Q on ranges

1) You put villain on a range, say AJ+, suited broadways and pp 99+. Regardless of the flop, how do you know where you are when the flop comes out? And with this range most flops can mean he's landed a piece.

Eg: A flop with 2 suited falls into his range, as does an ace high flop. Even if the board appears blank, but he's betting/calling, then that could mean he has a pp.

And with those drawy looking boards, should a scare card fall, you can end up throwing away a winning hand. Of course, this goes for any way of playing poker let alone using ranges. But how do you apply your ranging to such situations?


2) When you play MTTs or SNGs, thus limited hands against villains, how do you assign a percentage to the likelihood he has x holdings?


Cheers ta.

1. Think of certain flops. Think of the range of hands that would fold from your original range and what would continue. Think about if certain turn cards would make any of that range fold after calling a bet on the flop. Think about what effects bet sizing does to their range and start manipulating them with your sizes. Start categorizing your flops so you don't have to come up with every single flop combo and think if certain categories are better betting out at / double barrelling. I will tell you this, if you intend to bluff, you should rarely do it against tight ranges. But if a large % of hands fold from their original range then by all means bluff. This is why having notes and knowing players' tendancies on exactly what they'll continue with is so crucial.

As far as the drawy board thing, please give an example. But in most cases you should elect to b/f. Sometimes it's better to just check on the flop if the board is really drawy and we hold something with good showdown value yet is vulnerable.

Okay, you have a villain who is aggressive with A10+, suited conns (esp broadways) and pp 99+. I see villains act aggressive both in and out of position so you can freely switch position in these examples.

You raise with JJ and he calls. Flop is Ah 7s 9h. Right now trips & Ax have you beat and he is likely to have played any such hand. Plus he may also have a flush draw.

You bet and he calls or raises - where are you? Especially if he is very aggro, he can be raising with just the flush draw!

So at this point, what use is ranging to your decision making as it's quite a wide range . Or do you just go off equity & pot/implied odds (which to me seems to negate ranging in the first place)?

Had this been played in position, and he raised first, then you can add QQ and KK to the mix of hands that have you beat.

Another example is you have Ad Qd and raise. He calls. Flop is As 4c Jc. You bet, he calls. Turn is Qc. You bet he raises (or you check and he bets). Has he made the flush with suited broadways? Got AJ for a worse 2 pair? AK for a severely dominated TPTK? All of these are in his range up to this point.