More About Bluffing: Part X

Don’t Be Lazy

It is hard work to set up balanced ranges for various actions. First let’s review what a balanced range is. A range is a set of hands or hand-types that a player may hold when he takes a certain action. If a range is unbalanced, then your opponents will often be able to accurately predict what hand you hold for that action. For example, an unbalanced preflop four-bet range might consist of only a pair of aces or a pair of kings. This makes it very easy for your opponent to play perfectly. (Get all in with aces and fold anything less.) Let’s suppose you decide to add some balance to your four-bet range by also including J-10 suited and 7-6 suited. Now when you four-bet, your opponent has a big problem. Let’s say he has a pair of queens. Now he’d like to fold if you have aces or kings (12 combinations,) but reraise or at least call if you have either of the suited connector hands (eight combinations.) His technically correct play against your exact range is to fold. But when he folds, he is making a big mistake 40 percent of the time. That is why having a balanced range is so important. More on this specific situation later.

Online players, especially those that multitable and use tracking software, are often expert are predicting what their opponent’s ranges are. Once they know their opponent’s range, they can take the appropriate mathematical actions, which may include their own balanced range. They have worked very hard to learn what ranges their opponents are likely to have, and to create a balanced range that takes advantage of it. The use of pre-planned strategy for all common situations is why these guys can play a bunch of tables both quickly and very effectively.

They tend to carry these balanced ranges over to live play. Why shouldn’t they? The have worked hard to create them. They have worked hard to learn them. They know that they are effective. However, in live games (both cash and tournament) you have a lot more information than you have online. You have a lot more time than you have online. In many venues, you can seek information by talking, and even in those venues that try (usually unsuccessfully) to prohibit talking, you can stare at your opponent and stall. Suddenly you are not making your decision based purely on his theoretical range, but on a huge set of behaviors you have witnessed. You have seen him look at his cards, protect them, reach for chips, select denominations, perhaps say raise or state an amount, focus his gaze, etcetera. Anyone who has read a book like Caro’s Book of Tells, knows that every action may be a clue to what your opponent holds. The more you know about your opponents’ patterns of behavior, the more accurate your judgments will be.

Let’s return to the situation discussed at the beginning of this article. I am the player with queens. I know my opponent has aces, kings, J-10 suited or 7-6 suited. My choices are jam all-in or fold. Online, I would fold and know I was making the mathematically correct decision. Remember that in 12 cases it is right to fold, and in eight cases it is right to jam. Live I would try to figure out what my opponent holds. Depending how much I know about my opponent, I would expect to have some reasonable clues at least half the time. When I can’t find any reasonable clues, I will just fold. But half of the time I will be able to work out whether my opponent has a big pair or a suited connector semibluff.

Does this make much difference? If this situation arose 20 times, 10 times I’m clueless and fold. The remaining 10 times, I’d be able to jam correctly four times and fold correctly six times. Assuming my opponent folds his suited connectors to my jam, I’d win four four-bet pots I would have lost. That my dear reader is a pretty huge swing. Even if my jams only turned out to be right three out of four times, I’d still be way ahead.

My advice is to avoid being lazy. At home work out appropriate balanced ranges. At any live table, work hard to learn your opponents, and their patterns. Frequently an opportunity to use your knowledge won’t arise or when it does, it is trivial. Occasionally something wonderful will happen. You win a huge pot instead of folding! Or at least avoid losing one final large bet that you might have lost. ♠

Steve ‘Zee’ Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful gamesplayer. He has been a full-time gambler for over 35 years. With two WSOP bracelets and few million in tournament cashes, he is easing into retirement. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at some major tournaments and playing in cash games in Vegas. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A in New York City -The Library near Houston and Doc Holliday’s on 9th St. are his favorites.