Royal online poker club

From here, simply plug in the numbers

From here, simply plug in the numbers to determine the hands with which you should call. For example, if your opponent is pushing 50 percent of hands, you should call with something like 2-2+, A-2+, K-2+, Q-8+, Q-6s+, J-8+, J-7s+, 10-9 and 10-8s+. I would call with all these hands if my tournament life was not at risk. Notice that you actually need to be slightly better than 40-percent to call, because you want to do better than break even. Consider tightening up a bit more if losing the hand will put you out of the tournament. If I were short, I would probably call with something like 4-4+, A-5+, K-8+, Q-10+, Q-9s, and J-10s. This gives up a tiny bit of equity because you are folding a lot of the worst hands you could call with, but you will gain that equity back, plus more, when you have the opportunity to push in the future. If your equity is not much greater later in the tournament either because of the structure or because the players all play near optimally, you should be less willing to fold the weaker hands in the calling range, even with your tournament life on the line.

For those wondering how I came up with these ranges,

For those wondering how I came up with these ranges, I went to ProPokerTools.com, typed 50 percent into one range and plugged in hands until I found the hand that no longer has 43-percent equity. For example, Q-8 has 43-percent equity, so it is a call, whereas Q-7 has 41-percent equity, and should therefore be folded. If the pusher is tight, pushing only 15 percent of hands, you should call with a much tighter range. You still need about 43-percent equity, so you need hands like 5-5+, A-9+, A-8s+ and K-Q. Notice how much tighter you must be if the player is raising very tight. Having a solid read on your opponents’ pushing ranges is important because one wrong read can cause you to make a huge error. Suppose the action folds to the player in the small blind, who has 8BBs, and you know he will push any two cards. For this example I will use chips, although leaving numbers in terms of big blinds works fine as well. Assume you are playing 200/400-50. There are 500 in ante chips, plus your 400 in the big blind, plus your opponent’s 3,200, so there are 4,100 chips in the pot. You have to call 2,800 more, so you need 40-percent equity to call. You want to be better than break-even, so you need around 43-percent equity to profit. So, you simply use 100 percent for your opponent’s range and determine that you should call with 2-2+, A-2+, K-2+, Q-2+, J-2+, 10-3+, 9-5+, 8-6+, 7-6+ and slightly worse suited hands. This may shock some players, but I would call with a fairly similar range if I thought everyone left in the tournament played very well. However, most players play poorly, so you can call a bit tighter. I would actually call with something like 2-2+, A-2+, K-2+, Q-6+, J-7+, 10-8+ and suited connectors. You may lose equity here by folding your weaker hands, but you will make it up when you get to push and your opponents fold too often. If you find any player is going nuts, pushing every hand, don’t be scared to get in there and gamble with a weak-looking hand like Q-7 if you are getting decent pot odds. It is actually a lot stronger than it looks. Call a bit tighter if your tournament life is on the line. If you have a large stack, go ahead and call with a wide range.