Player's Range Using PokerTracker

[RichAM]

I always hear about players ranges. Just wondering how you do this?

[RyverRat]

This comes from history of a player. If we all played ABC poker its easy to put players on ranges without history. ie. UTG raise = AA/KK/AKs Button raise = any Pocket pair/suited connector/2 high cards.

Narrowing or expanding the range comes down to history of the player. If you see a showdown of a player who raised UTG with 22 then you know his range is any PPair+ etc. Knowing if they are play a tight range or a loose range is key.

By betting you can narrow this range to find out more accurately what villain is holding.

Its highly unlikely you can guess the exact 2 cards someone is holding but by putting them on a range premium hand/drawing hand/Ppair etc will help your decisions on the more expensive streets turn & river.

[basementproject]

Assuming you use PokerTracker, you can put an opponent on a certain range of hands (as Ryver said), by using mainly VPIP and PFR%.

A player with a VPIP of 30% is generally going to play 30% of the hands he is dealt. To find out what this hand distribution looks like, it's really helpful to have a simulator like Pokerstove on your comp.

A player with a PFR% of 8% is going to be raising 8% of his hands preflop.

You can use many other PT stats in the same way, for the same purpose- to deduce what your opponent is holding in a given situation using statistics.

Might sound complicated, but like anything else in poker, the more you put it to practise, the easier it gets.

[Gonso]

Yeah, start with Pokerstove, it's free. The slider bar at the bottom will get you rough ranges.

It's a little tricky, because the top 30% of hands as Stove has them will not match up 100% with the the top 30 % of hands a player chooses to play

[byamamoto1]

Hi, sorry if this is a hijack, but i've also just purchased the Pokertracker software. I wanted to know what sort of information do you find that is most useful to you as a poker player. right now i'm just importing hands playing at the rings, and other than knowing how much an opponent VP$IP and PFR%, i'm really lost as to the other many uses of the software. any helpful hints on this?

[RyverRat]

byam - Buy pahud and overlay your pokertracker numbers on the players as you play.

I use VPIP, PFR%, AF (Agression factor), CB (continuation bet %), fold to continuation bet %, raise continuatin bet % and all the street aggressions factors.

Pokertracker (PT) can be used to find holes in your game. after 5000 hands you should use the filter function on the main page and look how you are doing with different types of hands ie pocket pairs, suited connectors.

after every session you play go to PT and review your session. Find the hands you lost and use the replay function and try to see where you went wrong. If you are unsure post the hand on 2p2.

Use PT to see how you are playing from each position. you should be playing more in the later positions than the early and most of your profit should be coming from the late positions.

Filter the most profitable players and replay some of their hands. Find how they play, maybe you can learn from their hands.

[RichAM]

Yes, I have PokerTracker and PAHUD, thanks for your replies.

[carlgraham]

Rich,

Here are a couple articles I found useful to try and quickly put people on hands using their VP$IP and PFR (Pre-Flop Raise):

An Unbelieveably Long Guide to Hand-Reading Pokey's post, on this forum, is not just long, as the name implies, but so informative you have to read it over and over just to digest the information it presents.

Using VP$IP To Put Opponents On a Range of Hands. An article on another site I found useful - uses Sklansky hand groupings as its foundation.

Prior to reading these, I had a general idea that an extrememly high VP$IP meant a person played virtually anything, but didn't translate that into real analysis. And I would overplay hands against them, since I ignored the PFR statistic.

Now, if a person has a VP$IP of 80, and he limps, he could have any two cards. But if that same person raises preflop, and his PFR is only 2, you better watch out, because he probably scored a premium hand.

Similarly, a VP$IP of 22 is fairly moderate, and worthy of respect. But if that same person has a PFR of 20, it means he raises every pot he enters. A raise from him does not set off alarm bells, but is simply his way of announcing that he's playing the hand.

Cheers, Carl.