Multiple Hand Ranges
Posted by Michael Gazonda
Posted by
Michael Gazonda
posted in
Low Stakes
Multiple Hand Ranges
The idea is that it's often difficult to put someone on a single range, and that different players will have different ranges in the same spot.
It comes from the same place as ranges came from in the first place, which is taking a step back from looking for a single hand that your opponent could have. With multiple ranges, we're taking another step back, and coming up with a few different possible ranges that our opponents could have.
I'm going to give a basic example here of how this is useful.
Let's start with getting all-in preflop. I'm playing 1/2 No-Limit, Full Ring. I open on the button, I get 3bet, I 4-bet, and my opponent shoves. What's their range? Well, that depends on the player. It could likely be {KK+}, {QQ+/AK}, {JJ+/AK}, or maybe {99+/AQ+}. That's a good place to start. A lot of people will fit into one of those ranges. How about bluffs? Any of those ranges could include bluffs once in a while, but not everyone will bluff shove. Bluffs would likely be pairs, AXs, or suited connectors.
If we have a good idea of what possible ranges are that we can be up against, then we can also get an idea of what our equity vs. those different ranges are. That would let us have a better idea of what hands we should be calling off with vs. different players.
I'm going to use JJ as our hand, go through the equity we would have vs. different possible ranges, and show what we'd want to do vs. a shove: (the right play can also change based on bet sizes and stack sizes)
[no bluffs]
{KK+} - 18.568% (fold)
{QQ+/AK} - 36.190 (fold)
{JJ+/AK} - 36.585 (fold)
{99+/AQ} - 50.184 (call)
[some bluffs]
{KK+, A2s} - 30.938% (fold)
{QQ+/AK, A2s} - 39.515 (??)
{JJ+/AK, A2s} - 39.784 (??)
{99+/AQ, A2s} - 51.234 (call)
Depending on what range your opponent has vs. the one you put them on can make a difference of how big of a mistake you could potentially make. It would be a big mistake to get in vs. {KK+}. It would be a small mistake to get in with 35% equity. It would be a clear win to get in with >50% equity.
How likely are the different ranges your opponent can have? How big of a mistake is it to call and be wrong? How big of a mistake would it be to fold and be wrong?
I'm planning on making a video on this idea soon, and go into it more in depth. Let me know what you guys think, and if you have any questions!
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Ofcourse very wide allin range person will have aa and kk at times, so i dont make a definitive range conclusion based on few shoves, but many, and based on person should vary our own range as well i guess, tho im not playing much nl but plo when it comes to cash, but i guess same logic applies, i have players labeled that would 5 bet alllin aa only and do so 100 times nvr see them 5 bet any else, so i guess same works for nl, very tight KK+ only allin person you avoid lol no matter what unless you have aa kk, and all others is exactly where you are pointing, diverse and should be nice you do a video on that subject :)
PS~ I guess using huds is as important but im yet on oldfashioned notes :S
About making 2 ranges I understand the concept but isn't making multiple ranges basically what we do already. What I mean is that at the table when building a range we will usually build a general range first then start adding or detucting hands and come up with several possible ranges in our head. For example, "if villain isn't bluffing here his range is too value heavy for us to call, but if we add Ax and small PP then it's a call". Hence we have built 2 ranges.
I'm very tired so I might have misunderstood the concept but isn't multiple ranges basically typical range building?
The idea is that sometimes you can be up against a couple of likely ranges... where against one range, a play would be a big mistake, and against another range it would be a small win.
If you only come up with a single range, it doesn't allow you to easily see mistakes like that. It's not that thinking like this would be "necessary", but more that it can be really beneficial for figuring out some spots quicker and easier.
It also avoids having to put certain hands in someone's range like 10% of the time when they're more likely to be 100% or 0%, but that it's unclear which one it is.
The preflop thing was more an intro than proof. I'll come up with better examples soon.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it because it will help me to explain the idea better.
Basically it sounds like your saying just like how we can t know exactly what villains holding is so we must play with a range of holdings, we also do not know exactly what villains strategy is so we must play against a range of strategies. I like to call it a range of ranges. :D.
Something that seems to come up fairly often that I find very useful to look at is what is the best case range, worst case range and something in the middle for villain. Then see how bad the worst case is and how good the best case is and estimate how likely any of the ranges are. Its especially useful for examples like the following. Say we re facing a bet OTR. We give villain a few different ranges as described above. Now say calling is severely -ev in the worst case and calling is only slightly +ev in the best case it is likely to be best to fold as the average result is going to lose us $$. Now reverse that and say that calling vs best case is very +ev and calling vs worst case is only slightly -ev its likely to be best to call due to the average of the results. Its a very handy way to estimate where we stand and how correct we must be about villains strategies to make a certain play.
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