[cheburashka]

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Sherman,

Thanks, that was helpful. I never really made use of the % slider at the bottom of the hands screen of Pokerstove, but that is an extremely useful tip and definitely something I can use as a base for range estimates.

I also agree with you and think this post should be amplified in this forum. It's amazing how clear some moves become when you do the math.

I was discussing a hand with a friend this morning where he had 6400 with 400/800 blinds. He had 88 on the button and it was folded to him. He wasn't sure what he should do there because he was afraid that he was going to be called by shortstacked BB and SB (roughly 4k - 5k each) and lose if he pushed. So he bet 2400. Once I showed him the math it was clear that he needed to just shove. I think the math worked out that his opponent's calling range was 14% of hands. Both sb + bb combined was like 28% and when called he was 58% against the range. So 72% of the time he takes a pot uncontested and then about 16% of the time he wins a huge pot. 12% of the time he loses. It opened his eyes.

He simply could not see that without doing the numbers.

Talking about hands without doing the math is basically just giving opinions which may or may not be valid.

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Obviously great and useful post, Sherman. And congratulations on your nuptials (when are you going to post pics, BTW?)

One warning about using the slider, which may seem obvious, but which is a trap I find myself falling into and which may apply to others based on posts I have read.

That is, you must apply your hand against villain's entire range, not just the lower part of that range. For example, in the heat of a tourney, it's easy to look at a guy with PFR of 20% and say, "Well, according to pokerstove, he's willing to raise K8s or KTo, so my KJo must be good," only to be surprised and stacked by AK (for the record, KQs has 50% equity against a top-20% range).