Does this preflop quiz replace a starting hands chart?

No, it complements one. A chart tells you which hands to open when nobody has bet yet; this quiz is mostly about what to do facing action: a limp, a raise, a 3-bet.

Why call a 3-bet instead of re-raising with good hands?

It depends on which hands continue. When yours dominates them, as AK does AQ and AJ, 4-bet for value. When it does not, call: in position, a playable hand like suited JT does well after the flop, and a 4-bet with TT only gets called by bigger pairs and AK, while the weaker hands fold.

Does stack depth change the answer?

Yes. At 100 big blinds you have room to play after the flop; at 35 big blinds, big hands often prefer to get the money in preflop.

Do I need an account?

No. The quiz runs on the page, with no account and no sign-up.

Preflop Quiz: 8 Decisions Before the Flop, From Opens to 4-Bets

By the Poker Puzzle Trainer team · Published October 20, 2026

This preflop quiz gives you 8 decisions to make before the flop, in 6‑max and heads-up: opening, isolating a limper, defending your big blind, calling or re-raising a 3‑bet, getting it in short-stacked. Most questions come after someone has already acted in front of you, which an opening chart doesn't cover. Pick your option, then read the explanation below the quiz.

The quiz

Answer key

See the answer

Middle position (MP), Q♠J♠, folded to you — open to 2.5 big blinds. Suited QJ plays well on many flops; limping would invite an isolation raise while giving the players behind a perfect price.
Button, A♥9♥, a player limps from UTG — isolate small, to 5 big blinds. Suited A9 dominates the weak aces in a limping range, and a small raise keeps its medium hands in.
Small blind, A♠8♠, the button opens — small 3‑bet. Out of position, calling realizes equity poorly: a linear 3‑bet takes the pot often and isolates the button.
Heads-up, big blind, Q♣5♦, the button opens to 3 big blinds — call. Heads-up, the button opens very wide and the big blind has to defend much more than in 6‑max.
Heads-up, button, J♥T♥, the big blind 3‑bets — call. In position, a suited connector realizes its equity well; wasting it as a 4‑bet bluff is costly.
Middle position, T♣T♦, the cutoff 3‑bets your open — call. A 4‑bet only gets called by JJ+ and AK; folding gives up a hand that often has the best equity.
Button, A♣K♦, the big blind 3‑bets your open, 100 big blinds — 4‑bet. AK dominates AQ and AJ, and the ace removes some of the opponent's ace combos.
Heads-up, big blind, A♣K♣, 35 big blinds, the button 4‑bets your 3‑bet — jam. At this depth, suited AK is a stack-off hand against a balanced 4‑bet range.

The 4 preflop reflexes to remember

Spot	Reflex
Someone limps in front of you	isolate, rather small, with hands that dominate
In position facing a 3‑bet	call playable hands, 4‑bet the strongest
Out of position facing a 3‑bet	call medium pairs, fold dominated hands
Short stack facing a 4‑bet	big hands get it in

The common mistake: re-raising every "good hand"

Re-raising AQ, TT or suited KJ against every 3‑bet looks aggressive, but the opponent then only continues with the hands that beat you. Calling keeps their weaker hands in, and that is often more profitable.

Our own library says calling is no rare exception. On 15 October 2026 we sorted our 105 preflop spots by expected answer: a raise of some size (open, isolation, 3‑bet, 4‑bet or jam) in 57, a call in 45, and a fold in only 3, although fold is one of the options in all 105. Those 3 folds reflect how we pick spots, not how often to fold: we write puzzles about hands worth a decision, while at a real table you fold most hands before the flop. The answers come from rules we wrote, explained on each puzzle, not from a solver.

Keep going

Which hands to open when nobody has bet: the starting hands chart.
Why position changes everything: poker positions.
Decisions on every street: the poker quiz.
Place your overall level: the poker skill test.
Train on spots like these: our free poker trainer.
After the flop: the c‑bet quiz, then what would you do in these poker hands on the river.
Tools to drill preflop: the best preflop trainers 2026.
The coin flip in exact numbers: pair vs overcards.
When the kicker decides: dominated hands.
3‑bets and 4‑bets one on one: heads-up preflop.
The strongest starting hand, before and after the flop: how to play pocket aces.
A strong pair that faces many overcards: how to play pocket tens.
Pairs from sixes to nines: how to play middle pairs.
The strongest unpaired hand: how to play ace-king.
The hand ace-king dominates: how to play ace-queen.
An ace with a weaker kicker: how to play ace-jack.
The broadway hand that hates aces: how to play king-queen.
Before folding a weak hand: the worst poker hands.
Combos and blockers before the flop: poker combinatorics.
The price of calling or raising an open: cold call vs 3‑bet.
The price of a limp and of an isolation raise: limping in poker.

Today's spot →

Sources

Questions from the curated Poker Puzzle Trainer corpus (October 10, 2026).
Answers follow rules written by the app's author; they are not solver outputs.