Watch you talkin about Willis?
So lately I've been hearing people using terminology that I don't understand.
Check back range. What is this?
Protecting your check back range. How does one go about protecting his check back range?
Capped? I thought This was something congress did with the debt ceiling, so they could later use as a weapon to pass spending bills in the future. What does this have to do with poker? And How do you use this information to exploit an opponent.
69? Why do people find this number funny? One time at the table I said "138". I thought this would get twice the laughs, but not even a chuckle.
7 Replies
Check back range. What is this?
This is the range of hands that you do not c-bet, and/or a situation in which you check back (do not c-bet) your entire range, due to the flop texture, action pre, etc.
Protecting your check back range. How does one go about protecting his check back range?
You include some value hands in it, so that Vs can't just automatically bluff you off your hand OTT if you checked back OTF.
Capped? What does this have to do with poker? And How do you use this information to exploit an opponent.
Someone's range is capped when they can't have the nuts. Their range is capped (tops out at) some lesser hand. If someone 4-bet pre, for example, they are very unlikley to have flopped a straight or a set on a 345 flop. If they continue betting, their range is capped at an overpair. Similarly, if someone overlimped pre, they are very unlikely to have top set on A47. Their range is capped at a lower set. As for how you exploit knowing that your V is capped, it depends on your reads (is he bluffable, will he pay off smaller bets, is he over-aggro, etc.) and your holding.
69? Why do people find this number funny?
Seriously?
He was joking and you fell for it. If it wasn't obvious before the 69 comment it certainly was after....
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He was joking and you fell for it. If it wasn't obvious before the 69 comment it certainly was after....
Sent from my Mi 9T using Tapatalk
I was serious about the poker related questions. I honestly didn’t know the meaning of those terms. The 69 question I added because I like to laugh at my own jokes.
Thank You Garick for your answers.
I think check back range also refers to being in position when you check - you are checking after your opponent has checked in front of you.
In most live games, the concept of protecting your checkback range is probably more harmful than useful. If you're playing $25/$50 against a table full of pros, maybe it's necessary. In a $2/$5 at your local casino playing drunk Bob, not so much. Very few players at the table are going to know they want to identify whether or not you're protecting your range, and even if they do it takes a few hundred hours of playing to figure it out. So if you have a regular game of very good players, make sure you're protecting your checkback range. If you're playing in a casino against different players every week, bet your value as much as you can and who cares if your check range is weak? Drunk Bob isn't going to tell all his friends that the fish in the 9 seat didn't adequately protect his checking range.
The idea of capped vs. uncapped is crucial. Bring capped means the V took actions that make it very unlikely that they have a hand over a certain strength. Like checking in position or ck calling a small bet on a very wet board makes it very unlikely V has a set or 2 pair. This means you can be more aggressive on the turn and river with your bluffs because you "know" V can't have a super strong hand. Since you are taking aggressive action, you are uncapped and are playing the hand in a manner that very strong hands would play. If you are uncapped and V is capped, it's a great time to bluff. If you are capped because you took passive actions like calling or checking where strong hands want to bet (usually when the board is wet and dynamic), and V is uncapped, you have to be very careful. Your bluffs will be hard to believe, and your opponent could have a super strong hand that will never fold. Properly identifying whether or not your opponent is capped will help you identify when a big bluff has a good chance of working and avoid bluffing (or value owning yourself) into an uncapped range where V is going to show the nuts.
While you can draw many conclusions from general population tendencies (like most people will 3-bet AA, or x/r sets on a "scary" flop) to help determine if someone is likely capped, you will want to observe your specific opponents as some will call with AA or play sets passively. Always ask yourself when in a hand or observing a hand whether a player is capped or uncapped, then as cards are revealed adjust your assumptions if an action you thought should be capping wasn't. Being able to identify correctly that a specific player is capped will allow you to bluff and print and to appropriately size your value bets. Identifying incorrectly will be very expensive.
If you are uncapped and V is capped, and you know Drunk Bob can lay down 2-pair on scary boards, it's a great time to bluff.
FYP.
So lately I've been hearing people using terminology that I don't understand.Check back range. What is this?Protecting your check back range. How does one go about protecting his check back range?Capped? I thought This was something congress did with the debt ceiling, so they could later use as a weapon to pass spending bills in the future. What does this have to do with poker?
Check back range = what sort of hands do you check back on the flop, versus what sort of hands do you bet?
The term is generally used when discussing whether or not an opponent "protects" their check-back range by checking back with some hands that are strong enough to bet, so that they can't be easily exploited by aware opponents.
If that requires explanation - if you always bet your value hands and good draws when action checks to you, and always check back your air, a thinking opponent can start exploiting you by attacking your check back range with turn bets. If you bet big with value and small with draws, they can just check-raise whenever you bet small.
It can also relate to not betting our value hands or good draws on boards that don't really favor our range, so that opponents can't just x/r our c-bets with reckless abandon and blow us off our equity.
Capped = somewhat nebulous term dependent on combining population or individual reads with action up to a certain point and board texture.
For instance, if we think an opponent is ALWAYS re-raising with big PP's pre-flop, then we can say they're capped when the flop comes out ace- or king-high, if they just flat called pre.
If we think an opponent is NEVER getting to the flop with low SC's, then they're capped when the board is low and connected. If we think they're ALWAYS raising flop with 2P+, then we can say they're capped at 1P or a draw getting to the turn.
Trying to think of an example that ties both concepts together...
Let's say we raise Ac5c from MP, get called by the BB, and the flop comes out 8c6c5s. We flopped bottom pair, top kicker, with the NFD. It probably seems okay to c-bet here, but getting x/r'd kind of sucks, when V can have 97, plus all the 2P and set combos, and we're pretty starved for nutted hands.
If V thinks we're ALWAYS going to c-bet with our over-pairs and NFD's, he can pretty liberally check-raise us on the flop. But if we check back, he's not going to give us credit if we make aces up or a flush on the turn.
If V understands that we won't always c-bet the flop with over-pairs or our good draws, it'll be harder for him to play OOP on turns or rivers that might improve our hand.
So we can protect our check-back range by checking Ac5c, over-pairs, KcQc, T9s, 88, etc. We keep the pot manageable, and give ourselves a chance to make a strong hand on the turn, or simply the ability to call turn if V leads out and bets, no matter what the turn card is.
On the other hand, if we c-bet small, and V just flat calls, when we think he's NEVER just flatting with 2P+, then his range getting to the turn is pretty capped at 1P or worse draws.
