UNDERSTAND HAND RANGE IN POKER TO PLAY BETTER

WHEN TALKING ABOUT POKER RANGES

Any given poker game is filled with plenty of opportunities, but it is also a game laden with risk, and that is something an experienced poker player will be able to attest to.

However, a poker hand range is something that is a key element, especially when it comes to working out your own ranges and that of your opponent. Of course, a winning poker player will be canny when they come to calculate poker hand ranges. That aside, there is plenty of poker software out there which includes a selection of poker range charts for you to sink your teeth into.

Indeed, many of the best poker software packages will contain details about specific hand combinations, and you will even find a poker table or poker hand matrix that will outline ranges, such as the utg opening range.

If you want to elevate your poker training, you will want to be clued up on all the latest techniques, so you can excel in an early position or when it comes to post flop play.

In the following sections, we will go into more detail about the nature of poker hand ranges, suited hands, as well as how to incorporate poker ranges into your strategy.

WHAT ARE POKER HAND RANGES?

Poker ranges are designed to improve your game. In essence, poker hand ranges will denote a group of hand combinations that a player might have in game, such as suited aces or ace queen suited.

When playing no limit hold’em, for example, you can use hand ranges to determine a player’s range at the table, whether it be during the small blind or big blind, and by knowing possible hands, you will be better placed to put your opponent on the back foot.

The best visual representation is arguably a hand grid that will depict a hand combination, and you can see the exact hand you will need to make to come out on top during games.

With a poker range or hand ranges, generally speaking, there will be a few things you will need to pay attention to:

• Betting patterns
• Betting action
• Betting size
• Type of player faced

For example, if you wish to make flush draws or top pairs from the middle position on the board, then hand ranges are a crucial element of game theory that you need to be aware of if you wish to improve and bolster your win rate.

If you can figure out a poker hand range, you will be more effective with your playing style, and you will be able to place killer poker hands that will blow your opponents away.

HOW POKER HAND RANGES WORK

Poker hand ranges are a fascinating element of a poker game, and ultimately, the hand range can have an impact on the pot odds.

To help put this into context, we have explained how this works in a preflop range as well as analyzing hands for the postflop range.

PREFLOP HAND RANGE

When you are in the preflop range, you will need to be aware of a few actions to get the most out of your opponent’s hand.

Look at the pre-flop betting action

Here, you need to look at whether your opponent has made a raise or re raise, or even folded. With a raise, for example, some simple hand analysis might suggest they have a reasonable hand.

Guessing frequency

Here, you will need to use poker ranges to work out the frequency of a player landing suited hands or having straight draws, which could influence how to play preflop.

Ignore hands that shouldn’t be in the mix

A poker matrix will help poker players here when it comes to hand reading. However, if you are comfortable with poker hands in general, then you will be able to eliminate many of the other cards that haven’t already been dealt, and as such, get a clearer understanding of your opponent’s range.

Consider possible hands that will impinge on play

This could be unsuited hands or offsuited hands that your opponent might produce playing online poker, and you will need to have your wits about you to try and outsmart your opponents play.

Alternatively, you may come up against a player who is quite tight. The opponent’s hand range might be quite daunting as they could have been ready to pounce with pocket pairs such as 88, or worse still for you, ATs or KJs.

Your opponents, should they have suited combos, will be more adept when it comes to raising ranges in order to set themselves nicely come the turn or the river.

POSTFLOP RANGE OF HANDS

By the time you reach the postflop, there may be a few more clues that experienced poker players will be able to detect that will bolster their win rate in the later streets.

Are there too many hands in their range?

Weaker players will be unaware of how to use poker ranges. As such, it might be common for them to have too many hands in their poker range, and that in turn, could see them be picked off by an opponent who has a far superior hand, such as pocket pairs in the big blind.

Is there sufficient balance in the hand range of your opponent?

Closely connected to the above point, you will need to establish whether the poker range of your opponent is sufficiently balanced.

Some players may have little idea about poker ranges when it comes to post flop play, especially if it transpires that your opponent doesn’t have suited hands.

With a narrow range, it can be hard to induce a bluff. However, with a raising range in game, you could try to bluff with a range of hands that may not necessarily be so strong, such as low pocket pairs, but when an opponent calls, they could come unstuck.

Remember, when calling your own hand, bluffs shouldn’t be used all the time. While there is a school of thought when it comes to bluffing and poker notation, you will want to curate an image of yourself that makes it hard to predict what you will do, such as showing paired hands or suited combos.

Some players will often apply incorrectly drawing hands. It is important to remember that not all draws are equal in poker, and this principle can apply to bluffing. If you over bluff, you will make it easier for your opponents to work out your poker hand range.

HOW AND WHEN DOES OPPONENT’S RANGE CHANGE?

There are several occasions when an opponent’s poker range might change. For example, if they are wishing to play a poker hand that has more value like a suited hand, they might wait until the later streets to exploit the range of their opponent. In this case, using your bluffs could work well when trying to extract the most from the poker range of your opponent.

Alternatively, poker ranges may change when a player wishes to be more aggressive with their poker hand, and they want to force the initiative. Your opponent, therefore, could be 5 betting AA and KK all of the time, but making AK 50% of the time.

If you can incorporate a range of hands into your poker training, including how to calculate poker ranges, then you will be more adept a manipulating a poker hand range to tilt things in your favour.

Ideally, you won’t want to have the same range as your opponent. You will want your opponent to have a much wider range, as they may tend to be much looser. With poker ranges, some players can fall into a particular trap, and it makes it much harder to dig themselves out of trouble during betting rounds.

In the next couple of sections, we will explain how to calculate poker hand range, and we will also use some poker range charts to share our findings.

HOW TO CALCULATE HAND RANGES IN POKER

The range that you will assign will be based on a few important factors — who your opponent is, what action they are taking, where they are going to follow through with their action, and how they might create hand ranges.

The best way to calculate hand range in poker is to determine how many hands your opponent might play with in any given situation. A tight player who chooses to do so from an early position will scarcely raise with their hand. As such, they will have a low frequency. The acronym (DEAF) will help consolidate things:

D: Define the action your opponent is set to make.

E: Estimate their frequency for range notation.

A: Axe or get rid of any hands that won’t be included for range notation.

F: Factors that would influence the range notation for your opponents.

Of course, using poker software will make it much easier to track and keep tabs on calculating the preflop range. Within this, there will be a poker matrix listing all the possible hands that you could be dealt at the table.

But at a basic level, in terms of starting hands, the poker matrix has 169 possible starting hands (13×13). If anything, it makes it much easier for players to visualise ranges rather than just memorise.

For the poker hand matrix, this will display every pocket pair along the diagonal, while every suited combo will be placed just above the diagonal, and all unsuited combos below the diagonal.

Any poker software that you choose to use will facilitate a matrix, so you can see what you need to do to complete a suited hand. Such poker range charts will have a colour coded system, so that you can distinguish between selected and unselected hands.

You may notice that some poker ranges will be denoted in percentage format, but in terms of calculations, let’s show the chances of making a pocket ace.

We know that poker will have 169 possible starting hands, but when you factor suits into the equation, this rises to 1,326 unique combos.

With pocket aces, there will be six different combinations which means the percentage for AA would be as follows: 6/1,326 = 0.45%.

Percentage form can be extremely useful when working out value range, and allying that with what your opponent’s pre flop tendencies are like. So, if you know that your opponent makes an open raise 10% of the time, then you can begin to build the top 10% of hands to estimate their hand range.

In the following section, we will provide some examples of poker range, so you can see how things work in reality.

POKER RANGE EXAMPLES

Below, we have outlined some examples that will help with poker hand range strands. We have presented some of them in bullet point format, and provided a table or two to illustrate them.

• 22+. This includes all pocket pairs (22, 33, 44, QQ, and so forth).
• 98s. You need to include all suited connectors and 98s and higher here, so 98s, TT etc.
• AQ+. This won’t have a suited (s) or offsuited (o) qualifier, so you will need to include all versions of AQ as well as AK, and factor them into your thinking.

Poker range combo chart

Type	None	1/10	1/4	1/3	1/2	2/3	All
% Form	0%	10%	25%	33%	50%	67%	100%
Combos	0	133	332	438	663	888	1,326

However, you need to keep in mind that combos can often be influenced by hole cards, but any poker software you use will take this into consideration for hand range in poker.

Better still, memorising the following hand ranges for the pre flop stage will go a long way to helping you with hand reading.

1. 2.5% (QQ+/AK)
2. 5% (TT+/AQ+)
3. 10% (44+/AJ+/KQ/KJs)
4. 20% (22+/ATB/54s+)
5. 33% (22+/ATB/A2s+/A7o+/T9+/43s+/53s+/J8s+/K8s)

If you can memorise the above ranges, you can quickly deduce poker hand ranges better in the pre flop stage.

You will be able to visualise things better at the table, such as the chances of landing pocket pairs or another range of hands, but this is something that requires time and effort.

For those that are willing to spend a bit of time studying away from the intensity of gameplay situations, then they can return to the table with a fresher perspective from the hours clocked up from their poker training. It could lead to your opponents fearing you, and by deducing your opponent’s range, you will be able to score more wins during poker games.

Also, by knowing what is included in the top % of cards, you will be better placed during the later streets to remove any hands that might make you panic later on.

It is all about balance, because if you raise with a 50% preflop range, for example, you will end up being much looser, and your range is more likely to be exploited by your opponent.

RANGE OF HANDS BETTING STRATEGY

If you want to master hand range in poker, we have supplied some key strategic pointers that might help you get to grips with poker ranges.

Practice, practice, practice

This may sound like a rather onerous or even obvious point to lead on, but practice does make perfect when it comes to poker hand ranges. Consult the poker matrix and don’t take anything for granted when it comes to range notation. After all, you won’t always be in the exact same range as other players.

The more time you spend reading up and refining your skills, the better placed you will be when it comes to an in game situation when it comes to making a raise or folding.

Establish a budget

Before you place your poker hand, you need to establish a clear budget, so you can mitigate any risk during a betting round or rather lose too much money which could affect you in the long term.

Naturally, high rollers might be a bit looser with their poker range, especially for tournament play. Nevertheless, you should always gamble responsibly. So, when the fun stops, stop!

Don’t forget about the post game analysis

Regardless of what happens during the game, whether good, bad, or indifferent, it is always a good idea to have a debrief and note down what could be improved or tinkered with to help you in future games.

This is all part of the learning process, so if you play online, for example, you can tag or mark hands, and use any knowledge gained to apply in your next game.

ANALYZING OPPONENTS’ HAND RANGES AS A KEY ELEMENT OF STRATEGY

As well as being balanced with your own range, to be a genuine all-rounder, it is well exploring the poker hand ranges of your opponent, and this can be done in the following ways:

Look for tell tale signs

We all are familiar with the concept poker face, and how not giving much away with your facial expressions will stand you in good stead.

However, try and study your opponent. Do they look fidgety? Nervous twitching or furrowed brows could suggest they have an inferior poker hand, and their hand ranges could end up proving to be their downfall.

Figure out Optimistic v Pessimistic ranges

When trying to establish an opponent’s range, it is always best to prepare for the best case scenario while simultaneously bracing yourself for the worst. Or in this case, take time to think about optimistic and pessimistic ranges.

If you can do this effectively, you won’t be in for a rude awakening come the later streets, and you will have more value with your poker range. After all, you want to make more decisions that will be profitable and will generate more cash for you in the long run.

Going in for the kill

If you can manipulate the hand range or rather exploit the hand range of your opponent, then you can go in for the kill and exploit poker hand ranges.

Sometimes, this can be easier said than done, but by spotting patterns in the game, such as bluffing, you will be in a better position to sniff out the bluffers. Too often, bluffers can be beaten.

WHAT ARE LIMITED HAND RANKS?

Limited hand ranks can be described as cards that are rare to use in poker. Although the royal flush has odds of over 30,000-1 when it comes to making the best possible hand, and is rare, as there are only four possible combinations, it tops the list of best hands.

However, with one of the weaker holdings in the poker ranking list, such as the high card, you won’t have a pair to choose from. Instead, you will need to use the highest card from the five that you are playing.

For example, you may have Queen of Hearts and 10 of Clubs, and the board returns 7 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs, 2 of Hearts, 9 of Diamonds, and 5 of Clubs. You would need to combine to create a Queen high, but for other rounds, the cards may not come nicely out of the deck for you.

CONCLUSION

Well, there you have it. We have given you the full lowdown on poker hand ranges, and shown you how to calculate your opponent’s range, and how certain hand combinations will improve your chances of landing more from the pot.

Understanding hand ranges, as we have seen, requires time and effort. You will only get out as much as you can from poker ranges from what you put in. Nothing should ever be taken for granted, and each poker game needs to be judged on its own merit.

However, more experienced poker players will always be working on new ways to gain a competitive advantage. We have outlined a few useful strategic bits which if you can incorporate them into your game, then it will pay dividends in the long term. Good luck!