The "R" in the R.E.M. Process for Online Play

[gahdoh]

So over the past few days I went back and re-read "Professional NLHE: Vol. One" written by Ed Miller, Matt Flynn and Sunny Mehta to refresh on a few of the basics including the R.E.M. process. If you are unfamiliar with this process it stands for the 3 basic steps you should be going through every hand you play.

R = Range of hands, E = Your equity in the hand, and M = How to maximize on that equity.

The part I would like feedback from posters here is the first step "R". More precisely, how do you put players on a range of hands while playing online? When playing live you have a lot more information to work with, which include physical tells, the way they throw money into the pot, their breathing, how they stack their chips, etc. There is a wealth of information that is lost when playing online compared to your standard b&m game.

In turn, what tips/tricks might you employ to put online players on ranges, especially if you have never faced them beforehand.

A key dilemma that can occur in NLHE is inability to see showdown and your opponents hole cards. So how do each of you overcome the obstacles online play presents? What processes do you use to narrow your field down?

I am very interested in hearing everyone's perspective. Thanks a ton!

 

[Chiefer]

no doubt it is difficult to put a range on players online. what i do is keep a log of the players cards at the showdown in my notes. i play on pokerstars so when the hand is over you can view mucked hands in the HH at showdown as well. i check these constantly.

 

[vanquish]

You want thorough notes + numbers (PokerTracker) on the player, hands they've shown down, how much they raise, what position they raise from, etc. This gets tougher as the table gets more shorthanded, but generally many players take the same flop/turn/river lines with certain hands, so you can notice patterns and make certain reads.
However, that being said, dominant players are generally impossible to put on ranges, which makes playing the best mid/high stakes players so hard to deal with. Lately, I've adapted this to my 6max ring game, where I take LAG preflop/flop/turn/river lines with almost ATC, which eventually leads to players paying off your monsters.

This is a very complicated process, so just putting the basic "PF raise with those numbers and previous knowledge means player x has any pair, any broadway, any suited connector, etc" will already get you pretty far in the REM process.