Jonathan sees too many of his students flat calling from the small blind in low stakes cash games that take a high rake! Learn in this poker video why you should adopt a 3-bet or folding range when playing from the small blind.

Most live cash games charge a 10% rake capped at some amount. From the small blind, you have the worst actual and relative position throughout a hand. This is a big disadvantage! You will under-realize your equity from out of position. You should prefer a 3-bet from the small blind in cash games with rake rather than just flat calling. In terms of the size that you should use, look to 3-bet to a bit more than the size of the pot.

When you 3-bet, you usually want to make it the size of the pot.

The pot = 3 (last bet) + any addition money in the pot

From out of position, re-raise a bit larger than ""normal"". The same applies if you are playing deep stacked. In general you should make it roughly one 'unit' larger from the small blind, 4 to 4.5x your opponent's initial raise.

You should also consider the rake considerations in the cash game that you are playing. If there is no rake then you should play closer to how you would play in a tournament that contains a lot more calling. With a gigantic rake you need to play even tighter than the suggested GTO ranges.

0:00 - Stop Calling From The Small Blind
2:14 - 3-Bet Sizing
3:49 - Consider Abnormalities
4:39 - Small Blind vs Under The Gun Raise
7:26 - Small Blind vs Hijack Raise
8:36 - Small Blind vs Button Raise
10:48 - Multi-Way


On this Poker Coaching channel we cover a weekly poker topic to help improve your poker strategy!

In order to take your poker game to the next level it is vitally important you learn all the nuances of the game.

Do you know what ranges of poker hands you should be playing from each position? When should you 3-bet, call or fold? When is the right time to make a hero call or a huge bluff? Do you know how to play preflop, flop, turn & river effectively and how should your poker strategy change depending on the street? What difference does it make if you are playing multi-way vs heads-up?

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