Open Raise (RFI) (RFI)

Also known as: Raise First In, open raise, first-in raise

Being the first player to enter the pot for a raise, with no limpers or raisers ahead of you.

RFI (Raise First In) is the foundational preflop action: you open-raise into an unopened pot. Your RFI range widens monotonically as you move closer to the button, because fewer players remain to wake up behind you and position improves. A typical 100bb online cash baseline runs roughly UTG ~15%, CO ~27%, BTN ~45%, SB ~40% (often as a raise-or-fold strategy).

In tournaments, ante structures — especially the Big Blind Ante (BBA) — inflate the pot you're contesting, so correct RFI ranges are wider than in ante-less cash, particularly from late position where you're attacking dead money. Sizing has compressed over the solver era: 2–2.5bb is standard at depth online, 2.2–2.5bb live where pools defend too tight.

A correct RFI range is uncapped and roughly linear from early position — you simply take the best hands by equity — but acquires more speculative, suited, and low-pair holdings as position improves because those hands realize equity better with the betting lead. Knowing your RFI cutoffs cold is the single highest-frequency preflop decision you make.