Quote Originally Posted by Robb
You've found a table/opponents where 3betting light seems like a great idea. Questions:

1. How do you deal with getting 4bet when you hold ATs or 77? Just fold?
2. How much 4betting will change your mind about 3betting?
In honor of all of Robb's past posts, I'll create a long-winded strategy post for you guys.


1. I have some fun math I could show everyone about 5bet shoving, I've been working on it a lot lately. Maybe I'll write up a post on 4/5bet semi-bluff shoving. Anyways, I'll tend to believe people who 4bet me OOP much more than those who do it IP against me.

With ATs or 77 assuming typical 3bet/4bet sizing you need to believe your opponent is going to fold around 40-45% of the time being 100bb deep. This means they need to be 4bet bluffing (4bet+folding) slightly less than they are 4betting+stacking-off for value. Seeing how most people like to flat KK/AA against 4bets, they are typically bluffs more than you would think. Of course this depends on the level and/or opponent. At $25nl and below I have yet to see a 4bet bluff that wasn't my own. **MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE YOUR OPPONENTS CORRECTLY**

A lot of my math is based off of this 4bet+calling range for my opponents: JJ+,AKo,AKs. That's 40 combination's of hands, only 33 if you have ATs because of blockers. Notice how few trash-hands someone must have in their 4bet+folding range to start make 5bet semi-bluff shoving +EV. If someone 4bets with JJ+,AKo,AKs,890,J90,79o,56s and you have ATs it's now right at 0EV or slightly +EV to shove PF. This is done through basic hand-combination's. We know JJ+,AKo,AKs is 33 combinations, while 89o,J9o,56s contains 37 combinations. I've told you earlier that you only need about 44% FE here to be +EV. With 33 combinations in their calling range you need their total 4betting range to have ONLY 59 hand combinations, or 26 combos of a 4bet+fold range. Any more than 26 4bet+fold combinations and we are +EV.

2. This is where the "feel" in poker starts to kick in. Do I really believe/feel my opponents are adjusting, or did they just happen to find QQ+,AK one of these times. I tend to give the first 4bet ZERO respect, note, however, that this is from spending a lot of time playing HU and 3-4 handed starting 6max tables. At $100nl and above people 4bet bluff way more than you think, and if you're willing to ride the variance train, you can get away with a lot. However, at $50nl and below, players 4bet+fold frequencies drop dramatically, to the point where 5bet shoving is probably not as profitable.

As an aside, make sure you're 3betting light for the right reasons. Some players tend to 3bet the wrong types of hands, destryoing a lot of their hand's value by significantly reducing their opponents range PF to one that dominates their hand. A typical example is 3betting TT/99 against the wrong types of opponents. Against some this is a value 3bet, against others (nits, abc taggs) you destroy a lot of your hand's value by 3betting. These hands 88-TT are going to put you in much more difficult spots postflop in 3bet pots than say would 22-55 or 56s because you're likely going to always have a medium strength hand which can be difficult to play.