SPOT PRINCIPLE
All the wheel aces and middle suited connectors join; KQo departs. Deep, EP wants nut potential, not dominated top pairs.
Nut potential leads. Suited aces, pairs, and connected suited hands open wider — the connectors earn it through straights and disguised two pairs, and low suited hands still owe respect to bigger flushes; dominated offsuit hands keep shrinking.
Early position opens into seven or eight players. Tightness here is not timidity – it is respect for how often someone behind wakes up with position and a hand.
Assumes a live-standard open to ~4bb, raise-or-fold. In straddled games, halve your effective big blinds and read the chart at that depth.
Baseline assumptions: 9-handed · no ante · no straddle · 4bb opens · low-rake live structure · cold-calling allowed. Charts reduce low-frequency mixes to a single default action; adjust live for opponents and rake. Baseline v1 · updated 2026-08.