What are the cut offs for what hands on average are not profitable to play vs the average possible hands of opponents and the blind losses you will incur?

Is there any other variables?

I'm looking to improve my preflop range and make better decisions so I need to understand the maths more.

Any hand that makes =>0bb over a large sample = mathematically sound. Any hand that loses money should be folded.
Exactly what those hands are for each position will depend on your skill level relative to your opponents. e.g. In 6-max cash, some people are good enough to break even with ATo or 76s UTG, so they can open them. A lot of players lack the skills, so should fold those hands and play tighter.
You can get a rough idea of which hands are profitable for you in each spot by using a tracking database (tracker). If you start with a hand chart from a training site, you're usually better off playing a little tighter than it at the start, but then widen your ranges when you get more experience.

I see. That is definitely a viable method. I was just using equilab before and not referencing my hud enough so my preflop ranges were pretty arbitrary.

Is there any other advice you can give me?

If you've got a HUD/tracker, study how the best players at your limit are playing. Specifically in this instance, look at their RFI numbers for each position, and base your opening ranges on what the 'winningest' regs are doing.
As a crazy example of how opening ranges have evolved, back in 2007, people like Sauce were suggesting you could crush the game by only opening 7% UTG in 6-max games, and hands like A5s were usually folded. Some time after that, laggier styles became more popular, and players at certain limits were finding they could profitably open 85% of BTNs or SBs. It depends what limit and site you're playing, but there are always a few players that are doing something "special" that gives them the highest winrates. e.g. at 10NL, it's often the guys with the highest 3-bet percentages that crush the game. If you study (or even copy) the winners, you'll find an edge on the standard regs and fish.

Note, I'm mostly writing above about exploitative adaptations for microstakes. In terms of theory for optimal play, a 'mathematically sound' game can only be built using "GTO solvers" and/or simulations of billions of hands. Pre-flop play in multi-player games is not solved, but there is general agreement about "good hands" to open, as most of the training sites (e.g. Upswing, BCP) have produced pretty similar pre-flop guides.

I would be very carefull to just copy the preflop ranges based on the population tendencies of the winningest players at certain limits cuz the profitability of these ranges (mostly more looser than the average player pool) depends on hero´s postflop capabilities.
I do agree that making a players group of the winningest players at your limits and studying their game helps a lot but i would focus more on their postflop game rather than just opening 93s from the BU or 3betting a hand in position like 86s just because the best player in ur limits are also doing it, if you dont know how to generate profit from those hands post you shouldnt be opening them preflop, learn about these players postflop expolitabilities strategies before even considering widening your opening ranges, my 2cc.

This is mostly true right - except for in the blinds when there are hands you will lose less than the blind (by folding) by playing so in effect +EV


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The op asked specifically for raise first in which is not possible for the bb unless I'm mistaken.

True for BB. But is it not possible for sb?


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Yes it certainly is. Was just noting you said "blinds". Otherwise I completely agree with your statement.

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Yeah. A +EV hand is one where you end up with a bigger stack than you had after the blinds were posted. Playing some hands in the blinds will mean you lose even more than the forced bet, so those hands should be folded pre. But if you're in the SB with half a blind invested, any hand that loses less than half a blind (if you VPIP with it) is +EV.

Tangent, what is BCP?

6 max, 6 players, 100%/6 = 16.6% you should play, you raise 2x so 16.6/2. you raise 3x 16.6/3. you raise 10x 16.6/10
6 max you are bu, 100%/3 = 33%, you raise 5x = 33%/5 you limp = 33%/1
everything higher than those numbers are steals, which exploit your opponents folding tendencies.

In EP open 11%, in MP open 15%, on HJ open 17%, on CO open 24%, On BU open 45%. That is a rough guide. Always account for variable change. The weaker hands aren't as important as the frequency. I believe it is possible to open any two suited cards profitably at a lot of tables. However, if you do this with any two suited, your opponents will adjust and it will no longer be profitable.

Oops. I meant BPC: Best Poker Coaching.

This is not an endorsement, just an answer to your question.

Exactly how do we know who the top winners are at each stake? I'm really curious because I play 10NL 6-max zoom a lot on Stars and I know a lot of the regs, but I'm never certain if they're winning regs, losing regs or breakeven regs... is there some sort of Sharkscope for cash games?

If you have HEM or PT, you can look up the stats (including winrates) for your opponents, albeit only from when you were dealt into the same hand. The results can be quite surprising over small samples (e.g. fish on heaters) due to variance. Since the player pool at 10NLz is quite large, you might not have many players for whom you have 'adequate' sample sizes with which to judge who are the long-term crushers, but if you go to the 'Opponents' tab in HEM and filter for 1000 hands or more, you'll at least get some ballpark numbers on the players you see the most.