In poker, “range” refers to the total number of possible outcomes that can happen given the current situation. For example, if you’re holding a pair of aces in your hand, your range would be any two cards that can make a pair with an ace.
This includes all the other aces, all the other pairs that can be made with an ace, and any singleton that can pair up with an ace.
When you’re trying to determine your range in poker, you need to consider all the possible ways that your hand could improve. This means looking at all the cards that could come down on the flop, turn, and river that would make your hand better.
For example, if you’re holding a pair of aces pre-flop, you need to consider all the cards that could come down that would make you a set, two pair, or a full house.
You also need to consider your position when trying to determine your range. If you’re in late position, you have more information than the other players and can put them on a narrower range.
If you’re in early position, you don’t have as much information and need to put them on a wider range.
Once you have all this information considered, you can start narrowing down your range. If you’re up against one player, you can start by putting them on a range of hands and then eliminating hands from that range that they would have folded pre-flop.
This process is called hand reading and is vital to playing winning poker.
If you’re up against multiple players, you need to start by putting each player on a separate range of hands. You can then start eliminating hands from each range that are unlikely to be there based on the betting patterns and the board texture.
This process is called ranges vs ranges and is how most professional players think about the game.
Once you have your ranges narrowed down, you need to start thinking about how likely each hand is to be the best hand. This is where pot odds come in.
Pot odds are simply the ratio of money in the pot versus how much money it costs to call a bet. For example, if there’s $100 in the pot and it costs $10 to call a bet, then the pot odds are 10-to-1 ($100/$10).
You need to compare pot odds to your equity in the pot to see if calling is profitable. Equity is how often you’ll win the pot if everyone else folds when it’s just you and them heads-up (i.e., one-on-one).
So if your equity in the pot is 20% and the pot odds are 10-to-1 ($100/$10), then calling is profitable because 20% > 10%. However, if your equity was only 15%, then calling would not be profitable because 15% < 10%.
This process of comparing pot odds to equity is called equity realization and is one of the most important concepts in poker. It's what allows professional players to make +EV (expected value) decisions even when they don't have perfect information about their opponents' ranges.
In conclusion, determining your range in poker requires considering all the possible ways your hand could improve, your position at the table, and how likely each hand is to be best given pot odds. Hand reading and equity realization are two important skills that will help you make +EV decisions and improve as a player.
