K9o from CO, first in — fold, call or raise?
The answer
Raise
open-raise
The math: The cutoff chart opens K9o+. King-nine offsuit is the boundary hand.
Why
K9o is close and can make dominated pairs, but only three players remain and a raise often wins the blinds immediately. Its king also blocks some strong continuing hands. Open it at this chart’s boundary, then play cautiously when called.
The spot
- Your seat
- CO
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- K♠ 9♦
- Board
- Preflop — no board yet
- Pot
- POT · $3
- Action on you
- Folds to you
Every option
Foldgive up the hand
Why not: K9o is the cutoff’s offsuit-king floor in this chart. Folding the boundary hand gives up a profitable late-position steal.
Calllimp in
Why not: Limping gives the blinds a cheap flop and abandons the fold equity that makes K9o profitable. Open-raise or fold; here the chart raises.
Raiseopen-raiseCorrect
2bb · $4 · 2.5bb · $5 · 3bb · $6
The idea behind it
Late-position opening profit comes partly from folds before the flop. That extra steal equity moves marginal offsuit kings into the cutoff range.
Concept: Range edges
Terms in this spot
Play it instead of reading it
The trainer deals this hand with hints, grading and spaced repetition — and randomized variations of it once you have seen it.