing cards. Leading out when a card comes that helps your overall hand range significantly can be a good strategy, whether your hand is actually helped by that card or not.

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

Today we're focusing on a common spot where you are out of position against a tough opponent on the Button after you raised first-in pre-flop in a cash game.

Automatically c-betting a standard size is often the best play against weaker opponents typical in small stakes games. These types of opponents are less likely to put pressure on your c-bets by making moves on the flop.

Against tougher players you should beware of c-betting too frequently on boards that favor the pre-flop caller. Tough players can exploit this by having robust bluff-raising and floating ranges.

Also, keep in mind that good players will utilize overbets to target capped ranges and force you off mediocre holdings.

Finally, always pay attention to key blockers. Having blockers in your hand will allow you to value bet more often and with a greater freedom of bet sizing.

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

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 optimal poker 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 pre-existing knowledge to study expert level poker strategy.

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.