You’ve probably noticed that poker has a language all of its own. This makes it easier to discuss specific events, decisions or situations — if you know what the terms being used actually mean.
But if you don’t already know the jargon, hearing words and phrases you don’t understand can be a real turn-off.
That’s where Poker Talk Explained comes in.
We’ve previously looked at areas like games, players and betting; if you’re new to poker lingo, those are great places to start. Because now we’re going to dive just a little bit deeper and look at ranges in poker, and some of the terms it’s useful to know when talking or thinking about this concept.
For a comprehensive guide to all poker terminology, check out our detailed poker terms page.
What is range in poker?
Before we look at these words and concepts, let’s define what a poker range actually is.
A player’s range is a set of hands that they may potentially hold, based on what you know of them. This knowledge could be based on their character — if you happen to know them well — but it’s much more useful (and more common) to use more concrete data to build an opponent’s range in your mind.
That means things like position, their stack size, and of course prior action in the hand are all useful pieces of information to help you construct a player’s range.
Putting a player on a range of hands is much easier than trying to figure out exactly which cards they’re holding. The idea took off almost 20 years ago, notably with the publication of the book Let There Be Range by Cole South and Tri Nguyen, and has since become an ingrained part of hold’em poker strategy.
So, now you know what range means, let’s look at some useful range-related terms you’ll come across.
Any two cards (also 'ATC'): Basically, an infinite range. Let’s say a player raises ‘in the dark’ preflop, without even looking at their cards; aside from the cards in your own hand, they could have ‘any two cards’. This specific scenario may be uncommon, but consider the flop in a bomb pot: there’s been no prior action, and both the very best hands and worst hands will still be in, and will have given nothing away. In that scenario, anyone could have anything.
Balanced range: Thinking in terms of game theory, this is a range of hands that contains the right ratio of value bets and bluffs. A balanced range is much more difficult for your opponents to figure out, keeping them guessing and hopefully handing you an advantage.
Capped range: Theoretically, this range has a ceiling on how strong it can be. Of course, there’s no guarantee — players can always feign weakness — but a player’s range being capped opens them up to being bluffed. Imagine you’re in a heads-up hand, out of position, and check through all three streets. After you’ve checked the river, how strong can your hand really be? Your range is capped, and your opponent should really bet into you, whatever they have.
Condensed range: A range that doesn’t contain many extremely strong or weak hands, but is far more likely to have a lot of medium-strength holdings.
Linear range: This range could contain strong hands, medium hands and speculative but weaker hands. For that reason it's sometimes called a 'merged range'.
Polarized range: As opposed to a condensed range, a polarized range will contain both very strong and very weak hands but little in between, ‘the nuts or nothing’. If your opponents can't tell if you're weak or strong they're likely to make costly mistakes, one way or the other.
Range advantage: In a heads-up poker hand, based on the prior action, one player will have a stronger theoretical range. Let’s say the button min-raises, the big blind defends and the flop comes 6-7-8. The big blind is more likely to have connected with this flop; they have range advantage, and can put their opponent to some difficult decisions.
Range bet: A situation where you are betting your entire range, whatever that is, from the weakest to the strongest hands in your range.
Visit the PokerOrg poker glossary for a detailed explanation of every poker term you'll ever need to know.
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