Hello guys,

over the last week I played almost a 1000 hands at 50nl. I notice there's a bunch of TAGS with a higher 3bet%. I hate it when im opening AQo from the cutoff and I get a 3bet by the button. For many tags the button is a popular spot to 3bet. I want to start working on my 4betting game. Obviously I raise hands like AA, KK, QQ and occasionaly AK for value, but thats it. I want to put some bluffs into that range.

Say someone is 3betting 12% from the button. What would be an ideal mix to polarize your range? Throw in a couple of 67s, 78s hands? And what to do with hands like AQs? Is that a hand you can 4bet for value against an agressive tag? I realize im oop and if say he has a calling range of 3.5% Im not looking good.

Erik

There's not really an optimal frequency to 4 bet, you just do it when you think you can get away with it. I usually like to 4 bet bluff guys before I value 4 bet them unless I see that their fold to 4 bet stat is really low. I would use suited connecters to bluff with for the most part because they play the best against his value 3 bet range in case he decides to flat. You can also use lower pairs, but it's usually a better idea to flat or fold those depending on stacks. You can easily flat hands like AQ/KJ/KQ/AJ against a 12% range since you are actually ahead of it. It sucks being OOP though and 4 betting for value is very risky because you are removing almost all of the bluffs from his range unless you have a very wide 4 bet range.

good question ERIK

the first thing i look at is the villians postflop game
some hi 3 bettors play very fit or fold and some are more consistently aggressive
Then i think about how my postflop skills stack up vs villian, if i dont feel like i have decent postflop advantage then i want to play more with the intent to end the hand preflop when i am oop. That basically means i am 4 betting or folding most times.

If i feel like i have a good advantage vs the opponent i am more apt to flat some hands like 99 TT JJ or AQ AJs and 4 bet QQ+, AK, AQs and maybe an occasional 67s or 78s or smaller pocket pair. Just remember as far as balancing or polarizing your range doesnt mean you 4 bet 76s once for every time you 4 bet AA. It is a bit like a general once said about mine fields, there only has to be 1 mine to generate a full pucker. In the case of balancing/polarizing your range the non premium hands are the mine that the opponent has to worry about.

If the villian is a spewy tool post flop i am more interested in taking a flop and letting the hand develop. If the villian is stubborn preflop after a 3 bet i am going to pretty much go to just a value range preflop and look to 4 bet for value. In my experience most 10%+ 3 bettors are pretty laggy overall and can be taken to valuetown if you excercise a bit of patience. I dont use a 3 bet by position stat in my hud since it takes a lot of data to accurate stats on opponent style, i just use pfr by position to estimate their understanding and use of position.

As you move up statkes this situTION BECOMES MORE COMMON and you will have to develop skills and strategy to deal w/ the situation. In the meantime you can do several things to deal w/ it and still beat 50nl at a good rate

1-switch tables if button making your life difficult
2-play a bit tighter than normal to minimizes number of tough decisions
3-experiment w/ some different counter strategies vs button 3 bets

When i was in a similar position i mixed 2 and 3 to watch opponent reaction while not exposing my self too much variation and aggravation. An important thing to make peace w/ is the fact that no how much you read or study how to play, you cant be afraid to experiment a bit as many many situations are less clear cut on the best play to make. It took me a long time to get that into my head. I always wanted to the perfect play which is simply impossible and led to timid play on my part far too often.

now lets bust out pokerstove real quick to get a feel for hand ranges opponent might have and how your range may stack up

here is AQs vs a top 12% type range


equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 55.855% 51.85% 04.00% 117193608 9051288.50 { AcQc }
Hand 1: 44.145% 40.14% 04.00% 90727943 9051288.50 { 77+, A9s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KJo+ }

you dont have a huge card value edge (not nearly as much an edge as i expected)
you dont have position
so if you dont have a good postflop skill advantage you may feel weak folding, but if you only have a small edge in 1 of the 3 possible advantages(card value, skill advantage, positional advantage) you are not in a very good EV situation and are not losing much (if any) value to simply fold. As you get more experince and confidence and improve to gain a post flop skill edge then the situation can become a +EV situation vs a wider range of opponents. That being said you basically need to play these type situations to gain experience and improve your skills. As i mentioned i chose to do so slowly to allow me to build my bankroll as i learned how to play more situations like this.

looking at AQs vs top 8% type range

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 49.838% 44.22% 05.62% 65112492 8277683.00 { AcQc }
Hand 1: 50.162% 44.54% 05.62% 65590286 8277683.00 { 88+, ATs+, KTs+, QJs, AJo+ }

your card advantage is nil, you are oop, so you better have a very big postflop skill advatnage. Since it is easy to overestimate one's skill level. A search of your database of hands/various hand ranges when you made pfr and got 3 bet and were oop will clarify with good certainty what hands your skills allow you to play oop profitably. I think i will do that search myself and report back in a seperate post.

I will leave it to readers to use pokerstove to investigate other hands and opponent ranges to get a more complete feel for hands that potentially play well oop vs a 3 bet and those that do not.

hg

1 last thing that i forgot

notice how uncomfortable it makes you when you get 3 bet oop ( i.e. the aggrssor cans instant advantage), same applies to your opponents when you do it to them. It is also a good example of how you can learn from your opponents. Things you hate they will hate when you do it to them. And of course you can see boneheaded moves opponents make and try not to repeat them yourself

gl all
hg

Thanks for the responses,

a lot of good info there! I like the thougths about the factors to take into account when calling a 3bet. With hands like AQs I have a slight edge against a 12% range, if Im in the CO versus button indeed I will need to have an advantage postflop. That's a hard part because usually often these situations occur before I have a good read on my opponent. But once I develop a read I see two types of players, there's the guys that cbet the flop 100% and then give up and there are the onces that keep firing. Im more comfortable calling against the first, it gives options to steal the pot with a bluff raise or take a free card. The second playertype would cost me too much money. I think I'd be better off folding. Im still very reluctant to call oop but I will try to work some more into my game as I dont want to be too predictable. I mean if you reverse it, if I look at a guys fold to 3bet stat and its at 85%, that gives me a lot of confidence to bully him. My fold to 3bet is at 67% and my 4bet range is at 1.2 (that seems low...)

I have developed a fairly agressive 3betting game myself. It's at 8.3%. I dont have opponents numbers by position in my hud, but I do like to look at a players behaviour. Because sometimes I see guys that dont like to 3bet oop (small 3bet in the sb, bigger on the button and big blind). This makes it easier to steal the blinds from the button.

I guess I will have to start experimenting using 4bets, I do want to think it through so that when I do it I have a good reason to do it and I have a plan for that hand.


cheers!