Polarizing Your Range
Polarizing your range just basically means confusing the hell out of your online poker opponents. All it means is that the way you bet your hand will either make it look really strong, or really weak. “The Nuts or Napkins” they say. Now, why would this be useful?
Well, if you play straightforward poker, chances are people have a decent idea of what your cards are. Do you make bigger raises with weaker hands and smaller ones with monsters? Do you just call when you have a flush draw and then bet when you hit it? If people are a little perceptive, they’re not going to pay you off when you hit our hand because it is pretty obvious.
The trick is to disguise your hand by bet sizing. If you have a great hand and you are first to act on the river, the standard move is to bet a portion of the pot that you think your opponent will call. This often leads casino online people to bet tiny value bets just so they get paid. If the pot is 800, sometimes the player will bet 200. The problem is, the bet looks like an “I want you to call” bet. If you do get called, you’re only making 200 chips, and if you don’t get called it’s because your opponent is positive you have him beat.
Instead, polarizing your range would be making a nice overbet on that river. When you do this, you get them scratching their head real fast. Why is he betting so much? If he had a real hand, wouldn’t he bet less, so he’d have a good chance of getting called? When people see an overbet they feel like playing the police. They start to think ace high is good. So, they make the call, you show a monster and they sheepishly much their cards and start feeling like an idiot. Later you can do this with a bluff and they, and other players at the table, will be far less likely to call you.
Oppositely, if you show down a poker online bluff in this fashion, you’ll have a good image to do the same with the nuts and turn a good profit. If you don’t bet telegraphically, then it’s harder for your opponents to play back at you.
