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Ranges and combos

Range

A range is the full set of hands a player could hold in a given situation, each weighted by how likely it is, rather than one specific hand you assign them.

A range is not a guess at your opponent's exact two cards. It is the complete list of hands they could plausibly hold in a spot, with each hand weighted by how often it appears given the action so far. Solvers and strong players think in these terms, because a single hand is just one draw from a much larger picture, and playing well means playing correctly against the whole picture rather than the one hand you feel they have.

Worked example. Say a player opens from under the gun with a range written as AA-QQ, AKs, AKo. That shorthand actually stands for three pocket pairs at 6 combos each, 18 combos in total, plus 4 suited and 12 offsuit combos of AK, another 16. The full range is 34 combos. Some hands, like AA, appear only 6 times; others, like AKo, appear 12 times. The range is that whole weighted set, not any single one of those hands.

Put it to work with the Preflop charts.

Study and review tool. Not for use during live online play.