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- What is a Poker Range?
- Poker Range Visualization. Hand Grids and Percentages
- Determining Hand Ranges before the Flop
- How to Narrow Down Your Opponent’s Hand Range
- Balancing Poker Ranges
- Buying Hand History Data Mining
- Final Thoughts on Poker Ranges
- Frequently Asked Questions from Poker Players
- How to Memorize Poker Ranges?
- What is an Opening Range in Poker?
- How to Narrow Down Your Opponent’s Range?
- What is range advantage in poker?
- What is a balanced range in poker?
The biggest challenge for players when learning the game of poker is to read their opponents’ hands. Many beginners try to guess the exact two cards their opponent holds, but professionals use the concept of poker ranges to make more productive assumptions.
Simply put, ranges in poker are a set of possible hands that a player can have in a given situation, given all the actions and factors that led to this spot. Instead of imagining your opponent with AK and constantly making heroic calldowns with the bottom pair, it is worth learning to think in terms of ranges and accurately define them.
If you are just starting to learn poker, then you are in the right place. We will cover below how to approach range analysis, how to use ranges in poker, how to balance your own range, and much more.
What is a Poker Range?
Simply put, a poker range is the total of all possible hands a player could have in a given situation, taking into account all the factors that could influence it.
You can determine players’ ranges based on their position at the table, their actions before and after the flop, on the turn and river, their bet sizes, and sometimes even from some subtle things (tells).
It is important to understand that every action a player makes helps us to narrow down their range by telling a story about the possible combinations of their cards. For example, your opponent makes a big raise before the flop. Chances are, he doesn’t have a weak hand like 9♠3♠ in his range, unless he tends to play a lot of hands without putting much analysis in, which can also help you determine his range.
As the hand progresses and more actions are made, you can narrow down your opponent’s possible range of hands more and more, until you are left with only a few of the most likely combinations by the river.
Example table – poker range charts.
Poker Range Visualization. Hand Grids and Percentages
A hand grid is one of the most popular tools for analyzing ranges in poker. This grid includes all possible card combinations. At the top, we have suited hands, offsuit hands at the bottom and pocket pairs right across the whole grid.
Using a hand grid makes it easier to visualize your opponent’s range, allows you to exclude certain combinations depending on the course of the hand, and determine what hands you may face.
Although a poker range chart may not be available during the game itself, using it regularly when studying poker using the GTO (Game Theory Optimal) strategy will help create an image of them in your mind so that you can visualize ranges during the session.
Another way to display a player’s range is as a percentage of all possible hands. For example, a range of 15% would include the best 15% of all possible starting hands, but this figure may not be precise.
When constructed correctly, a poker range chart will include both strong hands and bluffs. This means that it may contain hands that are not necessarily in the top x% of all hands on the grid. However, depending on the player and their position, you should be able to fairly accurately determine the percentage of hands they generally play and base your actions on that data.
Determining Hand Ranges before the Flop
When players receive their cards, they each hypothetically have a range of 100%, meaning every possible combination of hands. However, in practice, most players who enter the pot voluntarily rather than by obligation do not play the full range of possible hands.
A number of factors help determine what range your opponent might be playing before the flop. Here are a few key aspects to consider:
- Player profile.
- Table position.
- Player actions.
The diagram above shows the names for each position in 9-max.
A player opening 3x from an early position tells us a lot about his range, although this can vary from player to player.
In most cases, serious poker players stick to similar starting hands, as optimal opening ranges from different positions are already calculated according to game theory, and deviating significantly from them is usually not advisable.
However, it is important to remember that many players do not always know what ranges of hands to open or what hands to call with from different positions, which forces us to make some assumptions.
By the end of preflop, you should have a general idea of the range of players remaining in the game, although in most cases it will be quite wide, especially in single-raise pots. If you are unsure of starting ranges, here is a quick sheet of the most common opening frequencies from each position at a full-ring table using a solid poker strategy:
| Position | Raise First In Range (RFI) |
| UTG | 8% |
| UTG+1 | 10% |
| UTG+2 | 12% |
| LJ | 15% |
| HJ | 22% |
| CO | 28% |
| BTN | 45% |
| SB | 65% |
| BB | Unable to RFI (Raise First In) |
How to Narrow Down Your Opponent’s Hand Range
Once the flop is on the board, you can begin the real process of defining your opponent’s range by gradually eliminating certain hands from it.
Narrowing down your opponent’s possible holdings is an art that requires paying close attention to what is happening at the table.
Every move your opponent makes on each of the three postflop streets provides new information about his possible hand that you can use to refine his range.
On later streets of betting, it is worth asking yourself a series of questions that will help you determine which hands your opponent might still have and which hands have been eliminated from his range.
Hand Range Examples. Common Questions:
- Would my opponent cbet on this board texture if he has air?
- Would he check the flop with a flush draw?
- What hands would he bet small on the flop?
- Did the turn card strengthen his hand?
- Am I playing against a very tight player?
- Is my opponent a calling station?
- Does my opponent like to bluff with big bets often?
Each of these questions will help you make educated guesses about your opponent’s range and eliminate certain hands from it. Constant practice and careful analysis of your opponent’s actions will help improve your skills and simplify your decision-making.
Over time, you will be able to accurately define your opponents’ ranges, which will reduce the number of mistakes and allow you to make decisions that are much more profitable.
Balancing Poker Ranges
While understanding the ranges of other players at the table is an important part of any effective poker strategy, the best players are also aware of their own ranges, and they balance them so that their opponents cannot read them easily.
Range balancing is a complex process that begins before the flop and continues on every street after. Including enough bluffing hands in your preflop raising and 3-betting ranges is the first step in a range balancing process. However, it is important to maintain balance throughout the entire hand.
Many players bluff too often or too little after the flop, leaving their strategy vulnerable to attentive opponents.
Balanced ranges, on the other hand, aim to include just enough bluffs for each bet size to keep opponents guessing. It is worth remembering that it is impossible for people to achieve perfect balance in strategy, but by studying the approaches of poker solvers and trying to imitate their balance, the likelihood that you will become invincible at the poker table will increase significantly.
Buying Hand History Data Mining
In addition to understanding ranges, it is also important to have as much information as possible. To ensure that you cover all your needs regarding the hands of your old and new opponents, use ready-made data mining. With our service, you can purchase ready-made hand histories from such rooms as GGPoker, iPoker, 888poker, WPN and others. To do this, contact our manager via Telegram or Skype.
Why choose HisHands:
- The best coverage on the market. We provide 24/7 data gathering to cover up to 99% of all hands. Thanks to this, you get access to a complete and up-to-date array of data, which allows you to analyze and effectively adapt your strategy to your opponents’ game.
- Automatic download and synchronization. We offer software that automatically downloads and synchronizes hand history to your PC. Just unzip the files and import them into the tracker, everything is ready for analysis!
- Attentive support team. Our support is always in touch to help you with any questions. Experienced managers will promptly solve any problem so that you can focus on your game. Hand history data mining is your key to getting accurate data and an edge at the tables.
Final Thoughts on Poker Ranges
Approaching poker in terms of ranges rather than specific hands is one of the hardest skills to master, so don’t worry if you still have a lot to learn. The most important thing you can do is regularly analyze your hands after each session and always try to be honest and realistic about the possible ranges of both your opponents and yourself.
Luckily, there are many poker tools that can help you visualize and compare ranges. This is the best way to practice your ability to identify your opponents’ ranges and calculate your equity against them.
If you start working with these tools today, you’ll see significant progress in a few months and learn to think about the game in a new way.
Frequently Asked Questions from Poker Players
How to Memorize Poker Ranges?
The best way to memorize a poker range is to create a visual representation of the range using one of the many range tools. Then try to memorize the worst hands in each category that you should play in that situation. Remember that you don’t have to play perfect all the time, but it is important to play ranges that are as close to optimal as possible.
What is an Opening Range in Poker?
An opening range in poker is the range of hands that you should raise when you are first to act or everyone before folded. It is also called Raise Frist In (RFI).
How to Narrow Down Your Opponent’s Range?
You can narrow your opponent’s range by observing his actions and tendencies. With each new move he makes, you will be able to eliminate some hands from his range. Preflop action will be the first step in determining a range, and each subsequent action (check, bet, raise, or call) will help to narrow down the range even further.
What is range advantage in poker?
Range advantage in poker refers to a situation where one player’s range is significantly stronger than another player’s range (on a given board). For example, on a board of AKQ, the UTG raiser’s range is significantly stronger than the BB defender’s range, since the raiser may have more strong hands like AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ, and JT than his opponent.
What is a balanced range in poker?
A balanced range is a range of hands that has a right bluff to value ratio. To play poker at a high level, you should always try to balance your ranges to at least some degree. The idea behind this strategy is that you can play unbalanced ranges in order to exploit your opponents’ tendencies, but this will also make your own ranges vulnerable to exploitation.
