Ryan Fee's 6m NLHE Guide - Study Notes (Incomplete as considered not worthy!)

Ryan Fee’s 6 Max NL Workbook

Preface

Your hand ranges should be contrary to the way the table is playing – this means if the players are loose you should tighten up preflop and if the table is tight you can loosen up a little.

Basically, loose players look for an excuse to call meaning you should value bet thinly, and tight players look for an excuse to fold meaning you can semi bluff and bluff more often.

Table Selection

Look for the following things:-

Players that play too many hands. Anything above 40 VPIP is a must but anything over 30 is good too. Also players playing anything like 25/10 as they are calling and limping too much preflop.

Stack sizes: Generally we want big stack sizes to our right and tight short stackers to our left.

Position: Prefer loose players to your right and tight players to our left.

General: It is better to play at a table of loose players than a table with four regs and one 80/5.

“Poker is simple, as your opponents make mistakes, you profit”

Just because a player plays 20/17 it does not mean he is good. You can loosen up preflop and play solid postflop.

 

Preflop

UTG

This should be our tightest range of all due to the amount of players left to act.

A general range is 22+, ATs+, AJo+, KQ, 98s+, KJs+ (total 13%).

Adjustments for looser games – we can add ATo and KJo because we can get value from looser players calling with weaker top pair and second pair hands. The reason for avoiding these hands on tighter tables is because we will often show up with second best one pair hands out of position and we will be in tough spots. Always try to make poker EASY.

Adjustments for tighter games – include hands like 56s and A5s as they have a lot of potential and you will not get into difficult situations with weak one pair hands out of position. These hands widen your range making you more difficult to play against for better players.

Adjustments for stack sizes – You need to also adjust for shorter stacks. Hands like 22-66 and 98s etc have no value against short players. We are looking for a top pair type hand to get it in with their wider range so substitute in hands like KJo and QJo.

 

MP

Very similar to UTG. Same principles apply but we will open a slightly wider range just because we have one less player to act behind us.

A general range is 22+, A9s+, ATo+, 98s+, KQs/o, KJs/o, KTs (~15% of hands).

Adjustments for loose games: avoid hands like A9o as its potential is very small. You can still raise 98s and T9s but do it less frequently (maybe raise them half of the time but remember we want to play tighter in loose games so not at all can be just fine).

Adjustments for tight games: in these games we can open up some more hands so add in 65s+, A8s, A5s, QTs.

Isolating: Unless UTG is a very weak player (think VPIP > 40%) then we probably need to consider that his limping range is at its strongest (even by his standards!). If we think that the two players who are to our left with position on us understand that we might be isolating wide and have the ability to take advantage of that then we need to be careful. It is ok to add in hands like J9s to our isolating range (this assumes UTG is weak and either limp/folds too much or calls pre and folds to cbet/barrel to much) but if we have these two TAG/LAG players to our left then we should fold that sort of hand as we are in a marginal situation. If we do not have good aggressive players to act in position after us then it is ok to isolate.

3betting: In general we need to be cbetting more in position than out of position. In MP, however, the only person we can 3 bet is UTG. Here their opening range is at its absolute tightest (usually!) Light 3bets can certainly be profitable here but we should heavily weight our 3 betting range to value with few bluffs. Ryan suggests a 4:1 value: bluff ratio.

Let’s assign our ranges…..

Value: AKs/o, AQs/o (situational), AJs (situ), KQs (situ), AA, KK, QQ, JJ(situ), TT(situ). Ryan says these hands are situational because it is possible that 3 betting with these hands is marginal to the point where we are not clearly ahead of their range. That does not mean you should not 3 bet them it just means you should do it in position and just some of the time. For example, a tight player might only raise 8% of hands UTG which is 88+, AJs+, KQs, AJo+, KQo. The equity of each of these hands versus that range are AQ(all) 48%, AJs 41%, JJ 54%, TT 50%, KQs 38%,  whereas AA 85%, KK 72%, QQ 63%, AK 56%

Light 3b hands: 56s-QJs, Axs (x=5 most often but 4-T ok), 22-77, KQo, AJo. (I am currently trying to find out why we would use KQo and AJo, my feeling is it is because they have blockers to a 4bet range so we would use them when we are likely to illicit a 4bet or fold rather than a call or fold - *this was correct, we are hoping to block a 4bet from a reg and are happy for a fish to call with worse - see Yourdoom video series Advanced Poker Tactics where he has one video specifically about this very concept!). We use the lower SC’s as we are never dominated postflop when called and the Ax range to block combinations of AA, AK. Remember to keep our range value orientated versus thinking players.

Adjustments for stack sizes: Same as UTG. As stacks get shorter avoid 22-66 and 98s and instead substitute in hands like KJo, QJo, A9s, ATo and try to make a top pair hand to get it in against their weak ranges that do not include many TP hands).

 

Cut Off

There is a much bigger transition in our opening range from CO to MP than there was from MP to UTG. This is because you will often now be in position on the flop. This position should be your second most profitable position (after the button). This is where you start isolating weak players and 3 betting players to keep pressure on them.

Range: 22+, A5s+, A9o+, 65s+, JTo+, QTo+, KTo, K9s, T8s+ (one gappers), Q9s+ (two gappers) – this is roughly 23% of total hands.

The idea here is to steal blinds AND isolate limpers.

Adjustments for loose games: playing from the cut off in loose games is actually more tricky than tighter games. You run the risk of playing lots of pots with marginal hands and, despite the fact you will usually be in position, you will lose money.

As you get better at postflop play you gain the capacity to raise more and more hands in position to isolate limpers.

Firstly let us look at situations where we should and should not isolate a limper….

You are in CO with K9s, UTG who plays 38/10 limps. You have seen him limp KQo UTG and K4s in LP). He is passive and folds to cbet 50%. Button is average TAG 18/15 and does not overdo 3 betting light although we have seen him do it. Blinds both have 50bb and play 30 – 35% of hands. What do you do? FOLD!

Although UTG is bad remember that he is at the top of his limping range and we think he is aware of position. He does fold to 50% of cbets but this is likely to be less when he has the strongest range like now. The button is of little concern but is a consideration. The second biggest consideration is the short stacked players in the blinds. They play too many hands and position is unimportant to them. Although our hand is suited and has potential implied odds come from deep stacks not short ones. So, the fact this is likely to go three way means we should fold.

Another example…..

You have 56s in CO. MP limps, he has 100bb and plays 25/12 and folds to cbet 66%. Button is 20/10 weak tight. Blinds have one winning TAG who 3 bets too much OOP and one fish who plays big pots with marginal hands too often, has 160bb’s and you cover him. What should you do? RAISE!

You definitely want to isolate MP as he is weak tight (although his fold to cbet is on the low end of weak tight it is still quite high) and we have full stacks and some major potential for our hand. We do not want button to come along, but if he does we can represent something with a cbet and our hand still has great potential. The TAG in the blinds who 3 bets too much is definitely a problem. But, if he 3 bets we can sometimes call and bluff some flops. The best feature of this hand is the fish in the blinds who we are deep with. We will have position on him with massive implied odds so we do not mind if he comes along.

If a player calls too much after the flop we should lean towards raising hands like K9s as opposed to 65s unless we are deep stacked with that player. In general we can milk these players with strong pairs/draws.

In the first scenario above we did not raise K9s not because we thought the short stacks would come in but more so because UTG would call with hands that might dominate us, also we would much rather have 65s in a multiway pot as opposed to K9s which has limited postflop potential.

Focus on each facet of the hand to determine what line is most profitable.

Let’s focus on a situation to isolate with KTo/A9o/K9s etc….

We are in CO with A9o, MP limps and has 75 – 100bb and plays 40/10 and he folds to cbet 70%. Button and blinds are tight. RAISE! This is ideal and furthermore, as a player’s fold to cbet increases so should our isolating range.

Button

This is where the fun really begins! We have more opportunities to raise, 3bet, isolate and cold call than in any other position. This is where we play at our loosest. Still our range is affected by the table.

Range: 22+, A8o+, K9o,  Q9o+ (o/s two gapper), J9o+ (o/s one gapper), 98o+, 54s+, 64s+, 96s+, T6s+, K8s, A2s+. This range is very tentative. Depending on table conditions it can be loosened or tightened by as much as 15%.

Adjustments for looser games: Anything we would raise from MP we can isolate with on the button. In loose games where there are a lot of limp calls tend to avoid hands like 64s or 98o. If you can isolate the one fish who is limp calling then lean towards K9s or J9o.

In the event that people will limp/fold with a decent frequency we can isolate almost the entire button range (maybe cut out 2% 64s-86s, A8-A9o, T6s-Q9s, 54s-76s, A2s-A4s etc).

In the event people are limp calling or flops are going multiway often we really need to cut it down, raise a tight CO range and raise it bigger, make it 5bb + 1bb for each limper to make them pay (they will not notice or care!).

Adjustments for tighter games: these are actually far more interesting in terms of button play. As the game gets tighter and people are less likely to limp, OR they limp/fold or limp/call and play weak tight postflop, we can really open up our game.

The most important factor in tight games is the blinds’ tightness. Most TAGs play very tight OOP. This means we can open any two suited cards, any ace, and medium unsuited cards (though maybe less of these). The idea is that players will just give up so much, and even if they do make it to the flop we will have position. If tight players are limping in front of us they probably have small pocket pairs, maybe SC’s and some KQ type hands. These are all fairly hit or miss type hands that will either XF the flop or try and play a big hand – this makes it easy for us to give up when called.

We should be far more inclined to raise a weak tight player with a marginal hand than a loose passive one.

Adjustments for stack sizes: as our effective stack size changes so does our opening range and our strategy. We just said that versus loose/passives at 100bb or less we shy away from marginal hands BUT as stacks get towards 200bb we actually want to play these hands versus them as we can get paid off massively with our two pair and better hands, plus we can still extract with one pair hands sometimes.

As stack sizes shrink we avoid our 64s type hands and go for K8s or A9o more as the bread and butter of the bottom of our range.

We should focus on trying to raise when a loose player limps and there are tight players left to act behind us (note we are talking about our marginal hands here our core raising range should be always raised).

Example: 40/20/1 limps MP, we are BTN with 75s, 100bb deep. Blinds are a nit and a 29/14 that folds BB to steal a lot. Here we raise our 75s to play HU versus the MP fish. Now, if the BB plays around 40% of hands and the SB is more of a 20/18 TAG then we should raise this hand less often.

Fwiw, if someone folds to cbets a ridiculous amount like 90% then we should isolate them very loosely, only two loose short stackers or something crazy behind us should stop us.

3 betting: Here our range is also at its widest. We definitely want to 3bet people here more than anywhere else (go for people when in position not out of position). We can go for a 3:2 value to bluff ratio here until we find opponents who are willing to play back at us preflop or postflop, but until that point just keep pounding on weakness.

When 3 betting we must consider the opponents position and opening range. Usually the CO will be the widest position/range we can 3 bet against. Worth noting here is that if players are really wide and will frequently see a flop then we want to 3b AJo types of hands so we can make a decent top pair.

Also we must consider our history with villain. If a player is good and is starting to 4b bluff us or check raise a flop with a draw or air then we need to avoid bluffing so much and lean back towards more value 3 bets.

Blinds

Ryan has a raising range here he calls “tighter than most” I think he is talking about isolating though??? Range is 88+, AJs+, KQs, AK (not even AQo!). Ryan suggests checking and taking down unraised pots (so must be referring to BB). He strongly advocates playing fewer pots OOP.

3 betting: v UTG: usually QQ+, AK with a very rare bluff, maybe only KK+ if villain is tight like 17/14. Can flat TT-JJ, AQ, AK. 3b a bit more often if it’s a squeeze opportunity.

V MP: Same as above, add in JJ against looser ones, maybe even TT against LAGs. AK almost always and AQ a lot too (maybe 50%). Start adding in some 54s and T9o.

V CO: TT+, AQ+, AJs and sometimes KQs, AJo and KQo seldom. Mix in more SC’s and non suited connectors.

V BTN: Sometimes 99, TT+, AJ, KQs often and loads of junk. Remember though that it is entirely a reflection of the opponent – against players that call more often use AJo, KQ and against players that fold often use the SC’s etc.

Squeezing

A squeeze play is when we 3bet and there has been 1 or more callers. It is also a squeeze when we 3bet an isolation raise. The overlying theory is that we look very strong and with regard to squeezing an isolation raise it is that their range is wide and cannot stand a 3 bet.

As we play against better opponents we will find people counteract this by throwing in 4 bets.

Here are Ryan’s DO NOT’S about squeezing…..

1. Never squeeze AQ, JJ or TT unless we are going to call a shove or shove over a 4bet
2. Never bluff squeeze if the caller is very short stacked – burning money!
3. Never squeeze a tight UTG raiser.
4. Do not squeeze if villain is crazy and we are not going to commit, like with AJo or 99, something marginal.
5. Do not squeeze 56s, A5s etc if the overcaller is a donk who is likely to call the 3bet and give us problems.
6. If the PFR calls your squeeze he probably has 99+, KQs, Aqs, almost never AK. This means proceed carefully on the flop so do not bet like 743 with98 or Ax unless you can shove the turn).

Ball ‘Til You Fall

Some players are just really weak tight, pound on them constantly until they give you real reason to believe they adjusted. So, if you are squeezing then keep pounding until they start 4 betting or calling pre and shoving the flop. This applies to all aspects of poker!

Squeeze IP All Day Long!

Do not cbet the flop in a squeezed pot unless a) you are going to shove or check/raise the turn, or b) your opponent folds a lot so his call/shove means you are definitely beaten. It is ok to check/fold a re raised pot with air. It is very exploitable to cbet once and be done if you have air so do not do it.

In fact, in 3 bet pots in general we should have a good idea of what our opponent has (btw we should not be 3 bet bluffing a loose donk who does not fold postflop either ldo!). They can theoretically have 22+, 76s+, ATs+, AJo, KQo and it is very likely weighted towards 88+, AJ and KQ.

 

FLOP PLAY

Donking / Leading

The reason people do not do this that often is because generally people cbet too much so check/raising is more profitable. There are situations where it is optimal.

We can lead a weak flush draw, say 65s on QJ8ss, check/calling is not profitable and check/raising MIGHT be profitable. We can easily lead/fold as we are sure to be dead (without history) when he raises. When called Ryan says we have to bet the turn no matter what. This is a really grey area for me personally and I do not like his explanation at all if honest!

 
It is at this stage that I decided that I don't like how the rest of this guide is written. I am not sure if it is outdated or if it is just me but I read it several times and although some points seemed really good it seemed to be a waste of my study time to continue. I think the preflop stuff was really good though especially with regard to isolation plays.