How to Adjust to Ante Games?

The way online poker is going right now, it looks like everything is going towards breaking the standard 6-max cash games by adding new things and messing up the already-collected knowledge by regulars.

A few years ago, we were introduced to cash drops on Phil Galfond's Run It Once Poker and GGPoker's Rush & Cash. Now, we are seeing the comeback of 9-max, the introduction of ante games, and 7-max games.

All of these changes are made so players are forced to adjust and open up their ranges, which means more hands, which means more rake. These changes are giving more fun to recreational players as everybody is playing wider and there is more action, disrupting the game of the regulars, and giving more money to the sites.

In this article, we will discuss what adjustments players are supposed to make to capitalize on the new changes and avoid leaving money on the table or in other players' pockets.

Ante Games Adjustments

As mentioned before, we need to open our ranges, which include opening and defending ranges. The math is simple: if there is more money in the pot at the start of the hand, pot odds are more favorable for both opener and defender.

The player who is opening has the incentive to open wider as there is more money in the pot that he wants to win, and the defender has to defend wider as an adjustment to other players opening wider and having better odds due to more dead money in the pot.

Range Comparison Between Regular 6-max and 7-max Ante Tables

In the images above, we can see that the difference in the Cutoff opening range is 28.8% for the 6-max regular table compared to 33.7% for 7-max ante tables. Another thing that should be mentioned is that stronger hands gain more EV as they win the pot (that is, a bigger pot) more often than other mediocre hands.

The most significant opening frequency increase in ante 7-max tables is in the Small Blind, which jumps up to 67% from 46% in the 6-max regular tables, which include lots of open-limping.

There is also more incentive to flat in the button against early opens as more hands have enough EV to call and see the flop. The adjustment that could make ranges look similar (not the same) to the regular tables is if we start using bigger opening sizes.

Increasing the opening size benefits the stronger hands ( hands that are in the upper left of the range chart) more, as they want to play bigger pots in lower SPR. Suited connectors and small pocket pairs lose in value as they have a higher entry price to see the pot, and the odds of set-farming or draw-farming go down.

How to Approach This Adjustment

I recommend learning GTO Wizard ranges as the starting point and adjusting in-game (opening wider or narrower depending on the pool). The good thing to do to train your intuition is to do a bunch of drills, especially in the spots that happen the most often. If you want to know what spots and textures are the most important, you can check our article about the Most Important Spots and Textures in No-Limit Hold'em.