Visualizing Hand Ranges

[z28dreams]

Hey all,

I was just playing with PokerStove, and trying to get a feel for how often people hold certain types of hands depending on their preflop raising position. Below is what I came up with:

All are assuming you are vs. a tight/taggy player: (6max)

Early Position Ranges:

22-AA / AT-AKo / A9-AKs - 11%
only pairs - 5.9% (53% relative)
is suited - 1.9% ( 18% relative )
connected or 1 gapper - 3.6% ( 32% relative )

So, vs a tight player, about 1/2 the time you're up against
a pair, and only around 18% of the time you're up against suited cards.

32% of the time you're up against some kind of connected cards.


What we should note: If a decent player raises in early
position, we should rarely be afraid of flush draws.
Because they're also very likely to be holding a pair, it may make
more sense to exercise pot control on paired and raggy boards.


Late Position Ranges:
This varies a lot more on player, but here's what I used for this example:

22-AA, A2s-AKs, A6o-AKo, KT-KQ, J9-JT, 86-87, 78-79, 65, etc
Basically all small suited connectors except for the really low stuff,
and most of the suited one gappers. ~ 30.6%

Pairs - 5.9% ( 19% relative )
Suited - 9% ( 30% relative )
Connected or 1 gapper - 22% ( 73% relative )

What we learn:

In late position, villain is much more likely to be suited than if he was in early position
(around 50% more likely) However, this still only makes up 30% of his range. We're a lot more likely
to run into 2-pair and drawy type hands. We should be less worried about overpairs and sets,
because pairs now make up only a tiny percentage of our range.


Here's a visual breakdown to help picture villain's holdings:

EARLY positions:


xxxx = pairs
xxxx = non-pairs

x___ = suited
xxxx = non-suited

xx__ = connected/one-gapper
xxxx = non-conected/one-gapper


LATE positions:

x___ = paired
xxxx = non-paired

xx__ = suited
xxxx = non-suited

xxx_ = connected/one-gapper
x___ = non-connected/one-gapper


I'm going to follow this up with some hand examples to help put this information to good use and run the math.