5 Preflop Tips to Help You Crush on ClubWPT Gold

In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new poker site available to most residents of the USA.

It’s called ClubWPT Gold and it is absurdly soft (see: our ClubWPT Gold review).

This site features a unique 8-handed cash game format that includes a mandatory straddle and an ante. The structure creates a different dynamic than typical online cash game formats.

This change in dynamic presents opportunities for players willing to put in a bit of effort to learn how to play preflop optimally. That’s why, in this article, I’m going to share five tips for crushing preflop play in these games.

Note: Want perfect preflop ranges for ClubWPT Gold at your fingertips?

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Already a Lab member? Access the ClubWPT Gold charts in the Preflop Master App here.

Tip #1: Loosen Up Your Open-Raising Strategy From the First 4 Positions

The ante has a clear effect on optimal strategy: it incentivizes looser open-raising due to the added dead money in the pot. Since you’re risking the same amount to win more, your raises don’t need to succeed as often to break even.

The straddle, however, has a slightly tightening effect for players outside the blinds. Yes, there’s more dead money (an extra 2 big blinds), but there is also an extra player to worry about. Quick example: when you’re in the Cutoff position in a traditional blind structure, there are 3 players left to act. In a straddle game, there are 4 (Button, both blinds, and the straddle).

These two factors largely offset each other, but the overall effect is still a slight shift toward looseness.

Bottom line: the ante’s incentive to loosen up outweighs the straddle’s incentive to tighten up, so the optimal strategy leans toward opening a bit wider from early and middle positions.

Check out this comparison between the theoretically optimal Lojack open-raising strategy in a traditional setup vs the ClubWPT Gold 8-max straddle + ante format.

Here’s the more familiar Lojack range for a game with no ante and no straddle:

And here is the slightly looser Lojack range you should use on ClubWPT Gold’s straddle + ante cash games:

The LJ raising range for ClubWPT Gold displayed inside of the Preflop Master App. This set of ranges is exclusively available for Upswing Lab members.

The first range consisted of about 18.5% of hands. The second range is about 21% of hands. That’s a 2.5 percentage point increase on ClubWPT Gold.

Tip #2: Play Looser Against 3-Bets When Out of Position

With more dead money in the pot, the pot odds you’re getting when facing a 3-bet are significantly better, making more hands profitable to call.

Consider:

• Standard structure: you raise to 2.5bb and face a 7.5bb 3-bet. You must call 5bb to win a pot of 16.5bb.
  The price to call in this scenario is 30.3% (i.e. you need to realize 30.3% equity to break even on a call).

• Straddle + ante structure: you raise to 5bb and face a 15bb 3-bet. You Must call 10bb to win 35.1bb.
  The price to call in this scenario is 28.5%.

That ~2% shift is can make hands like pocket pairs, previously mixing between call and fold, become clear calls. Hands that were neutral EV calls before will often become +EV calls.

Note: The poker gods rewards the prepared. Get ClubWPT Gold preflop charts made specifically for the straddle + ante format.

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Tip #3: Open Raise Tight(er) From the Small Blind

The Small Blind’s optimal strategy changes dramatically in the straddle + ante structure.

Now you have two players left to act instead of one, and you’re out of position against both. These factors combine to dramatically tighten the requirements for a profitable open-raise.

When there’s an extra player to act, you’re nearly twice as likely to run into a strong hand. If only one player is left to act, they have a 0.45% chance of holding pocket Aces. With two players left, that chance nearly doubles to 0.9%. As more players remain, the likelihood of running into stronger hands increases.

Plus, being out of position means you’ll have a harder time realizing your hand’s equity—you’ll be reacting to the in-position player more often than not.

Bottom line: Tighten up significantly from the Small Blind in this format.

Tip #4: Play Looser Against Open-Raises

This tip builds on the first one.

With wider opening ranges across the board and better pot odds due to the ante, you can profitably call with more hands.

The straddle does increase the number of players behind you, which normally tightens your range, but that’s somewhat offset by the fact that the extra player is out of position*.

*Unless you’re in the Big Blind.

So, you’ve got two strong forces (wider opens and better pot odds) incentivizing you to play loose and one mild tightening factor (extra player behind).

The net result is that more hands become profitable to cold-call compared to traditional blind structures.

Let’s take a look at the optimal Cutoff strategy vs a Hijack raise in both formats.

We’ll start with the familiar Cutoff defense range in this spot:

 

And here is the range you should play from the Cutoff against a Hijack open on ClubWPT Gold:

 

In a standard game, you can profitably play 10.5% of hands. In the ClubWPT Gold format, that jumps to 14.2%.

That’s nearly a 40% relative increase in playable hands!

Tip #5: Treat the Big Blind as the New Small Blind (with a twist)

In a straddle structure, the Big Blind is very similar to the Small Blind in a traditional setup. Consider the similarities:

• There is only one player left to act after you
• You’re out of position

The big difference is the ante. With eight players contributing, there’s a ton of dead money in the pot. That makes calling more attractive, even with marginal hands.

So the Big Blind’s strategy should resemble how you’d play from the Small Blind in a normal game—but with a twist: you get to call more often.

Take a look at how the Small Blind defends against a Cutoff open in a traditional game vs how the Big Blind defends in the straddle + ante format.

We’ll begin with the familiar Small Blind defense range against the Cutoff:

This aligns with the typical Small Blind advice of playing a tight, 3-bet only strategy when facing a raise.

Contrast that with how the Big Blind should play against the Cutoff on ClubWPT Gold:

You’ll see similar 3-bet frequencies (both are around 10%), but the ClubWPT format includes a much wider calling range, thanks to that ante.

Final Thoughts

ClubWPT Gold offers a great opportunity to dive into a format where few players understand optimal preflop adjustments. And when people don’t have a solid plan preflop, the postflop streets get messy, meaning more edges for you.

With these five tips in your arsenal, you’re better prepared than most of your opponents to crush these games.

If you really want to have an edge in these soft games on ClubWPT Gold, join the Upswing Lab to access to the full set of preflop charts now!

Until next time, good luck out there, grinders!

Note: Want to learn what the new poker site on the block is all about? Check out our ClubWPT Gold review!

ClubWPT Gold Review: What You Must Know Before Playing