I've got basic knowledge of poker theory so there could be inaccurancies is this question.

That being said, I'd like to ask you how are we supposed to construct ranges to play an unbalanced strategy against someone to exploit their leaks and if there's an optimal value for each stat (and why is it optimal).

When I sit on the left of a nit, who folds 90+ when faced a steal from bb, I'm going to open ATC from the button and like 80% from CO when there's a nitty regular between me and him.

The same apply for example OTF when I'm gonna c-bet with an higher frequency on players with high ftcb and viceversa I'm not trying to bluff fishes.
I even change my c-bet size to a smaller one against nit who are obviously setmining: they will fold anything except sets.


Now my questions are: how to quantify these ranges? Which is the exact range I should steal from a nit sitting on bb that folds 85% of the times (given he's not adjusting: nobody adjust at NL10)? How can I know if a particular stat is exploitative? Is there an optimal value for each stat? Why?

Hope you can enlighten me

What about if his fold cbet stat reads 50%? I would imagine you would have to see if its the same OOP & IP. Also what about in multi way pots is there a stat for that?

You need to *know* the GTO dilution to your poker game then any deviation from it is open for exploitation.

So there's lots of tricks to doing this since that's what poker's all about, but as far as the brute force mathy way goes...

First of all, you can't directly find your most exploitative strategy from just Villain's frequencies. You have to know/estimate his whole strategy, i.e. how he plays each of his hands in each spot. His frequencies don't tell the whole story.

Then, you find exploitative ranges by finding the most profitable way to play each of your hands individually, and there's a mechanical procedure for that if it's not clear.

I agree, beside his frequencies you´d need some kind of indication of his hands.

Lets assume a Hyper first hand 25bb. He openshoves, you know he wouldnt do that with AA, but with 22-44. So here you have your apporach to exploit him. What would you call with? Well, pretty much every hand that does slightly better than >50% against his range.

Another example, you know he is bad, and he is 3bet jamming all A2-A9. Your normal calling range vs standard population would be A8. But you would want to exploit this, so now you would widen your range to maybe A7o /A6s. Again you exploit his range.

Basically you have to dissect his range by the actions he performs and then you have to counter it properly with a stronger range!

Assuming that the villain does not adjust to your play - and that is the basic assumption behind exploitative play - you don't need to worry about ranges. You look at each of your hands individually and decide what the most profitable line with that hand is.

If you have a nit who folds to 85% of your steals, then you can raise any two cards until they adjust (although you may consider limping the very best hands).

That is a very static and simplified approach. I´m sure when you look down at your T3s, you´d probably see a -EV hand and muck it. Yet when other people look at the hand, they might come up with an approach that is probably slightly less -EV since they take other factors into consideration. For them its not a hand they play but a range they represent. Thinking this way, and how ranges connect with boards and how well you can represent them as well as what their mathematical expecation is on certain boards and situations puts you at the next level. Yet looking at one single hand and play it as it is will forever keep you limited in your possible capabilities.

The question was about exploitative ranges. I read that as maximally exploitative against an opponent with a known strategy, and that's what I tried to answer.

Yeah but he asked for constructing a exploitative range - and you advised him to look at individual hands. Thats not how it works. You take villains range X and construct a range Z that has Y equity against a given range. For that to do you need to have a basic understanding how villain constructs his range (e.g. does it contain many Ax or middeling SCs for certain actions) and then you go ahead and construct A RANGE, not an individual hand, that can compete with villains range by an equity difference (which depends on position/gameflow/betting frequencies and so on...)

the way to find your maximally exploitative response vs an opponent with a known strategy actually is just to find the best way to play every hand individually.

^^ Thanks for the support

Yaqh and Cangurino are correct, but do you have any practical help on how to do this?

i guess my most practical advice would be to get a copy of CardrunnersEV. if you want to understand mathematically how to solve for the most profitable way to play an individual hand, i can PM a reference.

and btw If you want to know the
most profitable way to play a
certain range Vs his range you also can use Crev

microsoft excel