How do you adjust your open-raising ranges when antes come into play?

[babyrosejr]

I’ve been working a lot on my preflop game recently, especially focusing on the difference between playing with and without antes in tournaments.

Without antes, I usually stick to a tighter opening range because the pot is smaller and there’s less dead money to fight for. But once antes kick in, it feels like there’s a huge incentive to widen my open-raising ranges, especially from late positions.

For example, I find myself opening hands like suited connectors, weaker suited aces, and even some offsuit broadways that I would normally fold earlier in the tournament. At the same time, I worry that I might be overdoing it and becoming too loose in spots where the table is aggressive.

So, I wanted to ask the community:

How do you personally adjust your opening ranges once antes are introduced?

Do you have specific hands that become automatic opens for you in late position with antes?

And how do you balance aggression with caution when the table has active 3-bettors?


I’d love to hear your thoughts and maybe see some examples of ranges or adjustments you make!

 

[schtiuky]

I only adjust to the size of the stack antes, bb, sb are the same for all. Your stack its different and opponents play is different so i try to adjust there.

 

[Natox]

Hey baby,
it's not easy to answer but with an ante in play, you should generally adjust your opening ranges to be wider from all positions to take advantage of the extra money in the pot, but also tighter in specific situations, such as against aggressive players who frequently 3-bet or when facing a raise from an early position with limited positions behind. The added incentive to contest the pot means more hands become profitable to open or continue with, but you must also be mindful of opponents who may exploit your wider ranges by widening their own defense. Perhaps you should start adding a few more hands to your range (they have to be in your comfort zone) and heavily focus on postflop play with them.

Good luck to you,
Natox

 

[dannystanks]

Yeah I think you have the right idea with playing tighter without antees and with antees and blinds increasing opening up your range more. A lot will depend on how many big blinds you and your opponents have, position, where you are at in a tournament, but generally it’s a good idea to open that range when there is more chips to go after.