Ranges at free/micro stakes.

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StatusOmega525

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I've mentioned in a few of my posts that one of the things I've been struggling to wrap my head around being a new player is ranges. Like, I get the idea, and I would think that I could get some of the basics of it in practice, but I seem to be missing wildly 70-80% of the time. I've had a few hands over the last couple sessions where I was able to be pretty accurate, but other than that I get tripped up with them constantly.

What I'm wondering is this. Right now, I'm playing (mostly) freerolls, every now and then one of the 10c or 50c tournaments as a starting point into playing for actual money. Is it even possible to really be able to build up any kind of skill at this level? It seems to me that people at this level will call LITERALLY with almost anything. The few times I've been accurate on my ranges always seemed to be later in the tournament when I start bumping up against some of the better players. I'm getting the feeling that the common skill-set at this level is too low to really be able to re-enforce any of the good habits and skills I've been trying to practice.

Any thoughts on the matter?
 
HK_47

HK_47

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Play tight playing freerolls and low stakes, there's no reason not to and a million reasons for it. People use freerolls to learn and good for them but if you have even a basic concept of what to do, just play premium hands and hands in position.
 
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aj1300

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I agree completely: it's hard to practice what I've been studying in the freerolls and the play certainly gets better the deeper you go in the tournament.

It's hard to play super tight to avoid the "I'll call anything" players but still have enough chips to do anything but shove/fold in the later portions of the tourney.

I'm getting a bit better at it, but it is an extreme test of patience.

I wish I had some good advice. I'll be watching this thread to see what more seasoned players have to offer.

Good luck!
 
quick

quick

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Don't worry too much about ranges at freerolls and microstakes. The ranges are any two cards for most of these players.
 
Psyanide14

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In freerolls I find that the range for a lot of people are two cards that are either red, black or a mixture of the two.
 
TheNutz4You

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ranges are super wide in freeroll/micro stakes. some players range is any 2 cards and that is no exaggeration.
 
NinjaHands

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I've mentioned in a few of my posts that one of the things I've been struggling to wrap my head around being a new player is ranges. Like, I get the idea, and I would think that I could get some of the basics of it in practice, but I seem to be missing wildly 70-80% of the time. I've had a few hands over the last couple sessions where I was able to be pretty accurate, but other than that I get tripped up with them constantly.

What I'm wondering is this. Right now, I'm playing (mostly) freerolls, every now and then one of the 10c or 50c tournaments as a starting point into playing for actual money. Is it even possible to really be able to build up any kind of skill at this level? It seems to me that people at this level will call LITERALLY with almost anything. The few times I've been accurate on my ranges always seemed to be later in the tournament when I start bumping up against some of the better players. I'm getting the feeling that the common skill-set at this level is too low to really be able to re-enforce any of the good habits and skills I've been trying to practice.

Any thoughts on the matter?

Your instincts are right here, there are a lot of bad LAGs in all MTTs, especially Freerolls.
FYI - ALL MTTs have high variance. STTs, especially 5 or 6 handed SNGs have the best variance for tournaments. However, the Absolute best variance is at Cash Tables. Stable blinds, etc. make Cash tables the absolute best in terms of randomness. But they aren't as exciting as tournaments.

They don't know what they're doing, so you can't predict their hands based on bet sizing, PFR%, etc.
DO NOT RELY ON PREDICTING THEIR HANDS

Rely on equity, especially Fold Equity, play TAG, and really focus on the action ahead of you each hand. Also, track player stats so that you know who's a fish and who's a nutball. I recommend DriveHud, it's just so good.
 
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fordman427

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It’s tough but as you start to read charts and get a better understanding of ranges it will start to become a lot easier while playing, however I would not leave my game solely relying on ranges, I do more math than most while playing but I try to read people and situations as well
 
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Zer0-0uts

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Keep trying, even at freeroll micro stakes level. I agree whole heartdely putting people on ranges at this level is difficult, but trying to do so will improve that skill. Every now and again you will find yourself making a call or a fold that is spot on. When that happens remember it. Use these times to build your confidence in yourself. If you can do it at this level then at the bigger stakes it will come easier. When playing the bigger stakes just remember that the people at this level are doing the opposite. They want you to think they are playing like the people at the lower stakes. Just remember the times you made the right move at the lower stakes. Then just think about what you think the player has. Think about what you think they want you to do then do the opposite.

:evil:Zer0:evil:
 
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