What Hands What Position????

this is a cool exercise that i just pulled out of my ass (almost literally 'cause i was playing with stove while i was droppin a deuce).

download pokerstove. start out with the number 50% and call that your BU range. go into stove and slide the bar up to 50% and see what hands are there. make some adjustments, like i think 22 and 75s aren't considered in the top 50% of hands, yet things like J4s and Q2s are ('cause it's based on AIPF equity), so fiddle around with it, and you can find yourself a pretty decent BU opening range.

multiply 50% by .65 (told you i'm pulling this stuff outta my ass), and you get 32-point-something percent or something--we'll call this your CO range. go into stove, and slide the slider up to 32 percent and add in all the PPs, and 65s+, and 75s+, and take out stuff like Q7s and J9o, etc, and you get a not so terrible CO opening range.

multiply 32-point-something percent by .65, and you have a decent HJ PFR number. again, go in stove, move the slider to 21% (or whatever the exact number is), add in 44+, and 87s+ and A2s-A5s and take out A8o and all that crap, and you have a not so terrible HJ opening range.

multiply that number by .65, rinse repeat for all the positions.

this is obviously pretty arbitrary way to actually define any sort of definitive opening ranges, but i think it's a pretty cool exercise for BCers to do. for god's sake, when you're playing like 20bb's poker, and people are limping left and right and there's someone to your left who's super shove happy and there's icm calculations and all that stuff that comes into play with SnG's ranges are super fluid and NO exercise can demonstrate what you should be playing with accuracy. BUT, i think that beginners tend to find it super counterintuitive to have AJo to be a snap fold in almost all situations when you're 7 off from the BU, yet J9o is a snap open when you're OTB most the time, and i think this exercise is a cool way to show just how much your range should be changing based on position.

Well I've read the book The Illustarted Guide to No Limit Hold Em by Dennis Purdy and I just bought No Limit Hold Em Theory and Practice by David Sklansky and Ed Miller. I haven't had a chance to start reading it yet. I don't play a lot of hands UTG or in early position unless it's a really good hand or a hand I think I can make some type of play with. Maybe Poker isn't my game but I do enjoy it and I want to get better I just want to learn more about thinking like a player. I have won a hand or two playing suited connectors like 9/8 hearts or something like that. I've already read and learned some of the basics like hand odds vs pot odds and equity. One thing I am still trying to learn is playing a line and what that means when I hear a player saying something like that's a weird line or a funky line. I'm not asking to be spoon fed but I would like some tips. I admit I don't think Cash Games are for me. I much prefer tournaments. I really honestly seem to think I play better. I feel as I do get into the mind-set of playing like a real poker player. As for playing hands like 7/2 suited or not just to try to flop a monster. No chance in hell am I playing that way. I've learned my lesson with playing like that.