Ok so here is my OR ranges by position. This specific range is for a 9-handed table. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Well, I should say this; I’m looking to know if I am playing to tight in some positions or not tight enough in others.
UTG: AA-TT,AKo,AKs-AQs
UTG+1:AA-TT,AKo,AKs-AQs
MP:AA-TT,AKo-AQo,AKs-AQs
MP2:AA-99,AKo-AQo,AKs-AJs
MP3:AA-88,AKo-AJo,KQo,AKs-AJs,KQs
CO:AA-22,AKo-ATo,KQo-KTo,QJo-QTo,JTo,AKs-A9s,KQs-KTs,QJs-QTs,JTs,T9s,98s,87s
BTN:AA-22,AKo-A8o,KQo-KTo,QJo-QTo,JTo,T9o,98o,AKs-A2s,KQs-K9s,QJs-Q9s,JTs-J8s,T9s,98s,87s,76s,65s,54s
SB:AA-77,AKo-ATo,KQo-KTo,QJo-QTo,JTo,AKs-A7s,KQs-K9s,QJs-Q9s,JTs-J9s,T9s,98s,87s
I just feel really awkward getting dealt 77 in MP and folding. But at any rate, what do you guys think?
July 24, 2018
First of all, we need to think about relevant stack sizes. Your ranges early in a tournament when effective stacks are 100BB+ should be different than when average stack size is 20BB.
Assuming we are 50BB which is where much of a well structured tournament will be:
Your ranges look too tight. In particular, you need to have more board coverage for your earlier position raises. Andrew Brokos’ range construction series is excellent at describing the reasons why. Take your UTG-MP2 ranges. You can never have more than one pair when the board comes all low cards; and you always have at least one pair when an ace flops. If your opponents know this, they can exploit you by putting pressure on you when the board comes 742; the best you have is AA. When the board come AT5, you always have at least top pair, or an overpair to the T. Villains can easily exploit this by folding Tx hands.
How should you expand these ranges do alleviate these problems? Add smaller pairs and some suited connectors and Ax suited. This will have the benefits of board coverage, and also, since your range is wider, you will incentivize your opponents to play back at you when you have your strongest hands (the hands in your current ranges mostly want more action).
Notice that you will now have hands that can easily fold to a 3 bet, which, counter intuitively you want. You will also have a few hands you can 4 bet as a bluff (I prefer the AWs hands for this).
How are your late position ranges? Looking at the cutoff. First, you need to strongly consider the 3 players to your left. If they are tight, your range is far too tight. You should be opening more of the Ax hands, and I’d open all of the Ax suited hands. I’d also add more of the suited one gappers.
February 8, 2017
As mentioned by 3for3, the ranges you want to open will change a lot based on stack depth. Not only your stack depth but the rough average of effective stacks behind you, especially the stack of the BTN and BB. I agree with 3for3 that your ranges in every position are too tight. Tighter ranges will be easier to play but you’ll get blinded down too often, and you’ll improve faster as a player by getting into more marginal situations with weaker starting hands. Learning how to navigate the less clear-cut situations (that come up all the time in Holdem) is a big part of improving as a player.
I’ll share with you the approximate ranges I use for different stack depths. Other players may not agree with the finer points of these ranges, there are probably more optimal ranges (preferences will also vary). This is what works for me. You’ll probably want to play a little tighter than this until you feel more comfortable postflop.
CO and BTN ranges will change a lot based on players behind me, might drop by as much as 7% and 10% respectively against aggro 3betters or very good players left to act. Will go a bit wider against overly tight blinds. All ranges (especially EP) may go a fair amount wider against weaker tables, with good stack dynamics, or when I’m able to apply ICM pressure. My SB strategy is variable, I like to limp a lot of hands against some players and raise my entire range (~54-67% of hands) against others.
50+ BB
UTG: (13.4%) 66+,A4s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ – Add 55 @ ~80bb+, A2/A3s,44 @ ~100bb, 22+ @ ~120bb
UTG+1: (14.0%) 66+,A4s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,AJ+,KQ – Add A3s,55 @ ~70bb, A2s,44 @ ~90bb, 22+ @ ~120bb
MP: (15.5%) 66+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,76s,AJ+,KQ – Add same pairs at same stacks as UTG+1
MP2: (18.1%) 55+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,AT+,KJ+ – Add 22+ and QJ at ~80bb
MP3: (24.6%) 22+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,86s+,76s,65s,A9+,KT+,QT+,JT – Add 75s and 54s at ~100bb
CO: (32.1%) 22+,A2s+,K7s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T7s+,97s+,86s+,75s,65s,54s,A8+,A5,K9+,Q9+,J9+,T9 – Add K5s+,98 at ~80bb
BTN: (52.6%)22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q5s+,J6s+,T6s+,96s+,85s+,74s+,64s+,53s+,43s,A2+,K6+,Q7+,J8+,T8+,97+,87,76,65
For BTN, I may drop the weakest offsuit hands at 50-65bb and add up to Q2s+,J5s,J7,T7,86 at 80-100bb+
40-50 BB
UTG: (13.0%) 77+,A4s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ
UTG+1: (13.4%) 66+,A4s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ
MP: (15.2%) 66+,A2s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,AJ+,KQ
MP2: (18.1%) 55+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,AT+,KJ+
MP3: (23.8%) 33+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,65s,A9+,KT+,QT+,JT
CO: (29.7%) 22+,A2s+,K7s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T7s+,97s+,86s+,76s,65s,A8+,A5,K9+,Q9+,JT
BTN: (49.0%)22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q5s+,J6s+,T6s+,96s+,85s+,75s+,64s+,53s+,A2+,K7+,Q8+,J8+,T8+,97+,87,76
30-40 BB
UTG: (12.4%) 77+,A5s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ
UTG+1: (13.4%) 66+,A4s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ
MP: (15.2%) 66+,A2s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,98s,87s,AJ+,KJ+ (same % but dropped some suited hands for KJ)
MP2: (17.8%) 55+,A2s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,AT+,KJ+
MP3: (23.1%) 44+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,A9+,KT+,QT+,JT
CO: (28.5%) 22+,A2s+,K8s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,65s,A8+,A5,K9+,Q9+,JT
BTN: (46.6%)22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q5s+,J7s+,T7s+,96s+,85s+,75s+,64s+,54s,A2+,K7+,Q8+,J8+,T8+,98,87
20-30 BB
UTG: (11.3%) 88+,A8s+,A5s,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ
UTG+1: (12.4%) 77+,A5s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s,98s,AJ+,KQ
MP: (14.3%) 66+,A4s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,98s,AJ+,KJ+
MP2: (16.7%) 66+,A2s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,AT+,KJ+
MP3: (21.7%) 55+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,A9+,KT+,QJ,JT
CO: (27.6%) 22+,A2s+,K8s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,65s,A8+,K9+,Q9+,JT
BTN: (42.9%) 22+,A2s+,K4s+,Q7s+,J7s+,T7s+,96s+,86s+,75s+,65s,54s,A2+,K8+,Q8+,J8+,T8+,98
15-20 BB
UTG: (10.1%) 88+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,AJ+,KQ
UTG+1: (10.9%) 77+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s,AJ+,KQ
MP: (12.4%) 77+,A8s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,T9s,98s,AJ+,KJ+
MP2: (14.0%) 66+,A8s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,98s,AT+,KJ+
MP3: (19.8%) 66+,A5s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s+,87s,A9+,KT+,QJ,JT
CO: (26.4%) 22+,A2s+,K7s+,Q8s+,J9s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,A8+,K9+,QT+,JT
BTN: (40.6%) 22+,A2s+,K5s+,Q7s+,J7s+,T7s+,96s+,86s+,75s+,65s,54s,A2+,K7+,Q8+,J9,T9
I will start shoving certain hands at 15-20bb from MP2 onwards, the rest of the ranges will either be raise/fold or raise/call hands. Especially at <=30bb, it is important to play tighter than this from CO and BTN against aggro 3bettors.
February 8, 2017
I want to correct a few parts of the ranges I gave, specifically for MP2 – BTN with 20-30 and 15-20 BB stacks. This is just my strategy, but I think the original ranges are a bit too loose for this stack depth. I also messed up a lot of the percentages, so I’d recommend putting the ranges into a program like Equilab to get the right ones if you care about frequencies.
20-30 BB
MP2: (17.4%) 66+,A2s+,KTs+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,98s,87s,AT+,KJ+ – don’t open T8s
MP3: (21.1%) 55+,A2s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T8s+,98s,87s,A9+,KT+,QJ,JT – don’t open 97s or 76s
CO: (27.6%) 22+,A2s+,K8s+,Q8s+,J8s+,T8s+,97s+,87s,76s,A8+,K9+,Q9+,JT – don’t open 65s
BTN: (41.8%) 22+,A2s+,K4s+,Q7s+,J7s+,T7s+,96s+,86s+,76s,65s,54s,A2+,K8+,Q8+,J8+,T9,98 – don’t open 75s or T8o
15-20 BB
MP2: (13.7%) 66+,A8s+,KTs+,QTs+,J9s+,T9s,AT+,KJ+ – don’t open Q9s or 98s
MP3: (19.2%) 66+,A5s+,K9s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,98s,A9+,KT+,QJ,JT – don’t open T8s or 87s
CO: (25.5%) 22+,A2s+,K7s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,98s,87s,A8+,K9+,QT+,JT – don’t open Q8s,T8s, or 97s
BTN: (40.0%) 22+,A2s+,K5s+,Q7s+,J7s+,T7s+,97s+,86s+,76s,65s,A2+,K7+,Q8+,J9,T9 – don’t open 96s, 75s or 54s
Again, this is just a baseline approach. You still want to go a fair amount tighter if the players behind are 3betting frequently, otherwise you’ll be folding often enough that they can autoprofit with ATC. If the big blind defends steals very often (folding <=20%), you probably should fold the bottom 2-3% of the CO and BTN ranges.You can of course go wider against weak/tight blinds.
I also recommend a slightly more nuanced strategy of playing a bit wider (maybe just including the hands I changed) from 25-30 BB than from 20-25 BB. The little bit of extra maneuverability will allow more hands to be profitable.
Just a thought but, on a separate note, I wouldn’t recommend immediately trying to adopt these exact ranges. Playing more hands will influence the way players react to you and also create a lot more marginal post-flop decisions. In my experience, any time I’ve made massive changes to my strategy all at once, it has resulted in expensive growing pains. I think incremental adjustments are much easier to implement and, perhaps counter-intuitively, they also seem to help me learn faster than making massive adjustments. Even in post-game review, it can be quite hard to identify the mistakes I’ve made when I don’t properly understand new branches of the game tree that inevitably arise when my strategy changes.
I’d suggest trying to add 1/3rd of the hands that you weren’t previously opening at a time, giving yourself time to adjust to the new spots you get into.
Got the adjustments saved as well. I started to fool around a little bit with like 30-50bb, as I have added these ranges into flopzilla. I’ve been a little sick lately (and a little burned out with poker) so I haven’t fully gotten a chance to implement everything BUT I do fully intend to. I have also been watching a TON of Andrew’s videos that I downloaded, his BB defense series, and I am currently on the value targeting. It’s funny because I think I have missed a ton of value by not watching these videos previously. Hopefully, by the time you and I work together off the felt, I’ll at the very least be able to keep up with you. Once I feel a little better, I plan to make more wall-charts with your recommended hand ranges, and starting a new DB in Holdem Manager for future review. It should go right along with our studies and maybe you could even help by noticing some spots where you had trouble playing these ranges when you first started to implement them.
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