Starting hand selection EP

1. You want to play Full ring, as I understand? Why?
2. I am not sure you are aware of the hand selection and positions. How can everyone limp in the BB and you act on the SB? Who told you that you should not play JTs from SB? And why do you think that SB is not Late Position?

Thank you for your response, nitrol!! Sounds like I have a lot to learn...

1. I play live games with some friends and it's usually full ring games. But I also prefer full ring games, because the hand selection is simpler. (Fewer starting hands to remember.)

2. I thought if 9 ppl were playing, then before the flop:
EP = SB (small blind), BB, UTG
MP = next 3 pos
LP = 1 before CO, CO, button

Even though SB and BB are acting after the button, still for the rest of the hand they will be acting early. That's why I thought they were considered EP, even when talking about pre-flop.

I am SB. The person after BB calls the blind, the next one calls the blinds, etc. The button calls the blinds and now I am in SB, wondering if I should call or raise.

I am a newbie, so I want to start out with a tight range. I figured not playing JTs from EP would be tight.

If JTs was a bad example, how about 98s? That's something I would play from LP and not from EP. Should I play that from EP if I know it will only cost me 0.5 BB to see the flop?

SB is the latest position possible. That position will act last pre flop.
From late positions you want to open wider because there are less players behind you. So from SB you should open a huge range compared to UTG opening range.

I think it would be best to start with our beginner strategy articles: https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/
After that you could maybe watch our No-Limit Starter course by LemOn36

thank you, lassi! i will start with the articles.

still, can you guys answer the question about EP... if I know that a hand is not good enough to open EP, can i still open EP (or limp in) if i am sure that the rest of the table will limp in as well? i want to know if opening ranges have more to do with the cost of seeing the flop or with me getting in trouble with a hand, because i played it OOP?

If there are many limpers already, you can limp in with a wide range of hands because you will get a good price to see the flop. However the more people are in the pot, the less equity you will have. Also it is difficult to play in limped pots and OOP. In limped pots anyone can have pretty much anything and you can end up making big mistakes. I would never recommend limping as a standard move (don't know if it is ok in live games).
If someone limps and you are on SB, I think you can iso-raise with top 10% range and limp with almost all the other hands. So 98s is easily good enough to play from there.

I recommend you take a look at some starting hand charts to get a better feeling of what hands should you open and from where.
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=309916&page=1 Here you will find ranges created by one of our coach.
If those are a bit too complex, you can check our more beginner friendly strategy article: https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strategy/bss/play-before-flop-starting-hands/1/

Originally posted by santos90
thank you, lassi! i will start with the articles.

still, can you guys answer the question about EP... if I know that a hand is not good enough to open EP, can i still open EP (or limp in) if i am sure that the rest of the table will limp in as well? i want to know if opening ranges have more to do with the cost of seeing the flop or with me getting in trouble with a hand, because i played it OOP?

Now, let's correct the first misunderstanding. SB, BB are late positions as they act last preflop thus seeing all the action in front.
From SB you can overlimp or you can iso-raise if you have better hand.
If everyone folded to You, you can open raise JTs and this is perfectly fine.

Before "memorizing ranges", understand why you raise/call/fold.

The situation you mention with JTs in SB with 7 limpers should really have an obvious answer to you. Hint: You have the mother of all drawing hands and the pot odds are 16.5:1. Your implied odds (assuming full stacks) are in the neighborhood of 1600:1.

nitrol, SB is late position pre-flop and in later rounds it becomes early, correct?

lassi, thank you for addressing that specific situation. and thanks for the links.

Yohan, so with JTs I would raise in this situation

Well, you don't fold. That's a start. Why would you raise?

I would raise to get more money in the pot. With suited connectors my chances of flopping something good (a good draw, 2 pairs or better) are 25%. So, I'd need at least 3 players to call my raise. With that crowd, I would expect anywhere from 2 to 5 people to call my raise. So, that's why I'd raise.

The assumption is that 2 to 5 ppl will call it. But given what I know about the people I played with - that seems like a pretty good assumption.

Also, if I just call, I'd be playing against 8 ppl. If a draw does not come, then 2 pairs or trips will not make me very confident. Someone could have flopped the same with a better kicker.

My two cents here:
I'll advise to play SH (6 people) there is more action, more hands/hour, more tables and more fishes. Also full ring is almost nonexistent at higher stakes if you keep going up.