Range advantage and nut advantage refer to the strength of different portions of a range against another range.
What range advantage means
Having a range advantage means that a large portion of your range is stronger than a large portion of your opponent's range on a given board.
For example, the preflop aggressor generally has stronger hands going to the flop than the preflop caller, and has a range advantage on many flops.
What nut advantage means
Having a nut advantage means that your range contains a larger portion of nuts compared to your opponent's range.
For example, on a board like 987, a player with a lot of JTs and JTo in their range would have a nut advantage over a player without those hands in their range.
How advantages affects betting
When we have a range advantage, we generally bet more frequently and for smaller sizes. This is because we have a lot of medium-strength hands that can apply pressure to the slightly weaker range of our opponent.
When we have a nut advantage, we generally bet for larger sizes. This puts pressure on the opponent's range, lets us go for maximum value with our nuts, and collect lots of fold equity with our bluffs.
If our range is weak, there is little incentive to bet and we often prefer to check.
Common mistakes
Beginners often:
- overestimate their range advantage on Ace-high boards
- bet with weak ranges into stronger ranges
- bet too small with nut advantage, missing out on value and fold equity
Key takeaways
Range advantage describes overall strength. Nut advantage describes the top end. Both affect how often and how hard a range can pressure a spot.