Poker TrainerRAISE FIRST IN · LEVEL 1

Strategy Guide ×

This trainer teaches one consistent style: exploitative tight-aggressive poker — not GTO. The whole method fits in one rule and a few range charts. Learn the rule, memorise the charts, and you'll make the "correct" play this app grades for.

The one rule: raise or fold

Limping is never correct. If a hand is good enough to play, you raise with it; if it isn't, you fold. Calling/limping just to "see a flop" surrenders the initiative and lets weak hands play back at you cheaply. (The only exceptions come later: setting-mining behind limpers, and flatting in position vs a raise — both covered below.)

Three ideas drive every decision:

• Position = power. Acting last lets you see what everyone does before you commit chips, so you can play more hands profitably. Ranges get tighter in early seats, wider in late seats.
• Aggression wins pots two ways — your hand can be best, or everyone folds. Limping only wins the first way.
• Discipline beats fancy. Folding a marginal hand isn't weak; it's what keeps your raising range strong and your decisions easy.

Sizing cheat-sheet

• Open: ~4 BB in this loose, limpy game (3 BB only at a table that actually folds).
• Iso-raise vs limpers: 4 BB + 1 BB per limper (two limpers → 6 BB) — bigger, because sticky limpers won't fold to a min-ish raise.
• 3-bet: ~3× the open in position (~12 BB), ~3.5–4× out of position (~16 BB).
• 4-bet: ~2.2–2.5× the 3-bet (~28 BB) — smaller multiplier, stacks are committing.

Tuning for a loose amateur table

The charts below are a solid tight-aggressive baseline. Against a table full of calling stations — amateurs who limp a lot, call too much and rarely fold — make four adjustments:

• Size up. Use the bigger live sizings above. A 2–3 BB raise just builds a multiway pot; you need 4 BB+ to actually thin the field.
• Suited hands gain, weak offsuit hands lose. Stations pay off your flushes and straights (great implied odds for suited/connected hands), but they also call you down with any pair — so dominated weak offsuit hands (offsuit aces, offsuit gappers) flop second-best and bleed. The late ranges below already drop that junk and keep the suited hands.
• Don't bluff them — value-bet relentlessly. No light 3-bets, no fancy bluffs. Re-raise and bet your good hands hard and let them pay you off. (That's why every 3-bet range here is value-only.)
• The real money is postflop. This trainer drills preflop discipline, which keeps you out of trouble — but vs amateurs your edge comes from betting your strong hands for value postflop, not from preflop alone.

Level 1 — Raise First In (RFI)

It's folded to you. The seat you're in decides how wide you open. Each range below includes everything from the tighter seats above it and adds the hands in green. Notation: s = suited, o = offsuit, + = "and better".

Reality check at a loose table: a clean "folded to you" is mostly an early-position event. By the time the action reaches the CO/BTN, someone has usually limped — so those late seats show up far more often as iso-raises (Level 2) than as pure opens. You still must know the wide late-position opening ranges below (your iso range is built from them), but don't be surprised that the trainer deals you RFI from late position only rarely.

Level 2 — Iso-raise vs limpers

One or more players just limped (called the big blind). A limp is a weak, capped range — so you attack it.

• Iso-raise (isolate) every hand you'd normally open from your seat, plus dominating offsuit broadways KJo QJo ATo. Size to 4 BB + 1 per limper — big enough to actually punish the limp and thin a sticky field, not just build a bigger multiway pot.
• Set-mine (limp behind) is allowed only with cheap speculative hands in a multiway pot (2+ limpers): small pairs 22–66, suited connectors/one-gappers (54s…T9s, 43s 53s 64s 75s 86s 97s) and wheel suited aces A2s–A5s. You're paying a little to flop a set or big draw with the odds to get paid.
• Fold everything else — a limp is not an invitation to play junk.

In the Big Blind you've already paid, so you never fold:

• Raise big (~5 BB + 1/limper) with premiums 99+, AK, AQ, AJs, KQs to thin the field and punish the free-flop crowd.
• Raise or check (either is fine) with the next tier 88 77 ATs KJs QJs JTs AJo KQo.
• Check everything else and take the free flop.

Level 3 — Facing a raise

Someone has already opened. The bar to continue jumps way up. Adjust to where the raise came from: tighter vs an early raiser (strong range), looser vs a late/steal raiser.

• 3-bet for value with your best hands:
  • vs early raiser: QQ+ AK
  • vs middle raiser: JJ+ AK AQs
  • vs late raiser: TT+ AK AQ AJs KQs
• Flat (just call) strong suited hands only in position — out of position, fold them instead. Calling OOP under-realises your equity.
• Pairs: 99–JJ flat (too good to fold, not quite a 3-bet); 22–88 set-mine only when deep enough (~15× the raise in your stack, i.e. ≥ ~60 BB).
• Fold the domination traps: offsuit broadways like KQo, AJo, KJo. They make top pair with a weak kicker and get out-kicked by a raiser's range.

Level 4 — Bet sizing

Here the action is already decided — you're raising — and you only pick the size. Too small gives opponents a cheap price to draw out; too big risks more than necessary and folds out the worse hands you want to keep in. Use the cheat-sheet at the top: open ~4 BB, iso 4 BB + 1/limper, 3-bet 3× (~12 BB IP) or ~4× (~16 BB OOP) the open, 4-bet ~2.3× the 3-bet (~28 BB).

Level 5 — Player types (read the opponent)

Exploitative poker means adjusting to who you're playing. This level drills the two reads that drive every postflop decision, one archetype at a time:

• The nit — folds too much, never bluffs. Bluff them (your air prints), but don't pay them off (when they bet, they have it).
• The calling station — calls too much, never bluffs. Value-bet them relentlessly, but never bluff and never bluff-catch (no fold equity, and they don't bluff either).
• The maniac — calls too much and over-bluffs. Don't bluff them, but snap off their bluffs with bluff-catchers.

Bluff the folders. Catch the bluffers. Value-bet the callers.

It comes down to two dials: do they fold? (decides whether your bluffs work) and do they bluff? (decides whether you bluff-catch). The c-bet, turn, river and facing levels all apply these reads — learn to spot them here.

Level 6 — Flop c-bet (postflop)

You raised preflop, one player called, and you're heads-up on the flop in position. This is where the real money is made:

Bet your made hands and your big draws. Check marginal hands. Bluff your air only against a folder.

• Bet for value with top pair or better (top pair, overpair, two pair, sets, straights, flushes). Size up (≈⅔ pot) — a caller pays off worse pairs and draws all day, so charge them. Don't slow-play and give draws a free card.
• Bet your big draws — a flush draw or open-ended straight draw (8+ outs). You build the pot for when you hit and can still win if they fold. Checking back for a free card is also fine.
• Check marginal made hands — middle pair, bottom pair, a weak underpair. A thin value bet vs a caller is defensible, but pot control is the safe default.
• Air is the read — bet (bluff) against a nit who over-folds, but check (give up) against a station or maniac who won't fold. Bluffing a caller just lights chips on fire.

Level 8 — Turn play (barrel or give up)

You c-bet the flop and got called. The turn brings a fourth card and you act again, still in position. Now you choose between firing a second barrel and shutting down:

Barrel value and big draws. Check marginal hands. Give up your air.

• Barrel for value with top pair or better — villain peeled the flop with worse pairs and draws, so a second bet charges those draws and gets paid.
• Semi-bluff your big draws (flush draw, OESD) — you keep fold equity and build the pot for when you complete. Checking behind for a free card is also fine vs a sticky caller.
• Check back marginal pairs for pot control and showdown value — they're not strong enough to bet for value twice.
• Give up your air vs a caller — a second barrel into a range that called the flop just burns chips. The exception: a nit who over-folds is worth a second bullet.

Level 9 — River play (value-bet & bluff-catch)

The last card is out and draws are dead — every hand is now made or busted. Two spots:

Value-bet your made hands thin; check back the rest. Facing a bet, bluff-catch by read.

• Checked to you: bet made hands for value (a caller pays off worse), but check back marginal pairs (better calls, worse folds — you only lose value). Busted air can bluff a nit who over-folds, but gives up vs a caller.
• Facing a bet with a strong hand (two pair+): you beat value, not just bluffs — call (or raise).
• Facing a bet with a one-pair bluff-catcher: it's a read. Snap off a maniac who fires too many busted draws; but fold to a nit or station who only bets when they have it — don't pay off players who don't bluff.
• Facing a bet with air: you beat nothing — fold.

Level 10 — Facing a postflop bet (as caller/defender)

You called a preflop raise from the big blind. Villain c-bets the flop or fires the turn. Now you act out of position: fold, call, or raise?

Raise your strong made hands. Call draws and top pair. Fold marginal pairs against tight villains. Give up your air.

• Raise for value with two pair or better (sets, straights, flushes). Don't slow-play — charge the villain while you're ahead and prevent free cards.
• Call with top pair / overpair — strong enough to continue but not strong enough to inflate the pot with one pair. Keep it in check and re-evaluate the next street.
• Call your big draws (flush draw, OESD — 8+ outs). You have real equity; the price is usually right. A semi-bluff raise is also fine if villain c-bets wide.
• Middle/bottom pair: a read. Call against a maniac who bets too wide (your pair + outs make it worth it); fold against a nit or station who usually has you crushed.
• Fold air and weak draws (gutshot only). No pair, no real equity against a credible bet — save your chips.

Done