Yes… that’s an important point. I would have been more accurate to say that I 4 bet fairly often against players that 3 bet fairly often.
At Replay, that’s meant I’ve really only recently started 4 betting much at all, as below elite stakes, there just aren’t very many players that will 3 bet anything other than very premium hands. Still, even here, playing at lower stakes, I would run into players with higher 3 betting frequencies, and I always enjoyed that, as it game me a chance to 4 bet or even 5 bet more.
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And less who will 3 bet/fold. A lot of the time, any 4 bet is met with a shove, leaving me with a tuff decision and usually a range disadvantage. If I think I have a postflop advantage, I will more often just call.
Of course, it depends on position, depth, and the other yadda yaddas and blah blahs, as always.
On that topic… let’s perhaps consider a 4 betting range against the 3 betting range that Warlock was showing as a BB defend against a 42% button range.
Here you are in position, which should generally lead to:
- not folding as many hands
- 4 betting a more polarized range, and not 4 betting as much as if you were OOP
- having a lot of hands you are happy to call with
What hands to 4 bet?
- AA, KK, AKs almost always
- QQ, JJ, TT, AJo, ATo, KJo, A7s, A6s, K9s, Q8s & 98s maybe 30% to 10% of the time (earlier ones mostly more frequently), and there are a few other hands you could also have rarely
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Sticking also to the sub-theme of 4 betting relatively wide when you can, in the example above we were in position, which shifts many would be OOP 4 bets to calls. I nice example of a wider 4 betting range is a small blind vs big blind duel. I don’t see this much on 9 max tables, as it rarely folds around, but on 6 max tables it is a bit more common, and as play gets short handed below that, it’s a pretty frequent occurrence.
We’ll start with a pretty wide raising range as the small blind, raising 24% of hands, limping 38%, and folding the rest. We’ll then assume a roughly 16% raising range from the big blind consisting mostly of AA-TT, AK, AQs-ATs, A5s, KQs-KTs, 98s, 54s, and a moderately wide smattering of other hands some of the time (AQo, 76s, 65s, 87s, 99, 88, A4s-A2s, and a wide sampling of rarer, surprising hands like weak off suite aces, kings and queens, junky off suit connected cards, and really trashy suited connectors).
What to 4 bet?
- always: AA-JJ, AK,
- most of the time: AQ-AT, TT
- 50% to 25%: KQo, KJo, K5s
- a little bit: 98s, T9s, J8s, 65s, KT, 99-66, A5s-A4s, JTo, KJs, K6s
Facing an aggrotard:
Another situation I’ve always loved is when you get someone that raises like 70% or 80% of hands, and when facing a 3 bet will 4 bet 80 to 90% of the time. These players are more prevalent at lower stakes (though always a little bit rare).
Here, I want a 4 betting range that is very linear, looking a lot like an ordinary high jack or cut off opening range, minus most of the small suited, connected hands. What’s more, once I 4 bet, given that I’m already expecting the 5 bet, I will just jam with most of this range (at least 75%), expecting a call. Note this is for cash games, where I can reload at any point. In a tournament, you need to consider the expected value of future hands, usually wanting being a bit more selective about the hands you choose to get all in with.
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I just saw this and thought it would be nice to share. It’s a bit broader than this topic, but overlaps quite a bit as well, and I thought it communicated the core message nicely.
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