Why Preflop Charts Are Your Best Friend
Solve the most frequent street in poker. Why 'feeling it out' is destroying your win-rate before the flop even comes.
Preflop is the foundation of your house. If you build on a swamp, the house will sink. If you play garbage hands preflop, you will find yourself in difficult, expensive spots post-flop.
Position is Power
The biggest factor in hand selection is Position. Being "In Position" (acting last) gives you information. You see what your opponents do before you have to react.
Under the Gun (UTG)
This is the first person to act. You must play very tight here (Top 10-15% of hands). If you raise with weak hands like A-9 offsuit, you have 8 players left to act behind you who can wake up with a monster.
The Button (BTN)
The best seat. You can open roughly 40-50% of hands here if it folds to you. You are guaranteed to act last for the rest of the hand.
GTO Ranges
Modern poker has been solved by computers. We know mathematically which hands make money and which ones lose money from every seat.
Memorizing these charts is the quickest way to improve your game. Stop guessing if K-Jo is a raise from early position (Spoiler: It's usually a fold).