Misaki
Visionary
Silver Level
if you know nothing about ranges then yes. It's good to start working on them, especially opening ranges. 3bet/call ranges are ok to make too, but on micro they should be relatively tight and mostly broadways heavy + pp in calling range of course because on micros they are profitable.
about defending ranges to 3bet I wouldn't advice to do that. Of course you can but many people forget about one thing. They try to defend like 50-55% of their range and most of the time they play vs really tight 3bet range. That means they will often get cbets, they will miss a board and fold a lot postflop. If you are dealing with 4-7% range of 3bet you shouldn't defend too much. Of course folding 70%+ to 3bet is senseless but I hope you get my point. On nl5 you should defend more but on nl2 defending tight is one of the best thing you can already do.
on that limits players should focus on table selection, valuebeting people and fold a lot vs aggression unless you have strong/nuts hand. Simple advice and you will earn money in long run. Making ranges and try to play in the same way in every situation is just -EV play. It's all about adjust. If people don't play gto there at all then why some players try to do that? no sense. If you understand what hands you can open, 3bet, call in particular situations then you don't need to create preflop ranges and follow them. Of course as basis to your game it's ok, but as I said, people make a huge mistake following them all the time. They look at their charts all the time and they don't think if it's a good play or not. They just follow blindly with their charts and make their game not as profitable (or even losing) as it should be.
about defending ranges to 3bet I wouldn't advice to do that. Of course you can but many people forget about one thing. They try to defend like 50-55% of their range and most of the time they play vs really tight 3bet range. That means they will often get cbets, they will miss a board and fold a lot postflop. If you are dealing with 4-7% range of 3bet you shouldn't defend too much. Of course folding 70%+ to 3bet is senseless but I hope you get my point. On nl5 you should defend more but on nl2 defending tight is one of the best thing you can already do.
on that limits players should focus on table selection, valuebeting people and fold a lot vs aggression unless you have strong/nuts hand. Simple advice and you will earn money in long run. Making ranges and try to play in the same way in every situation is just -EV play. It's all about adjust. If people don't play gto there at all then why some players try to do that? no sense. If you understand what hands you can open, 3bet, call in particular situations then you don't need to create preflop ranges and follow them. Of course as basis to your game it's ok, but as I said, people make a huge mistake following them all the time. They look at their charts all the time and they don't think if it's a good play or not. They just follow blindly with their charts and make their game not as profitable (or even losing) as it should be.
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thatguy6793
Legend
Silver Level
If you start constructing ranges at the micros it lets you experiment with construction and how to use your ranges in a stake that isn't going to break a bankroll and where the player skill level offers a little more forgiveness when you mess up. If you start moving up the stakes without constructing ranges you'll face a steeper learning curve and end up losing a lot more while you work on constructing these ranges.
Misaki
Visionary
Silver Level
fish on your right. On left is possible too, but if he is an aggro fish who doesn't fold vs any cbets I would prefer to change a table. Avoid regs, if someone 3bets a lot then change a table. You don't need to play reg wars on micro. It's harder nowadays to find good tables with factors I mentioned but still possible. When I used to do proper table selection on microstakes I had sessions likes 40bb/100. Because I was focused much on recreational players. I used to change tables all the time. I could play 1-2 tables max and still have better winnings than most of the regs there who plays 6-8 tables. Everything is about choosing correct tables.
on higher stakes good constructed ranges are important, but nl2, nl5? some time ago when I started to experiment with balanced 3bet, 4bet, cold call ranges, defending ranges vs 3 bet I just started to earn much less money. Why? because people there are so tight preflop, postflop that most of the actions just don't work. and I don't blame them for that because good tight strategy is actually working pretty well. You will say that everything is about adjust and we create ranges vs unknown players and not being much exploitable. Ok, but who cares about being unexploitable on micro if you can earn more by playing not balanced at all. You can create 3bet, call ranges but many times your 3bets, calls will not be maximum EV plays because many calling stations, "allin guys", nits, even rake is important factor. And your hand which is actually in your created call range won't be the best option to call, because on micro there are too many different players that it would be better to 3bet it or just fold. And people follow those ranges without thinking that maybe it would be better to fold a hand. For micro players when they are not so much expierenced it would be better to play less tables and focus on every decision. And think if that hand should be in call, 3bet or maybe fold in particular situation. It's hard but it learns people to actually play poker with cheap cost.
When you start your poker career then created ranges can kill your thinking aspect. It's not about opening ranges because they are pretty important. That's what you can create.
thatguy6793
Legend
Silver Level
You have to have some structure to what you play at every level, ranges provide this structure. And your problems with 3betting are more likely to be because of you weren't understanding that at the low stakes you can't play those type os plays against fish because they simply won't fold any marginal hand. Even at the lowest stakes you need to make opening ranges and several of the more common range ranges or you simply will never gain much traction. Now that goes to say you shouldn't be using the more complex play ranges (3betting, cold calling, 4bet etc.) because theses plays are mainly useless in the micros. For you specifically I'd suggest looking into how fish play and fancy play syndrome which is basically when you try to play above your skill level and suffer some big losses against people that just won't fold to those plays. That might help your struggles with losing so much in the micros.
Misaki
Visionary
Silver Level
I don't know why do you think that i'm a losing player on micros. I only said that exploative style brings me more money than using created ranges. Becuse with created ranges I missed a lot of things because players on micro are really different and often we play with them once a life. Of course there are micro regs but best thing to do to make your winrate bigger is avoid to play with them too much. This is not only my opinion. Me and my friends from poker group worked a lot on ranges and compared things in our database. And there was always a problem when we started to complicate things and play like we would play from nl10+. There are more important things about how to crash nl2, nl5 than following created ranges. They are helpful but micro players should learn how to think in poker because it's a better lesson than create preflop ranges and not making best +ev decisions and find yourself in many complicated spots.
thatguy6793
Legend
Silver Level
My bad you kept talking bout losing a lot of money which I thought meant you were losing. But what you said about complicating things is literally the exact same thing I said which if you read my argument I said that you need ranges to structure your play at the micros because of how others play. If you play a set of ranges you maximize the change that you'll be making +EV plays on every street. Basically you'll just saying them same thing I am with different words :laugh:
Misaki
Visionary
Silver Level
ELPRIIINCIPE
Visionary
Bronze Level
Yes, I think it is necessary to create a range to play at any micro low or high limit, this will help you stay healthy and grow your banka, it is necessary to adjust your opening ranges from every position, the hands with which you can defend your rank against 3-bet, without leaving aside the instinct since you focus on your table of ranks without taking into account these other factors you end up folding many hands post flop.