QTo from MP, first in — fold, call or raise?
The answer
Fold
give up the hand
The math: Middle position opens QJo, but not QTo. Queen-ten offsuit is one kicker below the queen boundary.
Why
Offsuit broadways climb into the range as position improves, and QTo has not earned its seat yet in MP. The chart includes ATo+, KJo+ and QJo; queen-ten is the next weaker queen. It makes dominated top pairs and plays poorly when called. From the cutoff it becomes an open.
The spot
- Your seat
- MP
- Stakes and stacks
- $1 / $2 · 100bb
- Your hand
- Q♠ T♦
- Board
- Preflop — no board yet
- Pot
- POT · $3
- Action on you
- Folds to you
Every option
Foldgive up the handCorrect
Calllimp in
Why not: Limping surrenders the initiative and caps your range at weak hands, and it invites both blinds in cheap to flop a piece against a hand that already wants to muck. If a hand isn't strong enough to raise here, it's not strong enough to limp.
Raiseopen-raise
2bb · $4 · 2.5bb · $5 · 3bb · $6
Why not: Queen-ten offsuit plays fine as a steal from late position, but from middle position four players can still wake up behind you. Out of position against that many opponents, an offsuit one-gapper broadway that flops weak top pairs is a long-term loser. Open it a seat or two later, not here.
The idea behind it
Offsuit broadway hands are position-sensitive: the same holding is a fold up front and an open from late seats. As the seats behind you empty out, the threshold for opening offsuit broadways drops.
Concept: Position and broadways
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.