Not much play tonight...

Worked on my game. Watched a video of people practicing ranges as a group. I really need to start doing this. I've got my HUD up, I understand "loose" and "tight" and variations thereof, but putting hand groups to the numbers I see is a mystery.

I've been thinking of ways to learn the ranges. One idea I had was flashcards - show a random hand, you have to guess what percentage is falls in within 5% blocks (ex: Q9s is at about 15%). I may still write this program.

So I watched half this video, and learned a lot. I learned that 18% is "any two broadway, any pair". That's a great benchmark to know. I'm guessing knowing 3 or 4 more benchmarks will help me get these down in no time.

I did squeeze in a few hands - 93, to be exact. I played a single table and practiced my range-finding. Not easy with an 86/74 at the table (I ignored him), but the 24/9 and the 14/11 started looking like groups of hands instead of numbers. I think I used my newfound skills to win some money on this play.

Feral Cow Poker Hand Converter
HEM/Full Tilt NL Hold'em $0.05/$0.10 - 9 players

BB: $10.91 20/9/1.0 after 45 hands.
UTG: $8.99
UTG+1: $3.35
MP: $4.05
MP2: $10.00 23/15/0.5, only 13 hands
HJ: $4.50 30/5. 20 hands. Just posted after sitting out.
CO: $8.96
Button: $12.66 (Hero)
SB: $12.26

Preflop: ($0.15) Hero is Button with (9 players)
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.10, HJ checks, CO folds,
Well, there's a poster, and MP2 seems to like to raise but he limps this time. Maybe I'll just limp behind and see a nice multiway flop....

SCREW THAT NOISE. MP3 raises 15%, that's close to all broadways and pairs. I'll guess his limp percentage between 15 and 23 then are connectors and maybe some suited aces. Those don't hit many flops hard. The poster just adds another blind worth of dead money. Raise that SH*T up!


Hero raises to $0.60, SB folds, BB calls $0.50,
Oh crap, a call behind me. Didn't want that. Let's see, he's a 20/9 - so I'll put him on pairs and some not quite "3bettable" broadways for now, like AQ/KQ, and suited broadways. (in the heat of battle, I couldn't quite figure out this guy's range, to be honest. I didn't want him in the hand!)

MP2 calls $0.50, HJ folds
And Mr. limper comes along too...

Flop: ($1.85) (3 players)
BB checks, MP2 checks,
Ok, a nice unconnected low flop. All the unpaired broadways have whiffed. The connectors have gutshots and nothing more (except 34). Diamonds like this board. There's not much either guy should be able to continue with, and my preflop raise looks strong. Time to blast them out of the hand if I can.

Hero bets $1.15, 2 folds

I've made plays like this before, probably even with 44. But tonight it was a bit different. I started to see cards in their hands. It's very early, very fuzzy, I need a ton of work and practice, but this might have been the night I started thinking about poker a different way. The right way.