MTT Preflop Blog
Practical notes for tournament poker players who want to study preflop ranges, short-stack decisions, blind defense, and daily training habits without turning every session into a long solver project.
What This Blog Covers
The MTT Preflop Blog is a guide layer for the training tool. The articles and learning pages focus on decisions that appear constantly in online tournaments: opening ranges by position, push/fold thresholds, big blind defense, small blind limps, and hands that look attractive but become expensive when stacks are shallow.
Good preflop study is not only about memorizing a chart. Tournament decisions depend on stack depth, antes, position, previous action, and sometimes ICM pressure. A player who uses the same opening range at 50BB and 12BB will make costly mistakes. A player who defends the big blind with every suited hand may win a few pots, but can also build a habit of entering weak, dominated spots without initiative.
Recommended Reading Path
If you are new to structured MTT study, begin with the range overview. It explains why position matters and how an unopened range is different from a defense range. Next, read the push/fold page to understand why short-stack poker often rewards simpler decisions. After that, move into blind defense and small blind strategy, where many players lose chips by calling too often or choosing mixed strategies without knowing why.
Each public page links back to the interactive trainer. This lets you read the concept first, then immediately test yourself in a practical spot. The goal is to turn study into a repeatable habit: learn one theme, answer a few questions, review mistakes, and return tomorrow with a clearer preflop plan.
How to Review Your Own Leaks
When you review tournament hands, separate the mistake type before judging the result. Some hands are range mistakes, such as opening too many offsuit broadways from early position. Some are stack-depth mistakes, such as calling a raise with a hand that plays poorly at 12BB. Others are discipline mistakes, where the correct action is clear but the player chooses a lower-EV line because the hand looks playable.
The trainer is designed to make those leaks visible. After a few daily sessions, repeated errors usually point to one of a small number of themes: short-stack impatience, loose blind defense, fear of folding attractive high cards, or uncertainty when facing a raise. Those themes are better study targets than trying to memorize every possible combo at once.
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FAQ
Is this blog written for cash games or tournaments?
The focus is MTT poker. Some ideas overlap with cash games, but the training pages are built around tournament stack depths, antes, and changing stages.
Should I memorize every range exactly?
No. Ranges are useful references, but the practical goal is to understand the shape of good decisions and avoid repeated preflop leaks.
Can beginners use these pages?
Yes. The content is written in plain English and connects directly to the trainer, so beginners can learn a concept and test it immediately.