Hey,
as promised I'll show you how to fix preflop-leaks in the blinds with help of simple pokermath. I think it will be my longest post in English I've ever written, it is tough for me, so please lenient with me when I make obv mistakes in spelling and grammar. Furthermore I think that I can only cover one or two spots today, the rest comes between Christmas and New Year.
I hope you are familiar with the term "realization factor (R)" I'll use that sometimes in my post and it is important to be familiar with that to understand that approach, if you don't know what it is --->
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/15/poker-theory/estimating-equity-realization-1375961/ or just google.
Firstly I want to take the "simplest spot" BBvsSB. I think you are stronger than the average on NL10 in BBvs.SB (because of your stats) but you can gain more EV.
There is more than one method to built ranges for that spots, I'll show you a way in which I think it is best to implement and apply for players who are not playing poker for living or without strong math background but we still have to do some math now.
I use Power-Equilab for my calculations with ranges,
I think equity calculators are more necessary than HM2 or PT4 to become good at poker. There are some for free out there, with the normal "equilab" you can do some great things too, if you use it, I can show you how to built ranges with my method too, it is nearly the same but a paid programm like Power-Equilab or Pokerranger has much more power and is way more userfriendly
Okay let's start:
In Theory we want to make the weakest hands in villains range indifferent between raise or fold, if villains weakest hand in the SB is 65o, we have to construct ranges which give this 65o an EV ~0,00. Same for BU vs. Blinds but we have to include the SB-defend now or if we sit in the SB we have to include the BB. I think the best way to construct some solid defaultranges is to take a standard range and after that you can adjust. We don't want to be 100% precisely, we want to calculate and want to get a "feeling" what works and which range the math allows us.
BBvsSB
Spot 1: 3bb openraise, 40% Range (the frequency is not that important, my goal is to build a range which works against all kind of frequencies)
Villains range (approximated)
We get 2:1 pot odds, means that we can call with hands with 33%+ Equity (1/(2+1) = 0.3333) against the whole range. There are some hands which have these 33% equity and more but this equity is not robust or the hands have bad playabilty, thats why we have to adjust the equity for fringehands. Keep in mind, we close the action, whenever we close the action and get good odds, we can call a lot, no matter how big the pot is (for example, we 3bet 75s and villain makes a very small 4bet ---> call). That is one reason why it will be no problem if villains weakest hand in his range is not 0EV but more -EV but only in this particular spot. We only make mistakes if his weakest hand has a higher EV than zero in raising first in. BBvsSB is a clear "money-spot" for us and we have to work on this to make more money.
Here are all hands with 33%+ "raw" equity:
Now we have to adjust this equity. I'm on the looser side because I think it works well. Rule of thumb (for that spot): All suited hands with straight-potential realize 100% of equity. All other suited hands realize well, I think 95% (R=0.95). I think offsuit connectors realize 100% equity too. Offsuit-one-gapper 95% (mabye more, there are some disputes about equity realization between pros, but for now, it is good and "tight/safe") , offsuit-three-gapper 90%. All other offsuit-hands with straight-potential 85% and suited trash or something like K3o between 80-85% (really bad hands imo, just fold or 3bet, but more on this later).
Now we have the handgroupings and can adjust the required equity.
Adjstued Equity (AE) = Required Equity / R
Suited junk/offsuit one-gapper (R=0.95): AE = 0.33 / 0.95 = 0.3473 = 34.7%
Offsuit-two-gapper (R=0.9): AE = 36.67%
other offsuit-hands with straight-potential (R=0.85): AE = 38.82%
offsuited junk/K3o-types (R=0.85-0.80): AE = 38.82% - 41.13% (thats our space for adjustments)
Now, take group for group and find out hands which we can play (important note: that are hands where the EV(call) should be higher than EV(fold), no 3bets included yet).
Suited junk/offsuit one-gapper (R=0.95): AE = 0.33 / 0.95 = 0.3473 = 34.7% 75o is close, if we'll need more hands to call, we'll take it.
Offsuit-two-gapper (R=0.9): AE = 36.67%other offsuit-hands with straight-potential (R=0.85): AE = 38.82%only Q8o
offsuited junk/K3o-types (R=0.85-0.80): 38.82% - 41.13%K7o ---> easy call, K6o okaish, rest meh/bad
Now we have the foundation for our defend-range. All these hands are +EV calls or 3bets (we take some top fold range for 3bet bluffs when we construct the 3bet range):
The next step is to construct a 3bet range. It is a bit "trial and error". I like mixed strategies but for simplicity and because of the fact that most players not aware of range distributions, I try pure strategy now and only weight the (imo) closest hands.
There is no good rule of thumb for value-3bets in terms of equity some hands are obv value3bets some hands are close furthermore I dont like balanced black/white ratios between bluffs and valuecombos. There are some hands with EV(3bet) > EV(call) but you cannot classify them into bluff OR value. If you have questions or suggestions about the 3bet-range you can ask or write it
I want to be very polarized in that spot because it is hard to defend a wide SB-range and a lot of players simply fold to much in that spot.
My suggestion:
red = 3bet/defend (call or shove) ---> I think with Axs you can shove sometimes but not always, call should be close but not totally bad
blue = 3bet/fold
green = call
brown = fold
Freqencies:
3bet:15.8%
call: 50.7%
fold: 33.5%
We are not ready yet. Please note, it is the first suggestion, maybe it is not the best play (but way better than typicall freqencies on low stakes + rake is not included, but I think rake is overrated for defend-spots, mabye you can fold slightly more because of rake) and maybe I can get trouble against wide 4bets because I want to call often against 3bets and my 3bet/fold-frequency is very high for a strategy with a lot of calls against 4bets.
Now we have to test this strategy. We have to do a bit math for that.
I wrote "... weakest hand in villains range indifferent...", that is what we will calculate now.
We have to calculate the EV of stealing with the weakest hand in villains range from villains view. Villain raises ~40% and the weakest hand in his range is 64s which can't call a 3bet:
Formula (explained)
EV(steal;64s) = Frequency(fold)(1.5 ---> deadmoney) + Frequency(call)(6 - potsize after call - * AE for 64s; R=0.9 I think - 2.5 - investment - ) + Frequency (3bet)(-2.5 - investment)
short:
EV(steal;64s) = F(fold)(1.5) + F(call)(6*AE - 2.5) + F(3bet)(-2.5)
Equity(64s) against our callingrange: raw: 39.63% adjusted: (Equity*0.9 ---> 0.9 because OOP) 35.67%
EV(steal;64s) = 0.335(1.5) + 0.507(6*0.3567 - 2.5) + 0.158(-2.5) = 0.5025 + (-0.182) + (-0.395) =
-0.076bb
(I hope it's correct, slightly hangover today)
Thats a really good outcome and a really good strategy against 40% openraise. Villain can't steal +EV anymore (do that calculation against your own strategy, after that, do it with 32o and R for 32o = 0.75).
If you play that way, you'll destroy any openraising-strategy and villain have only two options to play against that strategy. Option 1) openraise tighter ---> very good for you, mabye 70% of the time you'll get the SB for free! Option 2: limp the SB in order to restore the equilibrium (in other words: in order to gain more EV with his range).
With that range you have some space (is that the right word? or "room"?) for explotive play. Against the 40%-guy you can fold K5o and 3bet K6o instead, against really tight players you can fold a bit more (but not that much because against tighter ranges the odds are the same and the equities decrease not that much). You are good against loose openraiser in the SB with that strategy, he is going to exploit himself if he raises wide against that strategy.
With that set of tools you can build BBvsSB-Ranges against any sizing. This preflop-math is a lot of work but if you really want to get better you have to do that math. If you only copy the range, you'll never understand why you play that way.
I think I have only time again after Christmas to answer questions but I'll try it if I find some time.
I don't double checked the numbers, if you find any mistakes, please post it and I'll fix it