In the first part of this series, Hand ranges (part 1): Thinking in terms of ranges, we looked at some background information on the concept of hand ranges. Now we’re going to look at how this works in action, using an example from a six-max $1/$2 no-limit hold’em ring game. In the game in question everyone is sitting with full stacks of $200 and you know your opponent (the ‘villain’) is loose preflop and passive postflop.
Preflop action
The villain limps from middle position. It folds to you (the ‘hero’) on the button with Jc-Js and you raise to $10. The rest of the table folds to the villain who calls the extra $8.
Now is the time to start thinking about the villain’s range of hands. At this point it is very wide, but we can still narrow it down. It is highly unlikely that he has a premium hand or complete trash like 7-2o. I would typically estimate his range as 2-2 through 9-9, any suited Ace, K-J/K-T, K-Qs to K-9s, Q-Js/Q-Ts, Q-Js to Q-9s, and all suited connectors and one-gappers J-Ts and below.
Flop and turn
Flop (pot $23): 6d-6s-7s
Villain checks, hero bets $17, villain calls.
Now you can narrow his range down significantly. From this point, estimations are pretty general. I would assume the villain has any pocket pair from Twos through Nines, a straight draw (4-5, 8-9, 8-T, 9-T), trip Sixes (5-6, 6-8, etc), a full house, or any flush draw in his preflop range.
Turn (pot $57): 6d-6s-7s-2c
Villain checks...
Against his range, you now have to bet for both value and protection. This type of villain is very likely to take another card off with a draw or a pocket pair. He will also call or raise with the few hands that already have us beaten, but overall you have great equity against his holding range and his calling range. You can also reduce the likelihood of trips or full houses because he would raise the flop some percentage of the time with those hands.
So, hero bets $42, villain calls.
The river
River (pot $141): 6d-6s-7s-2c-Th
Villain checks...
So now you only need to think about his calling range. He is most likely not calling three streets with 2-2 through 5-5, busted flush draws, or most of his straight draws. He also probably doesn’t have a full house after checking all three streets. His calling range is most likely: 8-8 or 9-9, any draw that hit two-pair on the river (8-T, 9-T, J-Ts, etc), any Seven, trip Sixes, and 8-9 for the straight. We are ahead of that range, meaning that if he calls a certain bet size with that entire range, we have the winning hand greater than 50% of the time. We can assume he never folds a better hand or check-raise bluffs us.
So, hero bets $100. The villain’s action is irrelevant as the results don’t matter if our ranges are accurate.
Now this can get infinitely more complicated than the example above. The next step is to realise how our image can affect the villain’s range. For example, if we are reraising very often, and the villain is observant, we have to widen the villain’s reraise calling range because he has assigned us a wide reraising range (our perceived range). This also becomes much more complicated against opponents who semi-bluff, bluff check-raise the river, etc. This can go on forever, but the basic idea is outlined above.
The main thing to take away from this article is that you should be assigning ranges at the table! With practice, this kind of thinking becomes automatic, and you will soon start adjusting both your perceived range and your opponents’ ranges dynamically throughout hands. The first step, though, is to start doing it in the most basic situations.
Read Part I