Trying to figure out hand ranges

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StuartYoung

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Hello all, I'm currently playing in the micro stakes and have been trying to narrow down opponents hand ranges, however the hands that get played played seem to be anything including low pairs, unsuited connectors suited cards, and any hand containing an ace, king, queen or Jack. on top of this they seem to be played from any position. So I'm really struggling with narrowing down the range. It gets even harder since it's very rare to see a showdown, since as soon as a picture card hits, someone bets heavy on it and everyone else generally folds. Does anyone know of anything that could help me here? Thanks..
 
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eldinumbra

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In micro stakes, I can tell you from my own experience that it's difficult to pinpoint players, since most of them tend to be inconsistent.
However, here is a list of hand categories that might make things easier:

Category 1: AA, KK
Category 2: QQ, AKs, AKo, JJ
Category 3: AQs, AQo, TT, 99
Category 4: AJs, KQs, 88, 77
Category 5: AJo, ATs, ATo, KQo, KJs, 66, 55
Category 6: A9s-A2s, KJo, KTs, QJs, QTs, JTs, 44, 33, 22
Category 7: A9-A2, KTo, QJo, QTo, JTo, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s
Category 8: K9s, K9o, K8s, K8o, Q9s, Q8s, J9s, T8s, T9o, 97s, 98o, 86s, 87o, 75s, 76o, 64s
Playing the first three in position is the best tactics to get trough the start of a tournament/table.
 
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Weisssound

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Don't.

Seriously, you can narrow the hand range down of anyone who plays any cards. Just keep your hand range ahead of theirs and watch their post flop play. A lot of the players on micros are super loose pre flop and super passive post flop. OR, they call with any and everything. If you can figure out your opponents post flop calling range (which will be WAY more narrow) - then you can play some poker.
 
negreti

negreti

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yesterday played a micro $ 0.11 guy opened UTG + 1 23s all-in, I did not believe when I saw
I lost with KK for a FLUSH
 
fletchdad

fletchdad

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It is hard. It is also player dependent. You have to notice a players tendencies. Like, some open tight, and call tighter. Some play ATC but slow down street for street if they dont hit. So for each of these players - which you will need an orbit or 3 to get a handle on - you can start to assign ranges. Some players will GII with anything. If you see this, then you can also assign ranges - lol, anything, and also adjust.

You cant know a range vs an unknown. Ranges come with observation. Dont make the mistake of assigning your range to other players.
 
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hffjd2000

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Since poker is a game of incomplete information, its really hard to assign exact range to opponents.

But you can assign personality to them with corresponding ranges.
 
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ilostmysoul

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Hello all, I'm currently playing in the micro stakes and have been trying to narrow down opponents hand ranges, however the hands that get played played seem to be anything including low pairs, unsuited connectors suited cards, and any hand containing an ace, king, queen or Jack. on top of this they seem to be played from any position. So I'm really struggling with narrowing down the range. It gets even harder since it's very rare to see a showdown, since as soon as a picture card hits, someone bets heavy on it and everyone else generally folds. Does anyone know of anything that could help me here? Thanks..

Microstakes isn't the place to think in ranges IMHO. Once you climb up to, say, NL10 or higher, then you start thinking "What does this guy have? What does he think I have?"

Micros Cash Games and Tournaments are full of people playing whatever they get their hands on. Okay so what if they have K9o and you raised to .06 cents? It's only .04 for them to call, so to the heck with it. They have no logic in their play and they are basically Calling Stations.
What you want to do is pinpoint these players. There's at least 1 in every microstakes table. You want to know who is that player at the table that plays over 50% of the hands he is dealt, very rarely raising. And you want to play him.

And then what?

Well you might have heard that micros are ABC poker. That means that thinking too much (ie. Hands Range) doesn't fly well because most players don't follow a logical game plan. So after you know who is that player that calls with almost every hand pre-flop, and then calls to the River with as little as an underpair and gutshot, you want to value bet him (betting with good hands), and you don't want to bluff much. Every time you have a good hand, you bet. Every time you don't, you fold. Every time he raises, you only call with the pure nuts. It's that simple. Also, don't set traps. If you have TT+ or AK pre-flop, or if you get a set post-flop, don't slowplay him or try a check/raise. He will check back. Just bet and raise him till he is all-in.

Oh, and here's something I've learned from experience at micros. Against a very bad player (like the one I described above, but a bit worse) you want to shove River if you have better than 2 top-pair (I'd say even top pair/top kicker is good here but I don't want to risk it).
Even if the action has been check-check or check-call all along, these players will often call an all-in on the River with an underpair or a small/medium pair, because they think "Who would go all-in in a pot without action? He MUST be bluffing". It has worked out several times for me.

Good luck at the tables!!
 
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