For years i thought i was a tight player but in reality i was an idiot and probably had a vpip of 35-40. Then i found 2+2 and brought it down to about 24/17.

For some reason recently ive been on constant tilt playing my F game and it has made me question what opening ranges i should be sticking to. Recently if it gets folded around to me in LP i start raising with stuff like J6s or 54o and just durr wannabe kinda hands. I guess ive been feeling like i can outplay them postflop but that is high variance and im not as good as i think i am. So I am revisiting opening ranges.

Dont these look fairly loose?

Early Position
http://www.rakebackftw.com/eng/poker...-raising-part1

Late Position
http://www.rakebackftw.com/eng/poker...-raising-part2


Can anyone link me to charts that they like better?

Also If im trying to tighten up my range does that I should be raising or folding pretty much all hands because initiative is so important.

For example if i am in the SB with A6o and there are 3 limpers. Should i just fold because i am OOP with a hand that doesnt flop very well? I was playing like every other fish at the casino by completing my SB with marginal hands just to see a flop.

Same with cold calling in position. With RIO hands i should just fold against tight players and i should be 3 betting a polarized range?

I know Im asking a lot of different stuff but im also trying to reinforce what i have learned. Gotta get that poker game back on track

Thanks

Some random thoughts:

1. 24/17 isn't way out of line.

2. I don't raise 65ss UTG but then I'm not comfortable playing weak hands OOP.

3. That button range looks highly debateable. I'd rather open K8o than 75o for example . Also button ranges should be very flexible, if there are 2 nits in the blinds well I will open ATC until they adjust. 72o is profitable when everyone folds.

Nah 24/17 is when im playing my A game and i think that is pretty good for me. Recently ive been playing so loose its ridiculous.

So what youre saying is that if there are nits in the blinds we can be raising a very wide button range because they fold often and we can still the blinds. What if they call? i would most likely be cbetting dry boards and c/f the rest of the way.

Conversely if there are calling stations in the blinds, we should be tightening up our range because we can dominate their top pairs and extract value and etc. I suppose if we are playing loosely against stations then we arent much better than they are.

i think you are trying to make poker too simple. it isnt. the key is to the play of the hand rather than the starting two cards. although keep them being profitable to play. you have to develop a feel for that. no chart can do it for you.

A chart is purely a rough guideline, actual ranges are based on villain statistics, your feel for the players and general instinct which comes with experience and playing consistently.

Don't rely purely on pre-created charts, these are just intended as a starting point, everything else should be adapted yourself.

Fair enough i totally agree with you guys. It was a good refresher to look at the charts though because right now im questioning a lot about what i thought i had down pat. Back to the basics for me until i get my confidence back.

sometimes you need to just sit down and make yourself play good poker and not let any emotions take over at all.

ranges really depend on your style and skill, as already stated no chart can really dictate a range you should abide by but rather just give you a idea of the sort of hands you should look for
also you should be looking at the table mainly +individual opponents and positions.

vs weak players who are loose you can raise speculative hands or small pp's bigger if you think its ahead of their range then cbet a **** load of flops but be ready to give up regularly (high variance)

vs strong loose players you should raise a tighter range and be ready to be more aggressive and not as timid

vs tight players stealing and cbetting should be your main weapon

vs maniacs you should be taking any +ev line but expect high variance

also you never said what game you play but a pfr around 16-23 is what I think is in the norm and a vpip of 20-28 imo, but the more skilled you are the looser these ranges could be

also this may be old school but going back to what doyle brunson taught in super system, there was a concept known as "changing gears" which means that after you feel as if the table looks on you one way you do the opposite of that... so pretty much say you start off loose after a while you can tighten up and opponents will give you less credit on your good hands or conversely you have a tightish image you can start playing more loose.

I never actually tried this online, only in live games but it seemed to be pretty effective. I'm not sure what it would be like online but I'm personally trying to develop and lag style so I pretty much stick with that but I do on occasion slightly change gears when I've been 3betting a lot or when I've been folding a lot.

Thanks killdurrrr thats a very helpful post.

Those charts aren't good, opening 43s in MP is borderline ridiculous for a beginner.

its worse than borderline. if you have any good players to your left they are going to isolate you all day long.

Agreed.

There's also the problem that the UTG range is so wide/weak that profitably defending against 3-bets will be difficult/impossible. I'd drop the smallest pairs and suited connectors. Something like a 15-16% PFR range in that position would be less exploitable and more profitable against typical player pools.

All the charts are a bit loose. For the later positions, I'd avoid opening the offsuit junk. Hands like 75o just don't make money.

It's been glossed over in this thread, but calling ranges are arguably more important than raising ranges. Generally speaking, most players call too much and this leads to further losses post-flop.
A6o in the SB => fold.
KTo OTB => fold.
86s in CO => fold.
If you're calling pre, do it with hands that have a decent chance to make the nuts, not a lousy pair + gutshot or something like that.

Thanks man. Im glad someone addressed my other questions. I dont know why recently ive been wanting to play so many hands. Folding these hands seems like the best way to save money instead of trying to outplay everyone.

I complete SB with A6o against limpers.

Is your plan to flop 2 pair+? Do you change your approach with an aggressive player in the BB? Do you ever iso a limper with A6o from SB?

EDIT

Legit asking.

Don't disgrace an ace

Limpers gonna limp with Ax, so I myself don't isolate with small offsuit Ax, because I'm not going to like hitting any flop with those hands, so I'd just end up hoping V didn't hit anything and I could get a fold with cbet. Not very much +EV.


On topic, general "good" opening ranges in 6max coud look something like this:

EP ~15%
MP ~15%
CO ~25%
Btn +35%

Of course you can go way looser OTB etc, but thats just some very general ranges.

The general IP flatting ranges could look something like this:

22+
ATs+ AJo+
KTs+ KQo
QTs+
JTs
T9s
98s

This is just a general group of hands that is potential for flatting IP. Of course when someone opens from EP and you are MP, you probably should drop some of the bottom of this range and when you are Btn vs CO you could argue to flat some more speculative hands like 87s etc and maybe 3bet top of the range. And you need to take into account players left to act and how easy you can get the raiser to fold postflop or how easy you can realize your full equity (can you see the whole board cheaply).




PS. Does completing on BB mean checking or raising like something like 3bb? :////

Thanks doctor877. That definitely got me thinking clearer about it. And yes I do play 6 max online. I didnt clarify because i play a lot of live poker where ive really played like crap recently so i wanted a general range for either format.