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 10 — Facing a 3-bet

You opened first in, then a villain re-raised. The opening range is no longer enough — the continue range is much tighter.

4-bet premiums. Call playable hands mostly in position. Fold the pretty-but-dominated opens.

• 4-bet for value with QQ+ AK. Against aggressive 3-bettors, JJ AQs can join the value 4-bet range.
• Call selectively with hands that realize equity, especially in position: JJ TT 99 AQs AJs KQs and good suited connectors when deep.
• Set-mine small pairs only with position, deep stacks, and a not-too-large 3-bet. Shallow stacks kill the implied odds.
• Fold dominated opens like offsuit broadways and weak suited hands. Opening was profitable; defending versus a 3-bet is a different, higher bar.

Level 4 — 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 when they fold enough.

• 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. Don't slow-play and give draws a free card.
• Semi-bluff your big draws — a flush draw or open-ended straight draw (8+ outs). You build the pot for when you hit and add fold equity now. 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 sticky caller is defensible, but pot control is the default.
• Air is a fold-equity bet — a ⅔-pot c-bet needs villain to fold ~40% to break even. Bet when they fold more than that (and the board isn't soaking up continues); check and give up when they don't. Bluffing a caller just lights chips on fire.

Level 5 — 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. Fire a second barrel or shut down?

Barrel value and big draws. Check marginal hands. Fire air only when they over-fold.

• Barrel for value with top pair or better — villain peeled the flop with worse pairs and draws, so a second bet charges them and gets paid.
• Semi-bluff your big draws (flush draw, OESD) — keep fold equity and build the pot for when you complete. Checking behind for a free card is also fine.
• Check back marginal pairs for pot control and showdown value — not strong enough to bet for value twice.
• Air gives up vs a range that called the flop — unless the read folds enough that a second barrel still clears the fold-equity price.

Level 6 — 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; check back the rest. Facing a bet, bluff-catch when the price and the read say so.

• Checked to you: bet made hands for value (a caller pays off worse), but check back marginal pairs (better calls, worse folds). Busted air bluffs only when the read folds enough to clear the price.
• 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: weigh how much of villain's value beats you (board, blockers), how often this read bluffs, and the price. A bluff-happy read on a board where draws bricked → call; a tight read or a polarizing overbet → fold. Don't pay off players who don't bluff.
• Facing a bet with air: you beat nothing — fold.

Level 7 — 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 strong made hands. Call top pair. Call a draw only when the price is right. Bluff-catch marginal pairs vs a wide bettor. 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, not strong enough to inflate the pot with one pair. Pot control, re-evaluate next street.
• Draws are a price decision — rule of 4: a flush draw (9 outs ≈ 33%) calls a small bet and a half-pot, but folds to a pot-sized bet or an overbet. A semi-bluff raise is fine when the read folds enough.
• Middle/bottom pair is a bluff-catcher: call a wide bettor (lots of air in their range), fold to a tight, honest one.
• Fold air and weak draws (gutshot only) to a credible bet — no pair, no real equity, save your chips.

Level 8 — Multiway limped pot

Several players limped, you overlimped a speculative hand in position, the blinds checked, and the flop checks to you multiway. Bet or check?

Bet value for protection. Check marginal pairs. Usually take the free card with draws. Bluff air only when the field is small and the read folds.

• Value bets charge worse pairs and draws before several opponents realize equity for free.
• Marginal pairs have showdown value but are too thin multiway — check and control the pot.
• Draws usually take the free card. Strong draws may bet too, but the TAG default is lower-variance when multiple players can call.
• Air bluffs lose power fast as the field grows. Fire only when the pot is small-field and the read folds enough to beat the fold-equity price.

Level 9 — Facing a donk bet

You raised preflop, a blind called, and they lead into you on the flop. Fold, call, or raise?

Do not auto-raise. Raise strong value, call good pairs and priced draws, fold air unless a tiny donk from a folder is begging to be attacked.

• Two pair or better raises for value — punish the lead and charge draws.
• Top pair / overpair usually calls. You are in position; keep worse hands in and avoid bloating the pot with one pair.
• Draws call when priced. Semi-bluff raise only when the read folds enough and the sizing is not polarizing.
• Air mostly folds. Weird amateur lines are not automatically weak.