Both of These Out of Position Strategies Are Wrong

When you’re the preflop raiser and end up playing out of position, there’s a good chance you’re doing one of two things:

1) You’re c-betting way too much

or

2) You’re checking way too much

And both are leaks.

The problem isn’t aggression.

The problem isn’t passivity either.

The real problem is thinking about out of position as one strategy.

Because it isn’t.

Some OOP spots are fantastic for you.

Some are terrible.

And most sit somewhere in the middle.

Today I’m going to show you a simple way to think about these spots so you know:

• when to bet

• when to check

• and most importantly… why

Let’s dive in.

Prefer to watch? I break it all down in this video:

1: Understand who has the advantages

When you raise from the CO and the BB calls, you should c-bet a lot.

Why?

Because you usually have all 3 advantages:

• Position

• Equity

• Nut advantage

That’s a green light for aggression.

But now let’s change one thing…

You open the CO again…

…but this time the BTN calls.

Suddenly:

• you lose position

• equities run much closer together

• you lose nut advantage more often

Now you need to check much more.

Same stack depth.

Same preflop raiser.

Completely different strategy.

That’s the key lesson:

OOP isn’t one strategy.

It depends who has more of the advantages.

2: Not all OOP spots are created equal

Now let’s make it more interesting.

You open from EP…

…the BTN calls…

You’re still out of position.

But now your opening range is much stronger.

That means you regain some advantages:

✅ More equity

✅ More nut advantage

And suddenly…

…you can start c-betting much more aggressively again.

That’s why:

• CO vs BTN = check-heavy

• LJ vs BTN = much more mixed

• EP vs BTN = much more betting

Same spot type.

Very different strategy.

3: Here’s where players get into trouble

Take this flop:

CO vs BTN – J♣ 3♦ 2♣

Most players bet:

• Jx

• overpairs

• sets

Because betting feels natural.

But this is actually a pure check.

Why?

Because:

• you’re out of position

• you’re at an equity disadvantage

• BTN has nut advantage

You’re betting into a range that’s stronger than you think.

That’s a leak.

Now compare that to:

EP vs BTN – A♠ J♦ 6♣ rainbow

This is a pure bet.

You have:

• equity advantage

• nut advantage

That’s enough to bet aggressively.

Same position (OOP).

Completely different answer.

4: Strong-looking boards can still be checks

Here’s a board that blows most players’ minds:

CO vs BTN – K♣ Q♣ T♦

At first glance it looks amazing for CO.

You have:

• straights

• sets

• two pair

• loads of strong top pairs

So betting feels obvious.

But this is actually a high-frequency check.

Why?

Because while your range still looks strong:

• equities run close together

• BTN has nut advantage

• BTN has loads of easy continues

They have:

• more straights

• more two pair

• loads of Jx with open-ended straight draws

So your c-bet loses a lot of power.

Again:

The right question isn’t:

“Do I have a strong hand?”

The right question is:

“Who has more of the advantages?”

5: Use aggregate reports to build heuristics

This is where strategy starts to click.

Instead of studying individual flops…

…start looking for patterns.

For example, at 30bb:

CO vs BTN

Checks 71%

LJ vs BTN

Checks 50%

EP vs BTN

Checks 37%

Huge difference.

And it’s all explained by range strength and advantages.

You can go deeper by filtering:

• board type

• high card

• texture

Then patterns start jumping out:

• 9-high boards bet more

• J-high boards check more

• Monotone boards check more

• Stronger opening ranges allow more aggression

That’s how you build heuristics.

That’s how strategy transfers in-game.

That’s how you stop guessing.

Free aggregate reports

To help you study this properly, I’ve put together interactive aggregate reports for:

✅ 30bb CO vs BTN

✅ 30bb LJ vs BTN

✅ 30bb EP vs BTN

You can filter by:

• board type

• high card

• texture

…and start building your own overarching strategy for these spots.

👉 Download them here

Today’s action tip

Look at your flop c-bet stat when you’re OOP as the preflop raiser.

If it’s very high…

…you may be over-c-betting.

If it’s very low…

…you may be checking too much.

The goal isn’t aggressive.

The goal isn’t passive.

The goal is understanding who has more of the advantages.