Putting Opponents onto a "Range" of Hands

Pedigree · #1 03-23-2005, 10:31 AM

UTG is new to the table but through about 20 hands seemed pretty lose. SB is pretty loose and unsophisticated ... plays very straightforward. BB is a calling station.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
UTG raises, 5 folds, Hero calls, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: (8 SB) T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls.

Turn: (6 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG raises, Hero calls.

River: (10 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
UTG bets $1.5 (All-In), Hero calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

I'm fairly good at putting an opponent onto a specific hand after the hand is done and before the showdown but I'm terrible at putting an opponent onto a range of hands based on his preflop play.

How do you think that hurt my decision making here? Both WLLHE and SSHE say my preflop call was correct. I probably would've called the flop instead of raising if I didn't want to knock the blinds out. Should I have backed off or folded on the turn? Advice is appreciated!

einbert · #2 03-23-2005, 10:48 AM

Well you can put an UTG raiser on a range of hands based on his PFR%. If it's 2-3, his range of hands is pretty much {AA, KK}. If it's over 20, his range of hands is any playable hand. Most people would have a PFR of like 8 from UTG which is generally AJo-AKo, KQo, KQs, TT-AA. So you're beating KQ and tied with TT (although it's beating you on the flop 2/3 of the time). The rest of his hands have you tied or dominated. In other words your hand is in bad shape against the avg player raising UTG and you should fold.

TripleH68 · #3 03-23-2005, 11:26 AM

I have trouble getting stuck in this position. Raising the flop, getting it heads up, then being check-raised on the turn.

In this particular hand cold-calling preflop with AJs when you know the action will be shorthanded is not good anyway. Muck preflop. And when you do think of the range of hands UTG may be raising with that leave you in trouble.

SA125 · #4 03-23-2005, 11:53 AM

[ QUOTE ]
UTG is new to the table but through about 20 hands seemed pretty lose.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the difference. If he's tight, it's pretty much -
AA-88 and AK-ATs. With AJs, you're way behind AA-JJ and AK-AQ, ahead of ATs and a coin flip with TT-88. So I think calling h/u is a mistake. If he's loose it's different because he could have something like A7s.

Pedigree · #5 03-23-2005, 11:55 AM

Given that I called preflop ... what mistakes did I make? Was raising the flop too aggressive?

KaiShin · #6 03-23-2005, 12:00 PM

Given that you called PF, you played it the only way that you could play it, which is why you should muck PF [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

You could always use the way ahead/way behind theory and just call all the way down.

somapopper · #7 03-23-2005, 12:06 PM

I see he went all in on this one though... if he's only been playing about 20 hands, either he bought in short, or he's been losing pretty heavy. Based on that I'd probably call, cause a lotta folks at the lower party limits seem to turn into maniacs in these kinda situations.

I agree though that one should normally fold ajs to a utg raise, unless it looks like a bunch of folks are coming along for the ride.

I think checking the turn and calling the bet on the river is an OK way to play this hand, but I like your line better for 2/4. You probably have at least 4 outs on the turn, and there's a chance you're ahead (albeit small) plus it's not even costing you a full SB on the river.

chief444 · #8 03-23-2005, 12:45 PM

Disregarding preflop, I'm not folding this at any point against an opponent nearly all-in.

JoshuaD · #9 03-23-2005, 12:49 PM

I raise him all-in on the turn. When people get short that make weird plays like this with flush draws sometimes. You know you're calling the 1.5 if he puts it in on the river, so get it in there now while he might still be drawing.

einbert · #10 03-23-2005, 12:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Given that I called preflop ... what mistakes did I make? Was raising the flop too aggressive?

[/ QUOTE ]

Raising the flop is good here because of the drawy board.

However, I would have threebet the turn to go ahead and put the almost all in player all in before the river card comes. If he's semibluffing a draw he might fold the river but call here, and either way you aren't folding the river so you might as well get the money in.