New thread I thought would be good to get going where we all give an explanation of the poker term mentioned in the post above your own. I'll get the ball rolling with a word/term we could all do with explaining....
VARIANCE
Fluctuations in luck which has an effect on your poker results. People often refer to being on an upswing or downswing - both of them are suggestive of variance. Over the course of time, the luck element - or variance - should become less of a factor as the maths evens itself out.
In the words of Carlo, "poker is a never-ending game".
Right, the next person should tackle this...
A player's RANGE
Comments
SEPERABIT,
You must be quite old - not many folks remember them!
Basics of Putting an Opponent on a Range
Some poker players make it seem as if they have some supernatural ability to read other people’s hands at the table. But the truth is that these players are merely good at putting their opponents on a range.
Putting other players on a range simply involves defining a specific range of cards that your opponent could be holding. You weapons for defining the range include opponents’ bets and the board; putting people on a range gets easier as the hand gets closer to the river.
But in the beginning of a hand, your opponents’ range will be pretty big since you only have pre-flop bets to go off of. For instance, if an opponent limped into a pot from early position before calling your small raise, you could only deduce that they have a drawing hand or weak pocket pair at this point. The drawing hand must be decent since they limped in from early position like 10-J through A-K, but this player isn’t comfortable raising or re-raising with this hand.
The flop comes up 7h-Ks-4s prompting your opponent to check; you make a one-fourth pot-sized raise and the opponent calls. At this point, you assume that they aren’t holding a king (due to the check) and there is only a flush draw on the board. So they are most likely holding a mid-range pocket pair such as 8’s through 10’s, or they’re on a spade flush draw.
The turn is a 5h and your opponent checks again; you make a half-pot-sized raise causing your opponent to call. So with the board now 7h-Ks-4s-5h, you can rule out a straight draw because it’s likely your opponent didn’t call pre-flop from early position with 8-9 or 2-3. They still could be on a flush draw so their range is either a mid-pocket pair or suited connectors.
The turn is an Ad and this is where profiling your opponent’s range really comes into play. With two checks beforehand, the other player probably doesn’t have a king and judging from the board, it’s very unlikely they have an ace. After all, few players would call all of your bets up to this point on a top pair draw. If the opponent had A-K, they would have mostly likely raised so you can reasonably assume they have nothing at this point. The flush draw is gone too so a value bet here would be a great move.
Keeping tabs on opponents’ bets throughout a hand is an excellent way to read hands and increase your poker profits.
next person ...calling station :@)
A player who is perceived to call any bet no matter how strong or weak they are in a hand and will go chasing draws till the cows come home.......
It is not advisable to do the next term against them.....
BLUFFING
aint used a calling station for a while, not since they stopped excepting coins.
Typically people will float in position, and with over-cards, or on wet boards that their opponents may be put off by.
Hmmm.... 'shoving for value' anyone??