LearnModule X4 · Live and deep
X4-L4
Playing 200 big blinds deep
How play changes at 200 big blinds: what Rail's 200bb charts open more, bigger bets after the flop, and why one pair is worth less.
In this lesson
- Open more suited aces from the early seats, as Rail's 200bb charts do.
- Explain why nut potential and implied odds matter more with deep stacks.
- Value one-pair hands less at a higher SPR.
- Use bigger sizes so plans over several streets still get the stacks in.
What deep stacks reward
At 200 bb a single-raised pot starts deep: a 2.5 bb open called by the big blind leaves 197.5 bb behind a pot of 5.5, an SPR of 35.9, about twice the 17.7 of 100 bb. With that much behind, the hands that can make the nuts win big pots and one pair wins small ones: a top pair that is good at 100 bb is often a hand to keep the pot small with at 200.
- SPR
- 35.9
- Geometric bet each street
- 158.8% of the pot · 8.73 bb
- Called pot-sized bets the stacks hold
- 3.9
Rail's 200 bb charts
Rail's charts at 200 bb, solved like the 100 bb set with deeper stacks, open more hands from the early seats, and the gain is concentrated: far more suited aces and a few more suited connectors, while offsuit broadway hands barely change. From the button the opening range barely moves, and the big blind's defence against a button open is nearly the same. The chart quizzes below deal from that set.
Bigger bets to get the stacks in
Three equal bets that get 197.5 bb in over the flop, turn and river from a pot of 5.5 must each be about 159% of the pot; at 100 bb, about 116%. Deep, either the bets get bigger or the stacks do not go in: plans with the nuts start earlier and size up, and one-pair hands stop at a pot they can stand.
Rules of thumb
- Count the SPR: 200 bb single-raised pots are about twice as deep.
- Deep stacks pay the hands that make the nuts.
- Keep pots with one pair small when deep.
- Size up early with the nuts if you want the stacks in.
When they break
- Only the effective stack counts: a short stack at the table plays at its own depth.
- Against players who pay off one pair, value bets get thicker even deep.
Example hands
Examples come from two places only: your own analysed hands in this lesson's spots, and a hand Rail deals and grades itself. Never a hand from outside Rail.
Sign in, with analysed hands, to see examples from your own play here.
Rail scripts this hand from the lesson's own practice, always the same one, and grades it with the analysis. Decide first, then read Rail's verdict.
Practice
The lesson is mastered when every exercise below that Rail can grade is passed. Missed items come back later as review cards.
Exercise 1
Pass: 9 of 12 rightTwelve first-in spots dealt from Rail's 200 bb charts, graded as the analysis grades them.
Exercise 2
Pass: 9 of 12 rightTwelve spots facing an open, dealt from Rail's 200 bb charts.
Exercise 3
Does not count towards passingPlanned: sort the same flop range at 200 bb and at 100 bb, once Rail's flop library covers 200 bb.
Planned: sort the same range at 200bb and at 100bb, and compare both splits with Rail's solves.
Waits for flop solves at this depth: Rail's flop library covers heads-up lines at 6-max 100bb and 150bb, 9-max 100bb and heads-up tables at 100bb only.
Module X4 review · Live and deep
6 items mixed across this module's lessons: a spot from one lesson, a sum from another. Telling which idea a spot asks for is half of it. Missed items join your review cards; the score is not kept.