Discussion: Protecting Your Aa/kk

[AcesUp46 0]

Just spent some time thinking about balancing my UTG raising range (or any other range for that matter). My standard UTG raise size is 4XBB and I definitely do it with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK & AQs. If I were to fold or limp other hands, then my UTG raise is polarized to good hands. How many more hands should I raise with in order to protect my range from being just good hands? I'm thinking all other pairs. That would make my opening range go from 3.3% of hands to 7.4%, more than double. Is that too much? Too little? What sort of ratio (good hands to opening range) should I be looking at achieving UTG?

[NoBBiR 0]

Depends on what stakes and if you're playing 6 max or FR.(Edit: Elab)If you're playing micro stakes 2nl to 10nl, balancing your range is sort of pointless. 25nl (prolly more like 50nl) and up it starts to matter imo, as there are less braindead people.At 6 max, Raising all pairs AK and AQ UTG is standard for me. FR is blah. I won't say much because I can't play FR to save my life, but I think it's better to be raising a very small portion of your hands UTG.

[mtdesmoines 2]

Just spent some time thinking about balancing my UTG raising range (or any other range for that matter). My standard UTG raise size is 4XBB and I definitely do it with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK & AQs. If I were to fold or limp other hands, then my UTG raise is polarized to good hands. How many more hands should I raise with in order to protect my range from being just good hands? I'm thinking all other pairs. That would make my opening range go from 3.3% of hands to 7.4%, more than double. Is that too much? Too little? What sort of ratio (good hands to opening range) should I be looking at achieving UTG?

I think you use position to play suited connectors and gappers to do most of your balancing. You're going to get screamed at for balancing with pairs like 22 33 44.

[AcesUp46 0]

Depends on what stakes and if you're playing 6 max or FR.

My regular stakes is $100NL Full Ring on Stars. fwiw, I play between 9-15 tables.

[Sens-Eh 0]

Maybe something along the lines of 88+. If you are used to Jacks or better, thats enough of a difference to make an impact I should think.

[No_Neck 0]

I think people fail to recognize what is going on behind them, like for example if you have a guy that is going to call you no matter what then you might want to tighten up, if they are nits all the way around to the button then you can open very light.

[Syous 0]

Just spent some time thinking about balancing my UTG raising range (or any other range for that matter). My standard UTG raise size is 4XBB and I definitely do it with AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK & AQs. If I were to fold or limp other hands, then my UTG raise is polarized to good hands. How many more hands should I raise with in order to protect my range from being just good hands? I'm thinking all other pairs. That would make my opening range go from 3.3% of hands to 7.4%, more than double. Is that too much? Too little? What sort of ratio (good hands to opening range) should I be looking at achieving UTG?

raise what you want and go from there. I think you're overthinking this way too much.

[psujohn 0]

My regular stakes is $100NL Full Ring on Stars. fwiw, I play between 9-15 tables.

And this is exactly why you don't need to worry about balancing ranges. The bad players don't notice/don't care/don't think beyond their two cards.The good player don't notice because they're playing 4+ tables.FR I'd probably just pitch 22-44 from UTG and make my range 55+,AQ+In 6-max I use all pairs, AJ+, KQ as my default though it'll vary a bit.

[Snamuh 0]

Pretty sure that 100 NL Full Ring regs aren't going to be good enough to capitalize on your narrow range. And if they're all mass multi-tabling, they definitely won't even notice.

[CobaltBlue 662]

You're going to get screamed at for balancing with pairs like 22 33 44.

I mostly play 6-max, but even when I'm playing full ring, I usually open any pair in early. I think it can be okay to limp sometimes if you're also prepared to mix in some limp re-raises. There are also games where it might be correct to just open-pitch those hands, but I generally game select better than that.Basically, this comes down to...it depends on your opponents and your image.

[NoSup4U 0]

raise what you want and go from there. I think you're overthinking this way too much.

Pretty sure that 100 NL Full Ring regs aren't going to be good enough to capitalize on your narrow range. And if they're all mass multi-tabling, they definitely won't even notice.

I agree with this. At 100nl you will increase you profit much more by focusing on learning to play better post flop, playing solid ABC poker, then you will be trying to range balance. Very few regs combine playing few enough tables to notice what your range is, care enough about one player in the sea of hundreds of regs to figure out what your range is, are smart enough to figure it out even if they played enough hands with you and tried, and are good enough to exploit you if they actually did.Does that make sense? For range balancing to be necessary it is because you are up against players who can combine all of those above actions, which imo isn't a huge deal at 100nl especially full ring. If you're trying to improve your game, have standard solid pf hand selection and don't spew post flop.Mark