SPOT PRINCIPLE
Playing 500bb out of position for the whole hand is the hardest job in poker. Trim the hands that make it harder.
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.
Folded to you in the small blind: raise or fold. Completing invites the big blind to realize equity for free with position – a habit that gets expensive as stacks deepen.
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.