How to Put Your Opponents on a Hand Range

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On this channel Alec regularly analyzes some of the biggest hands of poker played on high stakes cash games like Poker Night in America, Hustler Live Stream, Live at the Bike, Poker After Dark and High Stakes Poker or tournaments like the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour featuring legendary poker players like Doyle Brunson, Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Ivey, Gus Hanson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Garrett Adelstein and others.

#Poker #ConsciousPoker #PokerCoaching2022

[randomslomo]

I think that limping with a strong hand as your opponent did in that hand is a totally valid strategy, obviously. It's basically a bluff and draws out people with sort of strong hands to raise and raise and then you strike on the river and win.

[NCRTC_VNM]

Did anyone else think "Set of 3's, all day" when the cards were flipped? In my games (low stakes) this is such a common move, it was the only hand that made sense. Kind of interesting to note that even at the higer/est stakes there can always be someone who's too rich for the game and will play however they feel!
Thanks for all the great content Alec, with your help I've raised my skills and my bank account!

[alimoein]

Hi Alec, This hand was really fascinating, Last night, after analyzing it and sleep i saw in my dreams i playing this hand 😂😂😂😂and when i woke up i found some thing intresting I think villan play the pre flop very bad and play post flop very good, he knows that you are a pro, and when he see you are leading he knew that if he raise in flop or turn You understand the power of his hand so he checks too keep his range wide, i think when you bet more than a pot in turn you should know that he is not call you with a draw hand more than a pot cause he did not have any implied odds against you and if he hit on the river you dont give him any money so he call you with a hand with show down value in turn, and in river when u check he was pretty sure that he has best hand and he know that you have bluff catcher hand so he never bluff in this spot, now in river he would check all of his hand weaker than your hand and value bet AJ TT JT and when he bets more than a pot size he's range is realy nuts heavy, and i think it's best to fold in this spot.
I'm glad to see your opinion about my view

[vladimirrook]

Thanks a lot. In addition to the process of putting an opponent on a hand, this is a great lesson to illustrate the separation of results from the decision.

[equinoxgaming]

Hand range also depends on how much the opponent bluffs. If the opponent rarely bluffs, whenever they are calling/raising there could be strong hand. He could be a Tight Aggro player. Cant say much since we don't get to see how he plays rest of his hands.

Villain might wanted to understand if you have pocket JJs. From bet size 700 on the flop he would have known the bet size is small since you are not going for "value". He has pocket 10s so he preferred to call. On the turn where you bet 2700 and he called, his showed strength. Which means he most likely has either pocket 10s or pocket 3s or he could be bluffing. When you checked on the river, he could sense a weaker hand and was expecting you to fold by jamming with a bet of 10k. If he wanted value at river he would have bet 6k or so. But you called and went to showdown.

[hannahtariq]

Love the way you explain things, it's good study material for an intermediate player like myself. Thanks Alec xx

[glenmisha]

I believe you gave a near perfect explanation. You even said his river bet is polarized meaning he either has the nuts or total air. So in reality, even though you made the correct call long term, you were right in your deduction. I almost wish you hadn't of told us his hand... Great explanation, as always. Thanks!

[Petros.Morfis]

Hi Alec. I think you played it super fine that s the correct play. Your process was correct too but I would like to add an element there. When I am not sure about villians tedencies I opt to use frequences. For example, "I believe 80% he is raising his sets and 2pairs" that way you leave in your back of your mind a small chance this is still in his range.

[IanRiley]

I'm a novice, but I think you played it well considering. Your point about separating the results and the merits is such a great piece of advice. If you do know the opponent or have noticed him attempting to *trap* (I see this a lot at my level; every day someone is trying to trap me with AA or KK), then I think you need to be less liberal with removing made hands from their range. For example, if the opponent is trapping, we can probably remove top pair and two-pair but we have to keep sets in their range because they would trap with sets. It does seem to me that there were indicators that would identify the possibility of a trap. This is a great hand for trapping with pocket TT. You called SB rather than raising (granted, limpers) but I don't think you would call with JJ in that spot more often that not. More likely, you're working a draw, high-card-bad-kicker, or trash. Flop comes. You bet ~pot. Prior to the flop, your range was rather wide (only the big blind had a wider range). This bet fired a cannonball into that. Again, novice here but I think the ~pot bet set you up for a trap. If I was on the BTN, I would discount all garbage hands from your range because those hands have a lot of -EV betting 4-handed (both actual and after discounting the hand-equity/fold-equity you probably won't realize). I would also discount all nutted hands such as KQ or AKs. Those hands probably would have raised pre-flop. That leaves your best hands being KJo, 98s, and JT. He's going to put you on JX and 98 because he has the TT. I also think you tried to take a decent draw hand and turn it into top pair with a good kicker, which seems dangerous 4-handed. With that, this is a great opportunity for him to trap you. Either, (a) you have JX or two-pair, in which case you'll keep betting and then probably induce a bluff which is the best option for him, (b) you have a draw, brick, and attempt to bluff on the river which is good for him, (c) you have a draw, brick, and fold, which is meh, or (d) you have a draw, get there, and he folds, which is meh. By betting ~pot, option (c) becomes much better for him because you're putting lots of money into the pot for him to be content with should you have the draw, brick, and fold. The only option he doesn't like as a trapper now is option (d) which still isn't that bad because he has so much equity over you if you're on the draw (your best equity is 18% with the flush). He simply has no reason to fold and no reason to raise with TT. Turn comes 2. You overbet. The 98 is sucked out of your range leaving you with JX and JT. This is now the perfect situation for him because you'll either bet on the river or induce a bluff and he likes both options. You've also just missed your turn opportunity to catch him trapping. If you check on the turn, it's bad for him as a trapper. You're probably not trying to induce a bluff since there is still a river card to come. You'll probably fold if he bets into you and that indicates he's likely trapping. His best option is to check and hope you bet on the river. At which point, you might discern that something is afoot. If you do check, then he is likely either trapping or drawing. If the brick comes, you can bet small. If he bricked the draw, he can't call. But if he raises, you can use a similar process of deduction to determine that he either bricked 98 or is holding a set. At which point, you can justifiably fold since he'll actually have a healthy portion of sets in his range. 5 comes on the river, which is a perfect brick because players with draws do bet big in these situations to try to get a fold. You check which induces a bluff. He takes the opportunity to bluff exactly how you would expect him too only he's trapping so this is exactly what he wants. You call. He's got you with the set. Thoughts?

[thomaskahl]

Very good video, especially the explantation that you do something right in a special spot even if you lose the showdown.👍

[ishkabibblemoskowitz]

I love these vids.

I found myself in a very similar situation last night. Bet, call, bet call, check monster bet, Lose.

We got set mined. Nothing you could have done about it. Our villians set the trap, we fell in.
My board was little dryer but one thought to consider...
If you thought that the player could play with any two cards on the button then with the river the straight draw got there.

[mrbprice]

Every once in a while, I'll slow play a big hand, just to switch my game up a little, and that's all your opponent did. He limped with the tens, hoping to get an aggressor, you obliged. He hit the flop, and gave you the rope. On the river he bet 'almost' all of his chips, and you had the exact thought that he was hoping for. Why bet so big now? Plus, if you're going to bet that much, why would you not push it all in? He knew you had a decent hand, and wanted his bet to look like he was trying to steal the pot.

[jasonsitu]

Your a very good player that knows how to read the opponent and cards very well

[marcinnowogorski]

4:29 the problem here is that it's not necessarily a profitable call. If you take all similar situations with passive player overbetting after the river you have all those nuts vs bluffs. He bet 10k into 7.20k pot in which 3.30k was yours. So you have to bet 10k on top of invested 3.30k in order to win 13.30k. Coinflip. Therefore, for this bet to be profitable, you'd need your passive opponents playing in position to be bluffing more than 50% of times or more than 33% of times if you consider invested money as profit which I find controversial, bcoz winning back your own money sounds hardly like a gain ;).

But the idea with the funnel is very nice. Thanks and good luck!

[snowgun]

Wow... I agree with your logic. It was polarized. But i never thought the set of 10 to be one of them. Set of 3 was the only strong hand i could put him on... and all the rest was air or way overvalued weak hand.

[joshuanorman]

Crazy limp with tens would never expect to see a set

[garygwin]

See, your game theory is spot on there. That just shows that "Reading" people, is just as important as game theory.

[albertomartel]

Well one factor that plays in to this analysis is knowing the opponent. The info out of this hand for sure would influence future decisions against him

[coreymachowski]

When I see that overbet I'm immediately thinking about if he made any over bets prior and what he turned over.

[bryannaylor]

You should do a long drawn out video around the hand range funnel. If your opponent does this he does or does not have this, a checklist of sorts, then mix in the bluff ranges, sprinkled with some player history and walla ... magic ..