forming villain ranges

Hi guys, my first post here. I'd like to say thanks ahead of time for all the info you guys put out here, it's really helped me out a lot. I've only been playing for about 6 months and I've recently reached the point at which I realize how much I don't know about poker and realized there's more to it than TAG starting hand charts and memorizing pot odds. I'm currently working on getting my BR to $500 or $600 at the $10NL 6-max tables at PokerStars so I can move up to $25NL.

My question is, how do you go about forming positionally aware ranges on your opponents? I'm having a really hard time learning how to accurately place my oppenets on hands, right now I seem to be stuck just feeling out when I'm ahead or not.

I would really like to be able to work out ranges like you guys do but I'm just not sure how. A lot of these posts talk about how you should take such and such action based on your opponets opening range from MP1 or his 3-bet range from UTG or whatever, but I really don't know how to form these assumptions.

Right now I'm simply going off what my ranges are, but that doesn't seem like an accurate way to play against all the many different sorts of players I run into.

Any tips at all? I'm really feeling stuck here. Thanks.

Give the link at the bottom a read as a start.....start being the key word.
It will take some time...

Something to try (which out of stupidity I have not done enough) is to put players on ranges when you are NOT in a hand....and see what they show down. The trick is to put their tendancies into the range, not yours....

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...em-t70711.html

Not that I'm an expert at it, but I don't think there's too many "tricks" to it other than practice.

Do you use a HUD? If so, that makes it easier to start before the flop - if they raise or call, work out roughly what range of hands they would do that with given their VPIP% and PFR%, remembering that the button will often be much wider than UTG (at least twice as wide is a good rule of thumb for a reasonably positionally aware player). PokerStove comes in really handy here - plug a few percentages into that beforehand to find out what a sample range containing that % of hands looks like.

Then, for each action they take after the flop, ask yourself, "what hands would they do that with?", and narrow down the range accordingly. The further through the hand you get, and the more actions that villain takes, the narrower you should be able to get their range.

The more often you try to do that, and the more often you see and take note of what they show down, the better you will become.

The first, best thing to do is take notes on your opponents. Particularly note what hands they open or call raises with in what position and how they act in other common situations like when they are on a draw, make a set, have top pair weak kicker, and the like. Taking these notes will give you concrete hard data on how your villain is playing and then you can extrapolate assumptions from that. For example, if a villain opens UTG for 4x with A9o and for 4x with AKo UTG+1, you can pretty much nail down how he'll play AT-AQ, too. The next best thing to do is data mine using a program like Hold'Em Manager which will allow you to use a program like PokerStove or just make basic equity estimates on the fly. If a maniac with a 60% VPIP and 35% PFR raises in middle position, that range will be much wider than a 9% VPIP, 7% PFR set miner. The last best thing to do is be generally familiar with the players at your stakes. There will be general trends and behaviors you pick up and notice that can be assigned to random or unknown players.

Now that you know their tendencies, you have to start analyzing the hand street by street using their tendencies in conjunction with the action, the board texture, your perception of THEIR image of you and your range, plus how your actual hand fits into that range. That's a mouthful, but I'll try to break it down.

How they act is obviously very important because there are a range of hands that they will check, bet, call, raise, or fold with or a range of hands they will NOT check, bet, call raise, or fold with. Once they make a decision, you can then narrow down their range even further. Each action theoretically should help you better solve the puzzle. This is one of many reasons why position is so important - you get the information first and can make a better decision or even be more deceptive because of it.

Next, the board texture is very important because certain boards will lend themselves to check, bet, call raise, or fold with a certain range or NOT check, bet, call raise, or fold with. Let's say a nit raises it to 5x UTG and the flop comes 27T rainbow. That flop should have completely missed his range of high pocket pairs and premium hands like AK. On the other hand, say you raise in middle position with A:diamond:2:diamond: and get two loose and one tight caller and the flop comes out T:club:J:club:Q:heart:. This flop smacks their range of likely suited connectors and broadway cards. If they aren't already sitting on a made hand, they are likely drawing to a str8 or flush.

Just because you think you know how they play, that's only half the puzzle and now you have to think about what your villain may think about YOUR range. For example, let's say you've got a solid, tight image against a semi-loose villain who only goes to showdown about 25% of the time. You raise in middle position with J:spade:T:spade:. He calls OTB and you put him on a wide range of small pocket pairs, suited connectors, broadway, weak aces, and even air. The flop comes K:club:2:diamond:2:spade:. This is a good flop for you. Not because it hit your range, but because it DIDN't hit his range AND because it should have hit your range from your villain's point of view AND because you have already shown initiative to the pot. He should put you a medium to high pocket pair, broadway cards, and some strong aces. Let's say villain calls a bet. The next card is the A:heart:. This is another good card for you. A King is near the top of your range, so if he hit it or didn't think it hit you, it's going to be even tougher for him to continue now that Ace has hit because that's smack dab in your range. This is a great time to double barrel and even if you get caught, you still have another street to evaluate to possibly barrel again if you think it's worth it. Plus, you still have 4 outs to the nut str8.

One reason the micros are easier than higher stakes is because often times you don't have to worry about the villain's perception of your range because they are NOT thinking about it. If you have loose, showdown monkeys or calling stations at your table, you just need to figure out how big of piece they have and then either fold, try to get to showdown cheaply, or extract maximum value.

The last piece is figuring out how your hand best fits into your opponents perception of your range. If your hand is well disguised or under-represented and is stronger than his, that's usually a good time to put a lot of money in the pot if your villain will cooperate. On the other hand, if you're playing your hand face up or it's over-represented, you have to proceed with caution because your villain will be more likely to get out when they should or use deception against you so you lose more than you would have otherwise. Again, this is not as important against villains not sophisticated enough to care about your hand to begin with.

It's a long, tough process that no one truly masters and we're always trying to improve, but it's also the heart of the game. Good luck.