Beginner Question


I have posted this question on reddit with no response, maybe im posting it wrong. I'm ready to start practicing with equilab and ranges/equity and all that, cause I know its important to becoming a good player. I have downloaded the software and understand how it works. What I dont understand, is how I decide what ranges to put in? am I studying an opponent and coming up with their range?[]]]]]]]]]]]]].../ <--- my dog. Or am I just practicing all ranges? I dont get how I can practice ranges if everyone has different ranges... all I need to know is how im coming up with the ranges I enter into the software, so that I can get familiar with the equity in certain spots against those ranges. Basically, what ranges do I put in, and why?

There are some “standard” preflop ranges, but in general you have to come up with your own because as you already said “everyone has different ranges”.

Why would you like to look at spot X where your opponent has a range of Y if that’s not his real range? (Or at least what you think his real range is)

Examine what you think range vs range equity distribution looks like for (good players vs good players)

Then look at how the distribution changes depending on how loose or tight you make the ranges.

Start by saving your own opening ranges as presets in Equilab.

e.g. Suppose you typically open 66+, ATs+, A5s-A2s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+, KQo (11.92%) UTG. You can save that as "UTG open" in Equilab.
You should do the same for each of the positions.

You can then quickly call up a range, and then input a flop, and run that range against some specific hands.

e.g. Suppose you were playing against yourself and you opened UTG with that range and called with 99 on the BTN. You can compare the equities on various flops.

Pre-flop, 99 has 51.6% equity vs that 12% opening range I mentioned.

UTG****48.41%**47.88%***0.53%*{ 66+, ATs+, A5s-A2s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+, KQo }
BTN1**51.59%**51.06%***0.53%*{ 99 }

It's basically flipping, but that's just pre-flop. The flop can radically change the equities.

On a flop like A72r, 99's equity drops down to 34%. This is because UTG's range contains so many aces.

Board: 2A7
*******Equity*****Win*****Tie
UTG****65.80%**65.41%***0.38%*{ 66+, ATs+, A5s-A2s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+, KQo }
BTN **34.20%**33.82%***0.38%*{ 99 }

So you learn that that flop is a good one for UTG, and a bad one for 99. (Change the BTN's hand to AQ and re-run the equities and you'll see just how strong TPGK is).

On a flop like 855r, 99 is doing better vs UTG, since villain's range has so many Ace highs and suited Broadways that missed.

Board: 855
*******Equity*****Win*****Tie
UTG****38.78%**38.45%***0.34%*{ 66+, ATs+, A5s-A2s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, AJo+, KQo }
BTN**61.22%**60.88%***0.34%*{ 99 }

I won't do the calculation, but a flop like A96r would be particularly good for 99 (sets are good hands, obv).

By repeatedly studying spots where you run hands against ranges, you'll get a feel for which flops are good/bad for each range. It's essential that you start with reasonable ranges though, which is why I suggest building your own opening ranges and saving them as presets.

Once you've got used to what your own ranges are, you can make estimates of what your opponents are playing. e.g. If someone much looser than you opens UTG, then add 5-10% more hands to your default UTG range, and run some equities on the same flops, to see how much they vary according to the width of the starting range.

So, putting villains on a range is the heart of modern poker strategy. And it is not very easy. The built in ranges in equilab are a great way to start, as is the slider selecting what percentage of hands are in the range. But that is fairly unnuanced, you need to consider the following

1. How often is villain playing or opening?
2. How is their range constructed (do the play a merged range or do they play a polarized range)?
3. How is their range affected by current position?
4. how is villains range affected by effective stack size?
5. How is villains range affected by his perception of your (and any other players to act behind) image?
6. Are there a lot of players behind villain?
7. What action is villain facing?

For example, I am going to put a TAG player who cold 3-bets from UTG+2 with several LAGS behind him on a completely different range than a short stacked LAG who open shoves against two weak tight limpers from the cutoff.

Also, consider what sample size or exposed hands you are using to make your determination on his range. Some players love showing a wide range early to skew your read, and then tighten their range. Other players do the opposite, playing very tight, value heavy ranges early, then getting wider as stacks get shallow.

Where a lot of people get screwed up on ranges is underestimating how often players will play ugly, suited crap or low one gappers or connectors. You think you are safe with JJ on a low board because you bet pot sized preflop, and get stacked when a guy makes his two pair with 63 suited. So you need to keep on eye out for players who have quirks in their range. Some guys will call any 22-99 no matter how much action they are facing preflop. Some guys will continue with a flush draw regardless of the price. These are traits you have to identify when you are trying to narrow their range.

Hello, thanks to all four of you for replying. The effort was extremely surprising. Although I still need to re read some of those answers and study them more in depth, the combination of those four responses fully answered my question. Thank you guys for that. As you know from the question, that was something I was having a hard time googling. Thanks yo.

Not sure if I gotta tag y'all like on insta or other social media apps, I don't see anyone else tagging. But just in case. @Madlex @Bob148 @SpewingisMyMove @ArtyMcFly

Also @ArtyMcFly did you really calculate all that for me.. can't believe that. Thanks so much I'm gonna look at it all in great depth thanks g really appreciate it.

I don't mix 2+2 and social media.

Have you tried the training feature in equilab? I think it's in the tool tab.

try this:

plug this button range (kinda loose, but typical)in the trainer: 22+, A2s+, A4o+, K2s+, K8o+, Q5s+, Q8o+, J7s+, J8o+, T7s+, T8o+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s, 54s. Then the trainer will give you flops and you guess the equity.

I haven't been able to use equilab lately cause I don't have a laptop or anything. Am looking to buy a cheap one soon. Once I do I will certainly plug in those ranges I'm sure it will help. Before I was using my girlfriend's but we haven't been seeing each other much lately. Can't wait though cause I know this is gonna improve my game a ton.

Hey man, I created a web based hand range calculator so you don't hypothetically need a computer (can use mobile): handcombos.com

One thing I don’t think was mentioned is that poker calculators like Equilab provide showdown or raw equity. That is the equity if all players in the hand go to showdown.

33 and T9s have essentially the same showdown equity against a random hand but have different realized equities. If 33 doesn’t hit on the flop and villain bets, the small pair will likely fold whereas the suited connector with outs is likely to continue. Thus, the suited connector will probably have actual equity closer to the showdown value than the low pair.

Haven't been on here in a while, however thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought of that yet. I remember hearing in a video something about certain hands realizing better than others but wasn't getting it. Now its clicked. Some hands have more roads to the showdown basically. Thanks again.

Dope!! I have a computer now, however i checked it out on here. Dope website I like it. Good luck and thanks for the tip I'll add it to mobile too.

What a great post.

lol right. Some of the responses I got were surprising. Its hard for me to even respond to texts.

As mentioned:
1.Setting user-defined ranges based on your observations on population tendencies or specific opponents and perhaps even more importantly, your own ranges.
Then play around with different ranges on various boards.
2. Tools like Equity Trainer
3. Hand Strenght Distribution feature, which works similarly to FlopZilla

I just tried this for the first time, I did pretty well haha. Super hyped on all the feedback I'm glad the whole range this is finally clicking.

In case anyone sees this.. I've been using equilab a bit since this post. However a lot more lately. I suppose I can contact them about it but i'll put it in here for now. I know how to choose suited hands in equilab, but what if I only want combos with one specific suit? I have an all spade flop that im working on, some of the hands that I think villain would call with depend on whether or not they have a spade. Anyone know?

There's a "suit selection" button right under the hand matrix. It's a bit clunky, but after clicking that, you can select various holecard combinations (they turn yellow) on the grid, and then click 'suit selection' again, and choose spade-spade (for example) on the right hand boxes.

Dope!! Thanks for your help before and also now.

Heres another question. I've started to review hands more frequently lately.

Whenever I review a hand, I put my hole cards into equilab.. and then construct what I think my opponents range could be. That's how I get familiar with various spots. However aren't I suppose to be playing my range or some ****? Shouldn't I be putting my range against his range and running those numbers though out the hand to get familiar? Im not positive but im pretty sure im suppose to be playing my hands the way the board texture hits my range, not my actual cards right? So in equilab, do I put my hole cards against his range and go over the hand.. or do I put my range against his range and go over the hand. Seems like it wouldn't matter as much what my hole card equity is, it would matter more what equity my range has?

When you're new, it's best to just focus on one hand combo. You can crunch the numbers for how well that combo plays against a range, and then you can change your hand to something different and see how that alters your equity and strategy.

Note that your own holecards will reduce the number of combos in villain's range, especially if your holecards make a pair (or better) on the board. e.g. If you have AK and the flop comes Axx, then villain has fewer combos containing an ace, and you'll generally be crushing his range. If you have 98 in the same spot, villain has more aces, and you're in much worse shape.
It's only through going through these spots that you really get to grips with how strong various parts of your range are. As a first step, I would pick a random flop, and then try and come up with 4 or 5 different hand types from your own range.

e.g. On AT5, you might want to look at TT (a monster), A9 (a mid-strength hand), JJ (another mid-strength hand, but no direct connection to the flop), KQ (a draw to the nuts), 76s (basically air, with just backdoors), and see how each of these hand types fare against villain's overall range, and also his continuance range. (To all intents and purposes, JJ plays the same as KK/QQ, but differently to A9, on AT5, whilst TT is in the same "monster" group as AA, 55, AT, A5, so if you learn what to do with JJ, you simultaneously learn what to do with KK, and learning the equity/playability of TT will teach you how to play the other sets and top two pairs).

For continuance ranges, (which are crucial to understand; if you're going to bet, you want to know how much equity you have vs the hands that don't fold) you can manually remove hands on the matrix for villain's range, but Equilab also has a neat 'hand strength distribution' function. If you have already selected a range for villain, and input a flop, there should be a little pie-chart icon next to where the equity is shown. If you click that, you can choose various hand strengths to include (or remove) from a range. (e.g. you can select all hands better than bottom pair, plus some draws, but deselect all the air). When you take the new range back to the main window, you can do a new equity calculation.
(Pro-tip: Before doing this, copy/paste the entire starting range into another player's position, but then deselect it, so that you can use it again later).

Dope, I don't think theres much else to say here besides thanks for the help. I've implemented these tactics and will continue to do so. Thanks for everything.

i found this useful

https://www.pokerstrategy.com/strate...-boost-skills/

Havent been on here in a while. I'm hyped to read through that article or whatever it is thanks a lot. Gonna get into it now that's gonna help me fasho.