POKER RANGES 101 | James "SplitSuit" Sweeney

[@ThePokerBank]

Want to practice exploiting ranges to make your real-time decisions even stronger? Use SplitSuit's new *Postflop Workbook* and start completing a few pages per day: www.splitsuit.com/postflop-poker-workbook

[@dunnokki]

Go go Poker Ranges, mighty morphin poker ranges!

[@hymnofashes]

There isn't such a thing as a range. Your opponent always has one specific hand that he gives away with his physical tells. And that hand is always ace-king, so you put him on that, then stare him down like james bond and go all-in.

[@splitsuit]

lol

[@danyalam2465]

hahaha

[@ljuan5000]

🤣🤣💯💯

[@paulm6081]

This

[@alexandresirois-decivita9501]

I highly highly recommend the workbook. I am have been seriously playing for a year, and always struggled to find good consistent studies. This channel is by far the best, and the workbook is just the perfect start to get you the basic poker study fundamentals. Just thought id say this in case other people like me are watching this. Cheers!

[@splitsuit]

Thanks a ton for your kind testimonial, Alexandre! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the workbook 😃

[@DrasticKDescription]

One of my biggest obstacles of late has been what to do on the river when the flush comes and you have say top pair top kicker maybe top pair second third kicker. No straight on board but the flush hits and they bet between half to full pot. I’ve been folding lately and checking when check back to me

[@splitsuit]

The question is too vague to give good advice without knowing more about the line taken, stack sizes left, range assumptions, dynamics, etc. But as a default, I would be careful about auto-checking behind in that spot fwiw.

[@roamingthereal4060]

One way to play around this is to make sure that you are going down a branch of the tree without a flush draw. For example. If the flop has a flush draw, betting large enough to give bad odds to make the flush draw fold on the turn will leave you in a branch of the tree without flush draws (or a terrible opponent who overpays for draws). Another thing to consider is the amount of flush draws in your opponents range compared to other holdings, especially after considering removal of your cards. Compare top pair top kicker for a second with top pair third kicker. Might not seem like a huge difference. But if your top kicker is the flushing A, thats a huge number of suited aces you opponent cannot hold. Not as many people playing Q2s as A2s. Similarly, if you hold third kicked Q on suit or not. The Suited Q removes the possibility of many flushes like KQs, QJs, QTs, etc which helps you get closer towards a realistic model of the hand. Consider this board. KQ427 compared to this board KK832 If you have the AK on the first board and the flush comes... your opponent could have all sorts of hands. Top pair, second pair, missed straights, etc. Compare with the second board. If you hit a AK on that board, what do you expect your opponent to be sticking around with? The one king left in the deck? Or one of the dozens of flush draws available? Lastly, when debating a fold I consider all the hands in my range which I would be in this spot in and the size of the bet. Facing a pot sized bet you need to defend less than a halfsized bet. If you are folding top pair every time a flush hits the river... that really doesn't mean anything. If the ONLY hand you have on the river is top pair, you are folding 100%. If you only have top pair 5% of the time, you are only folding 5%. A pot sized bet needs to be defended around 33% of the time... just to avoid being run over by bluffs. Whats that 33% look like in terms of hands? These are the types of things you should be considering. Cheers.

[@donelatinaja5694]

Learned a thing about ranges today. Thanks for uploading this informative vid brother. Hope to play w you soon

[@girishsadana1784]

Thanks very much for such detailed video on Poker ranges. I've purchased your workbook which is really useful for developing solid preflop skills. . It helps so much during real play because if you know what ranges your opponent is playing from what position then your mind is already mathematically trained and you know where your stand preflop. Needless to say that once the flop comes you already know how hard it has hit your opponent!

[@joem.2561]

James, you F-ing rock, brother! Thank you!

[@gnsgml11]

SO how do you do this without the chart?

[@markrobertbb]

We missed you James!

[@splitsuit]

Thanks Mark! I've been working to find a balance since the birth of my son, but I'm working to create more YT videos...

[@markrobertbb]

@@splitsuit congrats man! That's awesome!

[@splitsuit]

@@markrobertbb Cheers, and indeed it is!

[@SuperTopnach]

Haven’t watched your videos in a while but I remember they helped a lot in the beginning of my poker career, and it looks like you haven’t found the razor in the bathroom either

[@splitsuit]

The only razors in my house belong to my wife 😄

[@tomashcroft7024]

I have bought this book and so far I am just entering numbers in and being told to memorize 5 hand ranges that I don't know what to apply them too. Why am I entering numbers for 26 ranges? Is this going to be applied at some point? Should I be memorizing the 26 ranges? The book says it's to uncover some patterns to how wide a range is? I have learned nothing by writing numbers in a box. Not very promising.

[@joshuacoleman4451]

this book is not easily explained for a beginner, and i didnt fully understand the video either, but you were getting there. Plus flopzilla doesnt make sense, can you help me understand this stuff please.

[@SFreedberg1]

James, just bought your book from Amazon - Poker Math and Preflop Workbook. Looking forward to getting into it. I have a question - In Poker Equilab I put in AcJc against a random hand which is 100% and the random hand is still 34.6% which surprised me a bit. What surprised me more though is when I take the 100% all the way down to 50% of hands vs AcJc, it only moves up to 36.88%. Does that sound right? Maybe I am the only one surprised by that.

[@splitsuit]

What is the equity of AcJc vs. Q4s? What about vs 63o? Once you know that, the 50%>100% range should make a bit more intuitive sense =)

[@roccoVAL]

oooommmggggg finally a new video!!!

[@splitsuit]

And more to come =)

[@noahg2755]

I find that range analysis isn't entirely useful in low stakes games against people who are not thinking in terms of basic strategy. I think the concepts are still worth knowing, but most people in low stakes games aren't thinking in these sorts of terms imo. I am a winning player btw. Not great, but above average.

[@splitsuit]

Noah, have you read my book Unfolding Poker perchance? I have a chapter in there about hand reading vs. fishy players that is worth a quick read. I may end up turning it into a video since you aren't the only player who holds this view and my thoughts are a little different on the matter =)

[@noahg2755]

@@splitsuit I have not. Thanks for your online content though. I do also watch a lot of videos from Jonathan Little's channel and on that channel I also express my view that in low stakes recreational games, GTO concepts are well worth knowing so as to apply them on a selective basis. But people do often show up with hands that they "shouldn't" in terms of normal range analysis, including even calling raises pre with absolute junk because it is fun and they aren't working from the maximizing EV mindset.

[@splitsuit]

@@noahg2755 You're very welcome =)

[@NLHero]

@@noahg2755 If someone calls wider than expected then you note it and move on. Range analysis should always adapt depending on all the info you have available. You can even make adaptations based on common tendencies of a specific player pool. In short if you don't find range analysis useful you are probably doing something wrong.

[@noahg2755]

@@NLHero I've seen people jam because they were bored of the game and wanted to do something else. I don't think range analysis has anything to say about what hand they might show up with in that scenario. But I do find range analysis useful. I think the underlying concepts are well worth understanding, so as to apply them selectively. Maybe I didn't articulate that well in my first post.

[@louiquelcutti4476]

As a new poker player - how would you start with ranges? i.e. i've seen lots of tightish preflop ranges - do you think the best way is to learn / practice using these ranges until i know them and then as i play more make them tight / looser based on players etc.?

[@splitsuit]

Start by writing down your own ranges in some common preflop spots =)

[@Cross_40]

Literally had a guy today 3 bet me with pocket 8s and then go all in on a 9 K Q board… I had KQs… another guy called my 8x bb 3 bet of pocket jacks with 34s and miraculously hit the boat on the flop …I’m borderline convinced that ranges are bullshit and people are just psychotic

[@tomwright3086]

Depends on your level. I honestly don't think ranges matter until at least 10nl. Maybe some players in 5nl but definitely not 2nl. I put £20 in my poker account 3 days ago. I have managed to play TAG style playing the not the range but the person and I've managed to get my account up to £33. I'm only playing about an hour or so a day. I look in to finding a softer site to play. Believe me I've played party poker GG poker full tilt poker. Played them all. Your best bet for for a less known one maybe a casino type or betting company. You tend to find people are a lot softer on there and easier to exploit.

[@imhandsomeb9951]

😂😂

[@christophernhat7921]

Great video!

[@ThePokerBank]

Thanks Christopher!

[@royalmavericks3511]

James. Can you explain why you included ranges like #23 and #24 or the ranges on page 21. I don't really know a situation when anyone will have this range. So I dont understand why it is useful even as an exercise to have these ranges in the workbook. Wouldn't it be much easier to understand to include common / GTO ranges and name them?

[@splitsuit]

Ranges on #21 could be they 3bet you and you opted to call their 3bet. I opted to not do purely GTO ranges since the mixes make the ranges look really sloppy - so these ranges are typically a blend of common ranges with smoothed out GTO ranges.

[@shinom0ri]

Great video! Though perhaps outside the scope of the video, I'd love to hear you touch up on 3betting range vs calling range ratio and exploitability, as a practical relevance of this.

[@splitsuit]

Thank you! As for your question, are you talking about the call2bet or call3bet range specifically?

[@royalmavericks3511]

Hi James. If you buy the hardcopy. I understand it comes with the answer key. But it would be nice to have the digital answer key as well. To use it like you do in the video. Or how does this work?

[@splitsuit]

The paperback includes a link on page 8 for the digital answer key (both the online version on Sheets and the offline version for Excel).

[@royalmavericks3511]

@@splitsuit Thanks mate. The book is on its way

[@splitsuit]

@@royalmavericks3511 Enjoy it!

[@coffey80]

Awesome video as always. Thanks James.

[@splitsuit]

You're very welcome Lars - I'm glad you liked it!

[@rtraining123]

Hello james, if you use a hud, can i compare preflop VPIP/PFR to a certain range, so lets say its 8/5 over 200 hands can i say then he plays 8 % of its range or is this a wrong kind of thinking. either way thankyou very much for the vid i learned a lot from it Grtz from the netherlands

[@splitsuit]

The 8/5 stats means their OVERALL VPIP is 8%, this means averaged over all positions and actions. I might suggest starting with this video: www.splitsuit.com/the-most-important-poker-stat-vpip =)

[@collegefraud1308]

I did some betting and calling exercises today, and I got them all wrong 😅.

[@klaasdrent5427]

How can i print out the range charts from flopzilla ?

[@Kolega691]

Great video! Thank you :)

[@splitsuit]

You are very welcome Gerardas =)

[@byronwilliams872]

Simple way to play against me, if there are 3 suited cards on the board and I move all in. I have the nut flush

[@sportspokerguy3506]

Here’s a question: what’s the practical use of Range 22? Who isn’t including Aces in their range?

[@sportspokerguy3506]

Oh you literally answered it in the video right after I asked this lol - those premium hands are in a 3 bet chart and this is a cold calling chart

[@xxChacaronXX]

Anyone know how he clicks a hand like 54s and it automatically selects the better suited connectors as well?

[@splitsuit]

I don't think it works for suited connectors, but if you hold the CTRL key while clicking a hand it should select that hand and all hands higher than it along the rank. E.g., CTRL+click on A4s and it will select A4s, A5s, A6s...AQs, AKs.

[@xxChacaronXX]

@@splitsuit Thanks a lot James!

[@jburch5752]

When you sit down at a table, how long does it take to be able to "effectively" start determining an opponent's range. Also, how does this work with you have eight opponents? About their range depending of position?

[@splitsuit]

I usually have rough estimates within 25 hands and have decent range assumptions within 100. When I lack solid info on a player's specific ranges, I tend to apply more generalized ranges based upon that player's player type and the player pool

[@Leo-wt9tb]

I tried to contact you through contact form of your homepage" splitsuit". But it did not work. How can I contact you ?

[@Attlanttizz]

Very informative, thank you =) I recently started changing my range(s) in Zoom poker. I'm still not sure what the proper ranges are from each position (in this case, ranges for raising first). You're basically playing against average ranges (if I read that correctly), but I guess I haven't played enough to know what that average range is in Zoom poker. Any pointers? Perhaps you've already made a video for that, or perhaps a suggestion for a future video?

[@splitsuit]

You're very welcome! As for Zoom, if you have a decent sample of hands, you can look at the player pool in PokerTracker 4 and see what the avg RFI, call2bet, and 3bet ranges look like per position. I would use that as my starting point for assigning their ranges =)

[@Attlanttizz]

@@splitsuit Thank you again =) I'll look into that.

[@splitsuit]

@@Attlanttizz GLGL!

[@alexhungerford]

You really want to start the video @7:51

[@carloscarvalho7689]

hey guys can someone who have this book tell me if is worth it? I'm thinking of buying it, I'm trying for a while finding this kind of stuff to work the maths, and this look like it can really help me.

[@splitsuit]

Hey Carlos. Might suggest checking out the Amazon reviews for this workbook here: splitsuit.pro/amazon-preflop

[@christophernhat7921]

Worth if you have already understand basic poker (equity, pot odd, implied odd, ...). It will explain the mathematical logic behind every action, with some tips to quickly calculate it when playing live poker. Then you apply them to solve some situations in the workbook, which will make you have a better poker sense, then later when playing you can make better decision

[@liammacdonaldcampbell6585]

I'm going to see another one of your videos in a couple months and your beard will be larger than your head hahaha

[@splitsuit]

lol. I don't see myself going much bigger with the beard - it gets unwieldy at a certain point =)

[@bearatts]

Quarantine beard before the quarantine happened

[@lukekennedy1001]

For future reference use less poker jargon as beginners like me don't understand it... and please don't underestimate the value of implementing the knowledge you're giving into examples, because doing so makes a 15 minute video understandable in 20 secs

[@kauefernando5537]

cool beard

[@scottsavoca3489]

Unless you are Daniel he more times then not names there cards

[@kristintodorov7599]

Man code it for MAC

[@01sbrown]

It’s whoever has the nuts wins.

[@AhmadAhmad-ks6yh]

Hello James . I have a very sample question .. why you and all pro “all” need to sell books , make videos , and advertising .. since you are very good players .. you can make 100$+ per hour .. annnnd all information you give to others make them better players .. so hard to find a fish .

[@ThePokerBank]

The number of pros that actually teach is quite low, so it's far from "all". To your question though, I enjoy teaching and I enjoy poker - so it made sense to merge them together on personal and community levels.

[@AhmadAhmad-ks6yh]

@@ThePokerBank thanks James . When I said all I know what I’m talking about . Some write books .. some open a school .. and most pro “ you know “ advertising field more profitable for them . Not on public media but between the casinos ... it is not a personal question James , I really like you and your content . But I’m asking cause I believe that “POKER” is a game can not be a save career.

[@sevenhecks]

Why not...?

[@schmidtforge1946]

Holy shit you look nothing like your voice! Love your stuff though!!!!

[@BurntRAM]

he looks like the lead singer of a black metal band lol

[@towelzz9873]

What

[@Max_Maximalo]

Poker is haram :-)

[@splitsuit]

k