[FTR Quick Tip 014] Capped Ranges

At the poker tables, it is extremely useful to determine when your opponent is likely to have a weak hand. By observing his previous actions, you can often determine that he does not have a big hand. Learning to identify when your opponent has a capped range will help you make money at No Limit Hold'em cash games.

Questions? Discuss Below!

Obviously in hand 2 with 98s, villain must have a fold button but what's our bet sizing? I would assume it would have to be fairly large since we don't want him to call with a Jack. I've seen people play QJ this way though, and I wouldn't discard it from unknown's range. Of course I probably wouldn't be river bluffing in to unknown's anyway.

Yeah, we need to know that villain has a fold button in order to make this play. Given what we know about him, that's he's an unimaginative, non-aggressive reg, I think it is reasonable to assume that he can fold hands facing pressure.

I don't think we necessarily have to bet an extremely large amount here. Do people really like calling three streets with second pair? I don't think they do, in general, especially not if they are a standard or bad reg. I think betting between 1/2 and 2/3 pot should get the job done here.

Regarding QJ, I don't think a player of this type would play QJ preflop unless it is suited. And it can't be diamonds or hearts, because those are on board. So, we're talking about 2 combos of QJ. And he might raise some of those on the turn. I think QJ is such a small part of his range on the river that we just can't really worry about it very much at all.

This brings up an important point, which I didn't have time to explore fully in the video. It matters a lot what type of opponent you are facing when you're trying to exploit capped ranges. A passive fish or calling station may have a capped range a lot of the time, but since he doesn't fold, you can't really take advantage of that fact by bluffing him.

On the other hand, really good players might do things to strengthen their range on purpose, by just calling with some monsters, specifically for the purpose of keeping all their ranges mixed-up and tough to play against. They also will get a handle on when you are likely to be bluffly and will be able to make some hero calls from time to time. So they are not idea candidates for putting on capped ranges. They are too tricky.

The opponents against whom you can most effectively use this tactic are bad or mediocre regs. They have a fold button...but they use it in spots where they can get owned terribly. Rakeback pros and mass-multitablers should be susceptible to this play, as they almost cannot play trickily or mix up their ranges much, as they are playing too many tables to be able to pay much attention to those things (except, I guess, if you find yourself playing against nanonoko. If you find yourself playing against nanonoko, you can exploit him by leaving the table).

2/3 sounds about right. And that's a good point about only 2 combos of QJ. Thanks for the explanation.