Hand 2 - Ranges Vs Lines

The biggest jump in my poker skill was when I started focusing on ranges rather than just lines.

Thinking on lines is stuff like aforementioned beluga theorem "re-evaluate one pair hands when raised OTT"... it is not necessarily wrong, and such advice (like beluga's) can be broadly accurate and even applicable.

However, line-thinking is incomplete - we need to be more specific to gain a huge edge and develop a game that conforms to each Villain's specific mistakes.

Ranging is both an offensive and defensive tool. It can guide you to successful bluffs AND help you pick off bad bluffs from your opponents. Below is a hand where when it is my action on the river... the villain literally has ZERO combinations in his range. This is almost always the trademark of a bluff... and specifically, a hand where the villains reversed their plan mid-hand. AND... the opponent usually expects a successful bluff because they think their LINE looks strong, but they fail to consider ranges.

Villain is a middle aged asian, long time reg, with a reputation for being loose.

At this point it is late in the night and I have built up a $2300 stack at the 2/5 main game. At this table, my image is a little better - I have played a little tighter and mostly been betting in value spots.

Previous hand of note:
$10 straddle in LP,
BB calls for $10,
Villain is to my immediate right. He has ~$850 and I cover.
Villain makes it $40 from MP,
I make it $110 with AK
Folds around to Villain who calls.

In all honesty, his range is pretty wide at this point although it is heavily weighted towards 2 broadways, medium PPs (77-JJ), and maybe suited connectors...

Pot is $240, Flop
773

V checks,
I bet $130
V calls

Off chance he has a 7, but most likely he has a pair here. I am certainly going to try to convince him I have KK/AA and get a fold here (with a backup plan of spiking a K or A).. I will be happy to see any J/Q/K/A OTT though to help my bluff.

Turn, Pot is $500
7735

..pretty much a blank, but I go ahead
V checks,
I bet $250 (V doesn't really track pot size, so this should be thought of as a huge bet.. it also commits him)
.. He calls

Time for backup plan, give me a river!!!

Turn, Pot is $1000
77355

V checks... I am never pushing him out here for the few hundred he has left, I check behind, he shows 88 and I muck.

As much as this seems like a series of great calls by villain, after studying him longer, I realize he is calling simply because his 8s are an overpair to the board. My range would be QQ-AA (18) and sometimes AK (16, but discounted). He is not ranging! He was ready to follow up a $40 bet by check-calling for $810 more with 88. This is a great guy to have to my right as long as I stop trying to convince him I have XX, and instead really have XX.


So hand 2 now. Maybe 45 minutes later. Villain is what I will call level 1.5 - his cards + consideration for generic "lines".. not level 2 where he considers my specific range.

Villain has ~$1200 in play and I cover.

Hero is dealt 99

One EP limp,
Villain limps in MP,
I make it $35 from HJ
BTN calls,
blinds fold,
EP calls,
Villain calls

Villain's range is very wide for limp-calling. He limps a lot and rarely limp-folds, but TT+ is out because he limped to start. BTN calls behind me everytime I raise it seems like, so his range is every speculative hand. EP is ABC post-flop. This should be an easy hand with a favorable flop and assuming BTN doesn't hit and get in behind me.

Flop is (pot: $145)
732



Checks to me,
I bet $90,
BTN folds,
EP folds,
Villain calls

I feel his range is 45, maybe some A4s/A5s with backdoor potential, maybe 7x one gappers, 97/87/76/75, and 77-22, discounted 99-88. I crush this range pretty well.

Turn (pot $325)
732T

This is a really good card for me. It improves nothing in his range, and it doesn't really scare him either.

He checks, I bet $90 again .. I'll explain. I am avoiding commitment to this hand somewhat, but I also am trying to keep his range very wide. His range in general has ~5 outs on average... so I can lay some longer odds to him. I will return to a bigger bet on the river when I can be sure he does not have any sets (if call-check river by V). Much bigger of a bet, and I will only get to continue with the top of his range (sets), and likely check-raised and knocked off my hand.

So the river (pot is $505):
732TT

Perfection!!

Villain leads out $250 And here is the lesson. He wants to rep a T... but there is nothing left in his range. How could he limp-call,check-call a 7 3 2 rainbow flop with a naked Ten? (Tx as 2 pair certainly raises turn this deep). Perhaps a slow played set turned FH... but honestly, that set did not suddenly get better with a paired river, thus justifying a huge leap in aggression. Any set was pretty much the nuts all along... He is playing a line, not a range. He knows "runner runner pair is scary". He got here with a bluff catcher, realized I don't triple barrel (remember I did double barrel AK before), and decided, just for good measure to make sure he wins - he has turned a bluff catcher into a bluff... a big one at that. Seriously, make a case that he could have a Ten / a FH / or JJ+? He has nothing left for combinations... ZERO hands... it is a bluff-catch turned bluff line.

I call,
He show 53o...

I pull in a $1k pot thanks to ranging... failure to range by V, good ranging by me

One more note on hand 2. I did not snap-call river, and I rarely do when catching a bluff. Several reasons:

a) recheck the board and rerun action in your head to double check everything
b) let them believe they almost got you to fold... maybe they will bet bigger next time

Subbed!
Love the HH write ups and analysis.. been a long time fan of all your insight in the LLSNL forum GL and run good!

Thanks! Welcome to the thread

Well done BIP! Ranging levels 101

Hand 3 - going for the big kill - result is ??

EP Villain- decent player. Looser pre-flop, but pretty guarded post flop. Understands position.. I really haven't played with this guy enough to find any gaping leaks.

Hero is in MP.

$10 LP straddle, blinds 2/5, 8 handed
BB calls $10
EP Villain (UTG+1, ~$2700) raises to $40
1 caller,
Hero (~$2600) has AA
Hero raises to $110
Folds to Villain
Villain thinks for a while and calls
Caller in between folds

Villains range is more determined by the fact that he raised from EP than the fact that he called my raise. It is AQ+, TT+ the best I can tell (although I don't have enough history with V to be certain). He does have a wide open-limping range, so that is more why I assign a tighter value range to his raise... because he didn't limp basically.

Flop (Pot $270)
A98

Villain checks..
I need to work on this spot in my game. I mean, my c-bet here without AA is pretty much 100%.. so I hope he will doubt me or actually have another A... but really, even though the check behind is lol-obvious AA, villains repeatedly fall for it. I decide after a short debate that this guy is too savvy to fall for the check behind (or at best I will only crack a few hundred more).. and I decide to take a chance to get all $2500 effective in play here and win a $5k pot at 2/5.

I bet $130 - pretty standard c-bet for when I whiff this flop...
Villain tanks for 2 minutes and then folds.

I was hoping to catch him with AQ/AK (8 combos left).. I don't think 99/88 are in his range from EP raise... too bad. There are TT-KK (24 combos) that dominate his range here. I could get one decent or two small streets (turn/river) out of these hands - but there is also a possibility that I get that street on the flop too. So I thought the best play was to focus on the range that nets me $2500, rather than $200~$300, and I c-bet it.

Villain is savvy... I am sure he debated that I may have missed the Ace (say QQ)... but decided that I can have the pot if that is the case. He was OOP, and we were deep, so a mistake would be so costly. Plus AK dominates my range here.

I don't think I scared off Ax... I think I got a fold from a QQ type hand. Not sure if I regret this or not. If I check behind, I still get fat value from AK/AQ, and a little value from [~QQ]... but I have a tough time getting $2500 in smoothly.

Thoughts?

The results of the specific hand are not a concern. Playing out of a rack is bad poker for enough reasons to fill up several pages here.

To each their own. I only tell you a leak that I regularly exploit out of ALL players (good and bad alike)

I get the stereotype that playing out of the rack is scared money... but seriously any opponent leveling themselves into that against me is going to **** themselves more than they are going to exploit me. "Playing out of the rack" is just one of the many dozens of trivial situations that are part of poker folk-lore as some huge edge/neg-edge whose impact is greatly exaggerated.

(edit: I am not beyond these "overreading situation" sins though.. see me dust off $300 at 1/3 with 96s because the 3-better was on a straddle)

More often than not I see opponents rack up, "take one more hand"... that turns into 5 more orbits out of the rack.

My -EV from racking while taking cards UTG is way way less than the -EV of skipping MP and EP free hands after I decided to leave.

If others want to enforce that rule on themselves, sure - do what makes sense for you specifically. There are times I snap get up and don't take free hands - but that is when I am specifically afraid to play A game anymore. If I play out of the rack, it is more because I am making an efficient exit... if I were scared, then I would just leave.

So in summary - any "move" that is going to stump me while I play out of the rack would be one that works 100% of the time against me - shame on villain for not exploiting me for the previous 30 orbits.

/end derail.

cliffs: I get the cliche - trust me though, rack play is not hurting me one bit.

I just thought of a genius move for next session..

I am going to get one more rack than necessary, make it obvious that I have too many racks.. then look at villain, point to the empty rack, and say "I saved room for your chips" with a wink

Just have to say, that is awesome. Would make for a great story if successful, like Babe Ruth calling his shot.
/low content post.

So good...

Good stuff, love reading about tought processes. I feel like i am already playing better.

Gl on your semi-proness.

Like you said, 100% cbet - blah blah blah.... But this board is pretty effing dry considering the range you put him on. I think a check is perfectly fine. This is one of those times where the turn hopefully helps him out and gets him to put some money in. If he has AK/AQ the hand should play itself, so I wouldn't worry about those hands too much. This is probably one of the times "FPS" is ok.

Thinking through it more... I probably check behind with KK... after all, what would a bet with KK do on that flop - fold worse, get called by better. In a 3-bet PF pot, my cbet on that board may be nearer to 0 than 100.. I may have goofed that hand up

Results graph (to date)

<3 bip!

Awesome stuff!

ty - honored to claim your first 2+2 post
ty nddst!

I'll get only one session in (this Wednesday) until after 4th of July week... vacation time

Which app are u using for that giraffe? I assume those are hours on the horizontal?

Looks like good 'ol excel like I used to do. Gl with keeping up with that if it is... had to switch to a phone app, too much work.

Correct, it is excel (and horizontal is hours). Everytime I go to buy Poker Journal, I balk because of the price I am sure eventually I will get tired of typing stuff into excel and capitulate to paying $10 though.

I love excel

Sent from my DROID X2 using 2+2 Forums

Yea excel is the stone cold nuts for sure.

I haz sd calcs, risk of ruin, confidence intervals, and all kinds of fancy bells & whistles pretty graphs.

Takes like 20 seconds to update my matrix with a session's results...everything else automatically updates.

Only thing phone tracking offers imo is your actual hourly sd compared to hourly sd calculated using gross session results, but after a significant sample these should merge anyway.

I need to get my hands on one of these Excel spreadsheets.

Oh wow, once bip! starts using excel its the cool thing to do now... ive been using it for years. Years! haha

5T tonight.. Table was juicy ... I played A+ poker! ... so naturally.. I lost nearly $2k . Blech. Really did play fantastic and the game was soft, just had flop mis-match problems...

I have some great hands to share - will post later