WELCOME TO THE

HAND READING SYSTEM 2.0

Hey there, I'm Alec Torelli, and thanks for your
interest in my Hand Reading System.

I know there’s a lot of places your attention could

be, and I’m grateful to have your trust when it
comes to learning poker.

For the last 15 years, I've been lucky to travel the

world as a high stakes poker player, visiting over 45
countries and competing in some of the biggest
cash games and tournaments games in the world.

I've always been passionate about sharing what I've

learned and helping others on their journey, which
is why I founded Conscious Poker, a training site
dedicated to transforming good players into great
ones.

Over the years I've been fortunate to coach and

mentor countless players, and in this workbook, I
share some of the strategies and insights from
those sessions which I believe had had the greatest
impact on their games.

My goal with this product is to improve your ability

to hand reading, which I believe is arguably the
most important skillset in poker.

After all, if you can correctly put your opponent on

a hand range, then you can use that information to
outplay them and make winning decisions, each
and every time you’re faced with one.

As with all things in life, learning how to do

something and mastering it are two separate
universes. Go slow, be patient and practice. Soon
enough, just like driving a car or riding a bike, hand
reading will become something you’re doing
automatically with ease.

Just keep at it.

Best of luck, and I’m grateful to be on this journey

with you.

Alec
 THE HAND RANGE FUNNEL

A hand range is simply all the possible hands that your

opponent can hold at any given time. The best way to
figure out exactly what your opponents have is using
what I call a hand range funnel.

When a This represents the truth that any time a player is dealt in, they 100% of
Players is can theoretically have 100% of possible hands, or all 1,326 Potential
Dealt In the combinations of holdings.
Hands
Hand

Whether a player calls, raises or folds, their potential Ranges vary by player.
holdings change because they took action. Preflop is Here are some preflop
typically where hand ranges reduce the most, since guidelines:
Tight Players: 10%
Preflop your average opponent will only play somewhere Loose Players: 25%
between 10-25% of their preflop holdings. Maniacs: 50%

Your opponents range may

Hand ranges are almost always further
reduced on the flop, as the presence of
action forces players to fold some of their
Flop
range, thereby leaving only a portion of
their potential holdings left in
consideration.
remain close to the same if he’s
the preflop raiser and makes a
continuation bet on the flop as
players do this often. His range
will change dramatically, however
if he check raises you on an As
8s 7s board, or check calls a 8s
5c 2h board.

Further action further Remember, for a hand to still be

in your opponent’s range, he
Turn reduces the range of hands must have played it this way on
your opponent can have. all previous streets.

An aggressive play
When this process is done
like an All-In bet correctly, it’s possible to reduce
River dramatically your opponents holding down to
reduces holdings. one or two possibilities.
 QUICK START GUIDE

To use a hand range funnel there are 3 key principles

that you must keep in mind.

1. HAND RANGES ALWAYS SHRINK

First, a hand range can never increase in size, hence the idea of a funnel. Because
the possibilities of hands your opponents can have only gets smaller as they fold out
weaker holdings. (There’s one exception, and that’s if your opponent plays his entire
range the exact same way from one street to another. In this case his range would
remain the exact same).

In other words, the possible holdings that your opponent can have only gets smaller
as the hand progresses.

That’s good news, as your goal is figure out his precise two cards.

2. FUNNELS COME IN ALL SHAPES

No two hands of poker are the same, and thus no two ‘hand range funnels’ will
shrink in the same way.

Sometimes your opponents hand range may narrow dramatically, and then plateau.

PREFLOP

FLOP

TURN

RIVER
This happens in cases where players show aggression early, and then play their
entire range the same on later streets.

We often see this in practice when a player calls a raise preflop, and then checks the
flop, turn, and river when out of position.

Most players will do this with their entire range of hands, allowing the preflop
aggressor to continue with the lead in the hand.

Real Hand Example:

Our opponent (Villain) calls a raise preflop from the Big Blind.
Flop: A 8 2 Villain check-calls a bet.
Turn: 2. Villain check-calls another bet.
River: 4. Villain checks.

Literally nothing has changed about the Villain’s range between his turn call and
river check, since he will check the river 100% of the time in this situation.

Other times our opponent’s hand range may remain broad until the river, at which
point it narrows dramatically.

PREFLOP

FLOP

TURN

RIVER

You will encounter this situation when your opponent check-calls a bet on the flop,
both players check the turn, and the Villain comes out firing with a big bet on the
river.

Real Hand Example:

Our opponent (Villain) calls a raise preflop from the Big Blind.
Flop: 9 6 4 Villain check-calls a bet.
Turn: J Villain checks, and we (Hero) check behind.
River: Q Villain bets huge, the size of the pot or more.

In this situation, the Villain’s range on the river has changed dramatically, due to the
cards that came and the size of his bet.

The only hands with which he bets this big for value are likely to be flushes.
Otherwise he has probably missed a straight draw and is bluffing.
The reason his range shrinks so much is that most of the hands with which he could
have potentially check-called the flop, he can no longer have: any small pair or
hands containing a 9, 6, 4 in them. The reason being he would check the river with
these small pairs, and hope to win at showdown.

It’s also unlikely he has two pair, since there are very few hands with which he could
theoretically call preflop, check-call the flop, and then bet the river which contain
some combination of two pair. (The only real possibilities being J9 or Q9, and many
opponents fold those hands preflop).

It’s also very unlikely he has three of a kind, since most of the time players will opt
to check-raise the flop or lead out on the turn on these draw heavy boards to
protect their hand and build a pot.

Thus, the Villain’s range on the river is comprised of mostly flushes and missed
straight draws.

To figure out whether or not we should call or fold, we simply weigh the possibility
that he’s bluffing against the possibility that he has a flush.

Don’t worry if you can’t do that just yet, I show you exactly how to do this
entire process in my workbook, ‘The Four Steps to Beating Anyone at Poker.’
I make it super simple and fun. If you prefer to learn through video and join a
community of motivated players, I built an entire course dedicated to
mastering the art of hand reading called “Hand Reading Foundation”, which
is just one of the many features of the Conscious Poker Membership.

3. HANDS WHICH WE ELIMINATE

ARE GONE FOREVER
One of the biggest mistakes that newcomers to this process make is assuming
their opponent can have a hand which they could have discounted previously. If
for any reason whatsoever you eliminate a hand from your opponent’s range, it is
gone forever!

Have you ever found yourself in a tough situation and didn’t know whether or not
your opponent could have a specific hand?

Here’s a quick hack to figure it out.

Simply replay the action in your head and see if he would likely play the specific
hand exactly like he played this one.

If the answer is ‘no’, it means he can’t have it!

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you are holding As7s and you raise on button. Your solid, tight,
straightforward opponent calls from the Small Blind.

The flop comes down: T 6 2 He checks, you bet big, and he calls.
Turn: 8 He checks, you bet again, and he calls a second time.
River: 9 He checks, you bet a third time, and now he raises you!

You guys are both super deep stacked. It’s your turn...

Before we go any further, real quick, what do you do?

What’s the first thing that pops into your mind?

Fold? Call? Shove?

...

You probably ruled out folding. That was easy.

But shoving seems a little too aggressive. After all, he’s never calling with a worse
hand and there’s a higher straight out there.

Okay too easy, you got it! We should just call.

Wrong!

The correct answer is shove.

And here’s why...

The best hand our opponent can have is a ten-high straight, meaning his hand
contains some sort of 7 in it: pocket 7’s being the most likely.

He cannot have QJ or J7 because he wouldn’t have played those hands in this way
on previous streets.

What’s more is we can have QJ and J7, making this a ideal spot to bluff, and force our
opponent to fold a chop.

Let’s replay the action to explore this further.

Our tight, solid opponent called a raise from the small blind preflop! It’s impossible
he would do that with J7 (even if it’s suited), and QJ may either 3 bet us or fold as
well, depending on the player.

If he does have QJ, it’s almost definitely suited.

He check-called a big bet on a T62 rainbow flop.

Would a tight, solid player ever do that with QJ?

Never.

And as you recall from rule #3, once you rule out a hand at any point, it’s gone
forever. Therefore, because we know for certain that our opponent would never
call preflop with J7, and never call the flop with QJ, we can eliminate it from his
range on the river.

You can see how with a little analysis that we can be certain that our worst case
scenario is a chop.

Equipped with this new information, we shove all in for a monster stack.

He hems and haws for a minute, before finally folding.

And rightfully so, at best he’s chopping with a 7. At worst he’s losing to J7 and QJ.

He shouldn't have raised in the first place, exposing himself to a tough situation,
but he didn’t know you were such an expert and going to put him to the ultimate
test!

Congrats! You just made it through your first hand range funnel.

Had you been at the table, you would have just won yourself a boat
load of cash in a spot where few players in the world are taking
advantage of.

As you can see using the hand range funnel is an extremely powerful
tool. When done correctly, it will help you win money money, crush
the competition and move up in stakes.

I hope this guide helped up your poker game, and I look forward to
continuing to help you along your poker journey.

If you want to take that next step and get access to some of our best, most
exclusive video content with strategies, insights and tips that I only share
with our members, check out the Conscious Poker Membership.

If you want a more personalized approach, I offer private coaching both in

person and virtually. You can learn more about my practice and apply to work
with me here.

www.consciouspoker.com | alec@consciouspoker.com