There is no way to truly know what your opponent is holding during a poker game. But with that being said, you can certainly make some very educated guesses as to what your opponents are holding. In fact, the closer you can get with these guesses, the higher your profits will be in the long-run. Seeing as how being able to put an opponent on a range is so important, here is a look at how to accomplish that task.
“Range” means exactly that
The most important thing to keep in mind when putting an opponent on a range is you’re only doing just that: putting an opponent on a range. If an opponent is playing like they have K-K, you must assume that they could also have A-A, Q-Q, J-J, or A-K. If your hand is close to this range, you could be involved in a coin flip. But the key is to figure out if your hand is even close to the opponent’s range.
Example of putting an opponent on a range
Let’s say that there is a board of 8-4-Q-A-10, and there aren’t any realistic flush opportunities on the board. Judging from the way your opponent has been betting, you think your opponent has either A-A or A-K. Assuming your opponent goes all-in, this leaves you with a very tough decision because your trips queens win against top pair, yet lose against trips aces.
Luckily, you can easily assume you’re a winner in this situation because there are three aces left in the deck which means there are only 3 possible A-A combinations. Likewise, there are twelve different A-K combinations left in the deck meaning you’re an 80% favorite to win this hand (12 A-K combinations/ 15 possible combinations). Seeing as how you’re an 80% favorite, this is an easy call to make.
You played in the Boxing Day $500 Added Freezeout, so now it’s time to do it all again on New Year’s Day.
An old piece of strategy from poker is that you should always pay attention at the table so you can identify different players. But even if you do follow this advice, it can be hard to identify the tight players because they don’t make a whole lot of waves at the table. Instead, they sit back and wait until they have a great hand, then take advantage of those great hands by betting and raising as much as possible.
The gifts have been unwrapped, and unless you’re braving the insanity of Boxing Day Blowout Sales, you should have some free time on the 26th.
We are still over 5 months away from the start of the 2010 World Series of Poker. But even with the WSOP being so far away, Harrah’s Entertainment hasn’t wasted any time in releasing the tournament schedule for the world’s largest poker event.
It’s not too uncommon to see poker players lose their temper after getting rivered in a big hand. Some of these players even like to go on huge rants where they blame everyone from the dealer to opponents at the table. However, very few of these people ever resort to physical violence after losing a poker hand.
When most poker players receive a drawing hand, they limp into the pot in an attempt to see the flop. Assuming their draw hits on the flop, they are usually willing to throw out a bet in hopes that their card will come on the turn. But if that card doesn’t come on the turn, the average player will yield to a continuation bet to avoid losing any more money.
CarbonPoker is proud to roll out some new features tonight. We’re going to be enhancing your online poker experience with some subtle updates that will go a long way.
One of the biggest cardinal sins of poker is to play scared. After all, when you play scared, you avoid making plays which could help you win a poker tournament, and you will also eventually be blinded out with this mentality too.
