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Adjusting to aggression preflop

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slatey

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8 posts
Joined 03/2008

When is it time to make an accurate decision with an aggro reraiser preflop whether he
just bluffing u or actually has hit a good run of cards? After around how many reraises do u make that decision and not give him credit anymore?...and with what range of hands do u 4-bet him with?
thx

Posted about 5 years ago

jajvirta

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725 posts
Joined 03/2007

This topic is not limited to no-limited poker, so you'd have to specify the game in order to get appropriate responses.

But in Limit Hold'em at least, I think you can estimate pretty quickly that if the villain is constantly 3-betting that he's doing it lightly. It's because the way you would use this estimation is to give the villain a bit wider range and this doesn't actually change the equity on most flops that much. So the average mistake you make by over-adjusting to the seemingly light 3-betting isn't too big and you usually gain more by being able to play better against wider 3-betting range (especially by not giving up so easily).

What lighter 3-betting does, however, is to significantly skew the villain's range away from Ace. A tight 3-betting range is heavily skewed towards having an ace or a king. I guess most players learn to not fear Ace high flops in HU games, but I still think it's useful to play around with Pokerstove with these scenarios. So say you open with 87o and the villain 3-bets and you estimate the villain's range to be {66+,A3s+,K7s+,Q8s+,J9s+,T9s,A8o+,K9o+,QTo+,JTo}. (That's not a maniacal range for 3-betting, but perhaps wider than most are used to.) The flop comes A79r and you must realize that your equity on this board is pretty strong, say something like 43% and you are probably seeing showdown no matter what. Maybe this isn't new information to anyone, but I think it's still important to note as it's a pretty big error to give up on flops easily against a light 3-bettor.

Another thing to note is that light 3-betting is a strategy that is somewhat hard to counter, but it's also a strategy that needs balancing in and of itself and it's not an easy strategy to play. But the best way to exploit this is not necessarily counter-attacking it with light capping, although that might work against some villains, rather you have to find out how the villain plays postflop. Especially in the big streets. Their range will perhaps not be properly balanced and you might be able to exploit that. It's just that pretty much no one makes the most obvious mistake when they 3-bet lightly. That is, they are pretty willing to go to showdown no matter what. (If they didn't, it would be pretty disastrous strategy to bloat pots and then to give up too easily.)

Posted about 5 years ago

slatey

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8 posts
Joined 03/2008

Hey...sorry i forgot to mention that i was talking about texas holdem no limit cash HU.
and to clarify some more...when do u decide to 4 bet him if he is 3 betting u a decent
amount since the beginning of the match. There are times when people are just running into
alot of decent cards and u can get yourself in trouble by reading into them that they are
3-betting u light. After how many rr's against u do u make the choice to start 4 betting....and
again...with what range do u 4 bet him w/ or just call w/?
thx

Posted about 5 years ago

slatey

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8 posts
Joined 03/2008

Any comments i can get from the pro's?
thx

Posted about 5 years ago

Biyaatch

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50 posts
Joined 03/2008

Hey...sorry i forgot to mention that i was talking about texas holdem no limit cash HU.
and to clarify some more...when do u decide to 4 bet him if he is 3 betting u a decent
amount since the beginning of the match. There are times when people are just running into
alot of decent cards and u can get yourself in trouble by reading into them that they are
3-betting u light. After how many rr's against u do u make the choice to start 4 betting....and
again...with what range do u 4 bet him w/ or just call w/?
thx



I'm very interested in this subject too Smile

Posted about 5 years ago

DJ Sensei

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3163 posts
Joined 10/2007

Once he starts 3-betting light, a well-timed 4-bet is just the thing to quell his aggression. But I don't worry too much about timing or picking a hand or things like that too much, I just wait for the first good spot. Once it goes down, I take into account the results of the hand and how he seems to adjust to me afterwards before I decide to do it again.

Heres a few key things to consider when you decide to 4-bet:
Size
You should size your 4-bet in such a way as to leave all of your options open. You also want to force your opponent to make a decision for his stack before you have much of yours in there. To accomplish both of these goals, you should probably 4-bet to about 2.6-2.8 times the size of his 3-bet.

Example: 100x deep at 5/10, I open to 30, he reraises to 100, and I make it 270. He probably won't flat call it because he's out of position and the pot is getting pretty big compared to the stack sizes. He will choose to shove or fold. If he shoves, I have to call 730 to win 1270, a price of less than 2-1. To have the correct odds to call, I need to have about 38-40% equity against his range. Which brings us to the next aspect...

Range
When 4-betting HU, you're probably best off polarizing your range to very strong hands and comparatively weak hands. I would recommend against 4-betting hands like AJ or 77, because if he shoves you won't really know what to do. But if you 4-bet T9o you know exactly what to do against a shove, and the same goes with AA-QQ and AK. Against most aggressive opponents, you should probably be stacking off TT+ and AK, but don't make that a steadfast rule. Every game is different. Sometimes 88 is the nuts, sometimes JJ is a fold! But if thats the case you probably shouldn't be 4-betting JJ anyhow. Speculative hands like suited connectors are pretty bad to 4-bet, because you're turning them into bluffs when they have good value in position in a reraised pot.

Stack Sizes
If you or your opponent are shorter-stacked (60bb or less), then a 4-bet should probably be a shove. Between 60 and 80, consider the implications of your 4-bet sizing and avoid putting yourself in bad spots. If you're deep stacked, then you can adjust your 4betting range and frequency accordingly (generally, by increasing it as the stacks get deeper, but always be aware of the hand you're holding and the kind of pot you want to play with it in position).

Posted about 5 years ago

slatey

Avatar for slatey

8 posts
Joined 03/2008

DJ Sensei...thx for the response...but with all due respect u contradict yourself.
U start off my saying that " I dont worry too much about timing or picking a hand or things like that too much...."
..then u go on to talk about what hands u will 4-bet with??

Also, i am still having a hard time getting an answer about WHEN to start 4 betting? U run into situatons where
players are simply just picking up hands early on and u can get nailed early wasting $$ w/ a 4 bet.
I realize that this is an imperfect game...but would still like some guidelines as to...after how many
rr u should take a stand?
thx

Posted about 5 years ago

DJ Sensei

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3163 posts
Joined 10/2007

I guess what I meant when I said that I don't worry about timing/picking a hand is that when I'm ready to start 4-betting I just do it with the first good hand/situation, whether its AA or 76o.

Posted about 5 years ago




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