Putting your opponent on a Range(Pt 1)

There is a great process that was introduced in the book Professional No-Limit Hold ‘Em: Volume 1 by Matt Flynn, Sunny Mehta and Ed Miller and it gives  a very useful framework that allows you to determine what your opponents are likely holding and getting the most out of your hand against them. It is called REM and stands for Range, Equity, Maximize. Some useful short quotes on REM.

1. Range: What range of hands is your opponent most likely holding?

The best way to assign a hand range to your opponent is to use the HUD stats from tracking programs like PokerTracker 4. You should combine that with a good HUD setup. We think we have the best HUD available for PT4 here at ZoomRush as it allows you to quickly put your opponent on a range which is super useful in the quick action of fast fold poker. Our 6 max HUD is here. We are currently developing a Heads Up HUD.

2. Equity: How much equity do you have against that range?

The amount you can expect to win in any poker hand based on the percent chance you have of winning multiplied by the size of the pot. It is a synonym of "expected value." For example, if a pot was $1,000 and a player had a 70% chance of winning it, he would have equity of $700.

3. Maximize: What’s the best play you can make?

Every time the action is to you, it's an opportunity for you to make the perfect play. Thinking about poker that way is great for your game.- Phil Galfond

Lets expand on each concept for a more comprehensive understanding.

1. Range: What range of hands is your opponent most likely holding?

What do typical hand Ranges look like?

To give you an idea of what typical ranges look like, click on the TABS below.

You can use the following charts in real-time to quickly put your opponent on a range of hands.

• 5%
• 10%
• 15%
• 20%
• 25%
• 30%
• 40%
• 50%

Armed with that information the next question we need to ask ourselves is

How can we tell what our opponents range is?

 

This might seem like an unashamed plug for our HUD, nevertheless we believe our HUD is the best available for putting your opponent on a range quickly which is obviously what is needed in Zoom, Rush and other forms of Fast Fold Poker. Check out the screenshot to the left which can be brought up instantaneously with a mouse over with our HUD.

 

 

Lets assume we are playing in a 6 Max Zoom game and the opponent with the above statistics opens from under the gun. His statistics indicate that he opens 10% in this position so his range would be similar to this chart on the left. This is a huge piece of information to have on your opponent. We can also see that he folds to a 3 Bet from that position 25% of the time and never 4 bets. So we could 3 bet this opponent and he will fold 25% of the time and never 4 bet, so 3 betting this opponent when he raises from UTG is definitely worth considering.

In Part 2 we will expand on  ”Equity: How much equity do you have against that range?”

 

Putting your opponent on a Range(Pt 1)