Putting opponents on a range

This is one area I'm having a lot of trouble with.

At the moment, when I have a tough decision, I can come to some kind of logical conclusion to whether I am behind or not by saying things like 'he wouldn't have bet there if he was holding *insert specific card here*'.

I never put an opponent on a range and feel this would be very beneficial to calculate equity against an entire range as oppose to the very black and white nature that I think in at the moment.

I've read many articles and books, but would love something really in depth to help me out, so any guidance would be appreciated.

To people on here that are good at putting people on ranges, what tips do you have?

I use a HUD and pokerstove, so a per flop range is simple enough, I am struggling with cutting ranges down following certain actions.

Thanks in advance!

always analyze hands, even if u r not involved. When you muck keep watching an try to guess what everyone has. Also figuring someones range is what it is, a range,so start eliminating what you know they do not have rather than pin pointing there exact hand. If you can start eliminating you can get a better cluster of possible hand your opponent has, then from there start deciding what you think your opponent will do in a particular spot with a particular hand. always analyze.

It is really all just deduction. Remember that tight regs are likely to have their stats match the ranges you apply in simulators, but other players will not fit readily into a mold. Always respect aggression unless you have a powerful hand, even if you think "they could have some bluffs, semi bluffs and marginal hands in their range." Your opponent will have a strong hand more often than seems likely if they betting. Example - last night I raised a limper with QQ in late position (we were both about 100bb). He flat called. The flop was ragged, bu may have contained a gut shot straight draw - I bet pot, he called, the turn looked safe, I bet pot, he called, the river looked safe as well - he shoved all in for a little over pot. Up until the river I thought he had a hand like top pair, a draw or a combination pair/ draw. His river shove left me with five possibillities - over pair, 2 pair, set, top pair, or bustd draw. - Overpairs are possible, especially KK or AA. Set is possible, but I suspect a raise on the flop or turn would be more likely. Top pair is unlikely because I think a check fold or check call is more likely with that hand. Busted draw? - maybe but I am not willing to stack off on a slim chance. So I think my opponents most likely hands are AA, KK, or a rivered 2 pair. I would fold to any of these hands, but the 2 pair seems the most likely to me. I could talk myself into thinking there are other weaker hands than QQ in his range but I would be lying to myself.

J_moly88 said:

This is one area I'm having a lot of trouble with.

At the moment, when I have a tough decision, I can come to some kind of logical conclusion to whether I am behind or not by saying things like 'he wouldn't have bet there if he was holding *insert specific card here*'.

I never put an opponent on a range and feel this would be very beneficial to calculate equity against an entire range as oppose to the very black and white nature that I think in at the moment.

I've read many articles and books, but would love something really in depth to help me out, so any guidance would be appreciated.

To people on here that are good at putting people on ranges, what tips do you have?

I use a HUD and pokerstove, so a per flop range is simple enough, I am struggling with cutting ranges down following certain actions.

Thanks in advance!

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Not sure if I'm allowed to plug this, but ace poker drills (google it) sounds like it would be a perfect fit for you. Try the equity trainer. You have a 24 hour full use trial with it. Now keep in mind, the AI is simple, but you can also adjust a few of the hand ranges if you want. In general though it's been geared to poker students like you who really want to speed up the process of understanding ranges and equity. It used to take players years and years to do this, but you can expedite it really quick using the quiz format in APD.

You need to think about how your opponent bet every street.This can help you with figuring out if the story they are telling makes sense. Hope This helps!!!

Betting patterns and notes are the best way to put villians on hands. Pay attention to how they bet certain hands and especially ones that are shown down.

The regs will play hands in different ways so you cant always put them on a specific range, but the good regs who mix their play are rare at lower limits.

Against weak opponents, we are sometimes forced to play our own hands as fish are often unpredictable and will play hands differently all the time. So in these cases we can often just look at our relative strenght and bet it accordingly or fold, check etc.

For example, some fish will simply call down with Aces and never raise at any point in the hand. when they showdown a set of Aces, were like "WTF"

you dont want to completely throw out ranges when dealing with random fish, but in my opinoin its more difficult to put them on hands sometimes as they play hands much different than normal.

As another has said in here, try to put your opponents on hands when not involved. Hand reading is a skill that can be learned whihc is good. With alittle practice you will get better. But most important take notes!

i habe to say that i learned quiet a lot watsching live training on intellipoker, but also by playing a lot of hands....normally i write down every hand i loose and try to find out if it was bad beat or if i could have seen his cards in his play before