Ranges and breaking the best hand mindset

[Monty3038]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice/help. I've been trying to follow Spoon's advice and work hard at putting my opponents on ranges. I play at 10nl micros, full ring, where I've been told no one bluffs a 3-bet, or very few will follow a bluff down facing aggression...

Anyway, here seems to be my problem. Say I have an opponent who raises ahead of me, his range is 88+, AK, AQ and I'm fairly confident in that range. He raised, I re-raise, he calls. I'm holding a high pair, let's say Queens. Flop shows an King or potential set... so he has a lot of hands that might have hit or a lot of hands that didn't... I'm only behind the Kings and the set. If I bet and he calls, or he bets, I raise and he calls... I tend to give him credit for hitting...

Now I know this is a horribly thrown together example... but I'm struggling with the mindset of beating x% of this range, then following through to win the hand, instead I'm folding often, giving up too easy when I'm ahead of x% of their range...

I know this sounds like a whine post but I'm really struggling with this part of ranges... any suggestions on how to get my mindset right?

[Jason]

I think it's easier to deconstruct hands or narrow the range the further you can get in the hand. So, if you can play it to the river, you should be able to go through the ranges, replay the hand in your mind, and then eliminate some of those possibilities and come up with a hand or two that makes the most sense. That's why playing in position and playing good starting hands has such an advantage. By playing position, you get more information before you have to act and by playing quality hands, you have more ammunition to go to war with.

Anyway, for the example you cited, it sounds like it's best to continue with the hand if you can keep the pot reasonably sized. I wouldn't want to go broke with just Queens, but if the pot doesn't get too big and you're right about those ranges of hands, it sounds like more times than not, you'd win that match-up.

[Monty3038]

Thanks Jason, but that seems like a leak. While it may be an advantage to pot control it, it seems at the micros that often isn't an option... I know we only remember our bad beats, but often it becomes a quick raising war or a shove when playing deep against average stacks... thus the river decision is often not important... you're already in.

[Jason]

I know what you mean and in games like that, I don't think putting someone on a hand is as important as just playing solid poker with solid cards and carefully picking your spots and laying traps. It's difficult to try to deconstruct hands against players that don't understand the game unless you've been studying them specifically and can pick up patterns and learn their game.

So, if the game you are describing is like that in terms of maniacs and fish driving the pot up every hand, I think it's best to fold the Queens in that spot because, like I said, I wouldn't want to go broke or necessarily go to war with them if an over card is showing AND if that's the range you've put the villain on. I also wouldn't want to have them in a multi-way pot. However, if I've isolated a maniac or fish and have put him or her on a wider range of hands that include all pocket pairs, all suited connectors, all connectors, and hands like JQ or worse, then I might be willing to go to war because you don't want to automatically get pushed around and more times than not, you'll win money if those are the hands they could have.

I always try to read opponents and put them on hands as it is an invaluable skill, but in most of my live games and even online when you're playing below average players, you can often over think it.

At any rate, good luck.

[sarbox68]

A couple of random thoughts...

1.

no one bluffs a 3-bet, or very few will follow a bluff down facing aggression...

I don't agree with this at $10nl. There are enough wild card players that paying too much attention to that kinda generality will cause you grief. Just focus on individual reads, and where it's an unknown, I err on the side of caution - going for pot control or giving them credit.

2. Mediocre players are the easiest to put on ranges. Crazy bad people do crazy bad things and will show up w/ T3o when you were sure they'd only cold call pockets or suited connectors. Really good players know how to f-k with you. It's the mediocre ones that will tend to play a little more straight forward and where your basic range skills will help a lot. Learn to identify who those are and really focus on them. You're not going to find many really good players at 10NL, but you'll find a lot of goofy ones and a lot of straight forward ones. Rely on your ranges accordingly.

3. Play in position and learn pot control. Recognizing getting to SD for a small win is better than getting blown off a meh hand trying to get a bit more value is a useful skill.

4. Don't see sets everywhere. Every board has a potential set. I play mostly 6m so I know FR is a little different. You can learn to recognize some of the really basic lines (call flop, check-raise turn, etc) but don't go too crazy playing D to avoid sets.

5. And finally, if you're playing deep, you can play poker thru the River. Their Turn action at 10nl will tell you waaaay more about their hand than their PF or Flop action. On every street try and find the hands you beat that would take the same action. If you're having to try really hard, and all you got is top pair, it might be time to consider letting it go.

6. Don't level yourself. Straightforward ABC sh!t, putting people on general ranges will get you enough of a win rate to get the f-k outta 10nl and keep moving up.