Range betting is a poker strategy where a player bets with their entire hand selection at a 100% frequency on the flop. It’s a fundamental flop strategy, considered one of the simplest. While various bet sizes can theoretically be used, it’s most commonly employed with a small bet size, though larger sizes are used in specific situations.
Why Range Betting?
The primary reason for range betting is a significant disparity in equity between the ranges of the pre-flop aggressor and the caller on certain flops. In these scenarios, the weaker range struggles to call or raise often enough to discourage the aggressor from betting even their weakest hands. Consequently, betting becomes very profitable because the opponent can’t defend adequately.
Key Aspects of Range Betting
- Initiator: Range bets almost always come from the pre-flop raiser, with rare exceptions.
- Position: It’s much more common to range bet in position than out of position.
- Game Type: Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs) see more range bet spots than cash games. This is largely due to antes in MTTs, which widen defending ranges, making them weaker across flops. Lower stack depths and stack-to-pot ratios (SPRs) in MTTs also favor aggressive pre-flop raisers. In cash games, as stacks get deeper, continuation bet frequencies, including range bets, tend to decrease.
Board Textures and Range Betting
Certain flop textures are highly conducive to range betting:
- Tripled Boards: Any flop with three of the same card (e.g., 555, JJJ) is a frequent range bet spot, particularly in position. Callers rarely flop high-equity hands beyond quads and are often capped at medium full houses, dominated by the pre-flop raiser’s stronger pocket pairs.
- High-Paired Boards (Ace-Ace-X or King-King-X): These boards often become range bets, especially in position. The pre-flop aggressor typically has a higher density of the strongest trips, and their strong pocket pairs remain very strong.
- Triple Broadway Boards (non-monotone): Connected boards like A-K-Q, A-Q-J, K-Q-J, etc., that are not monotone, are excellent for range betting. The strongest pocket pairs and strong Ace-high hands in the pre-flop raiser’s range perform very well, while the caller often has weak hands that struggle to continue.
- Three-Bet Pots: Specific board types in three-bet pots frequently warrant range bets:
- Ace-King-X: Flops containing Ace and King give the three-better a significant advantage due to holding more Aces, Kings, and Ace-King.
- King-High or Queen-High Disconnected Rainbow Boards: Boards like K-7-2 rainbow or Q-7-2 rainbow are often pure range bet spots in three-bet pots across almost all game formats and stack sizes. The three-better frequently has strong top pairs, overpairs, and top sets, while the caller’s middle pairs become weak.
- Large Range Betting: In some scenarios, particularly on triple Broadway rainbow or flush draw flops, the pre-flop raiser might employ a range bet with a larger size. This occurs when the equity disparity is so significant that the raiser wants to extract maximum value with their strong hands, and the caller often struggles to raise with anything other than a very strong hand.
Mastering Range Betting
Understanding and identifying range bet spots is a fundamental skill in post-flop poker. Studying aggregate reports for different game formats, stack sizes, and common pre-flop formations can help players learn these scenarios and use range betting effectively.