Quote Originally Posted by MrGlue:
"Are
these, specifically 'hand-range' pot odds pre-flop, really useful in
live games? Online, it's obvious why it's useful. The calculation is
instantaneous.
In a live game, aren't we reverting back to intuition/feel about a players holding..."
Putting opponents on a range of hands is not only just as useful in a live game... it is the game. We don't profit (long term) from our intuitions/feelings being right/wrong. We profit from understanding that sometimes we will be right, sometimes we will be wrong AND learning to maximize our wins when we ARE right and minimize our losses when we ARE wrong.
When we are right/wrong... it's mostly attributable to luck. The magnitude of how that affects us is mostly attributable to skillz.
We're still getting (rough) EV equations done at the live table because we've worked the math out at home...
"How
many players, even top pros correctly calculate pot odds in the
scenario we are debating? Even if you put 2 players on ranges
simultaneously (hard enough to do in itself), a pot odds calculator is
necessary to justify your limp with 3/5. And what if your reads are
incorrect to begin with?"
Anyone who wants to be a long term winner is going to have to learn to create fairly accurate assessments of their equity and odds in EVERY poker scenario that they encounter. That's the whole game...
We develop ranges for ourselves (and our opponents) away from the table. We adjust those ranges based upon what we observe at the table. AND, we adjust THOSE ADJUSTMENTS based upon our accumulated results.
We can navigate lots of different terrain by intuition but we can get to our goal (profit) a hell of a lot more efficiently by using a compass and an accurate map. Putting our opponents on ranges, adjusted by table conditions, gives us a general idea of "the best way to proceed".
Ship it...
1) How can we say it is 'the game'? Isn't hand ranges a relatively new concept? This is only a 7 year old concept (and maybe not even that old). Maybe I'm wrong, but is this just attributable to the evolution of poker, that is, the influx of tens of millions of players who became very good, very fast with the number of hands online, and who were whittled down to an elite few (elite being a relative terms since it's in the thousands) at higher stakes that you must compete with to move up.
I don't remember hand ranges being mentioned 10 years ago, or even conceptualized. I know people said "put your opponent on A HAND or some hands" but not a relative range of hands which you calculate pot odds with.
Is this just a result of how we must adapt in an exploding online poker world that yields so many newer, younger players with access?
2) Do you really use a 3.5-1 range for the scenario proposed (2 limpers) when playing and call based on those odds? It just seems to be too much work in too little time when the dealer gets to your turn and you have to act so quickly pre-flop since no real money is in the pot yet.
If we are doing what you say we have to: a) put player A on a range of hands b) put player B on a range of hands c) correctly recall the pot odds associated with those ranges d) decide to call/fold. All this could occur with 10/15 seconds. Think about how much more complicated it gets with 3/4 callers and then a squeeze-play raise to you which others might fold to. Do you do this kind of thing pre-flop?
Honestly, I do this only heads up...and I haven't come even close to the skill level I want to be doing it at. And even at that, it gets ridiculously complicated when players change gears. It looks like a lot of top pros just go with "He's weak" or "He's strong" and do nothing in terms of the pot odds analysis we are talking about. Agree/Disagree?
3) Lastly how much time do you spend perfecting these skills? Or have you already and how long did it take you? (i.e.Anyone who wants to be a long term winner is going to have to learn to create fairly accurate assessments of their equity and odds in EVERY poker scenario that they encounter. That's the whole game...)