What is a range?
The step in thinking that separates amateurs from experienced players: stop guessing one hand, read the whole set.
"I put him on ace king." That is what the most common thinking mistake in poker sounds like. Nobody can guess one hand, and nobody needs to. A range is the set of all the hands somebody can still have, given how they have played so far. Against that set you can decide sensibly.
How a range narrows by itself
Every action is a filter. If somebody raises early at the table, their set starts out tight: high pairs, ace king, ace queen and a few other pretty things, together perhaps fifteen percent of all hands. If they then only call on a flop with a king, you cross off the hands that would raise there and the hands that would give up. By the river the set is often so narrow that the decision makes itself.
This sounds abstract until you see it. The free range visualiser draws such sets as a grid, so you can see at a glance what fifteen percent looks like, and how much wider a button raise is.
Why this changes everything
Thinking in ranges answers questions that are otherwise unanswerable. Is my top pair good? Against one guessed hand: no idea. Against their set: count what you beat and what beats you, and you have an answer. It also makes your equity genuinely usable: your chance of winning against a set is a reliable number, your chance against a guess is not.
The basic set per position you learn in the starting hands guide and the free preflop lesson; reading opponents goes deeper in the lesson on opponents.
frequently asked questions
Range questions.
What is a range in one sentence? +
All the hands somebody can still have at this point in the hand, given what they have done so far. Not one guess, but the whole set of possibilities at once.
Why is thinking in ranges better than guessing a hand? +
Because a guess is almost always wrong and the set is almost always right. Anyone playing against one guessed hand is deciding on an invention. Anyone playing against the set is deciding on everything that is really possible, weighted by likelihood.
How do I start reading ranges? +
Start with the first action: whoever raises early at the table has a tight set full of high cards and pairs; whoever raises on the button a far wider one. Then narrow it street by street: every bet, check or raise crosses off hands that would not be played that way.
Does my own range mean something too? +
Certainly, and that is the second half of the story. Good opponents do not play against your cards but against your set. If your actions give your hand away every time, you are readable; whoever sometimes plays their strong and weak hands the same way is not.
see it in front of you
From guessing to reading.
Look at ranges in the free visualiser, or train reading them with Pokiq's daily practice situations.