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Meh, not the best start to this month. It's annoying to be playing decent poker and consistently losing. Anyway here are 3-bet/4-bet spots where I see players consistently getting it wrong.
Hand 1
Villain isn't exactly a reg, but I have a load of hands on him. Fairly tightish and aggressive PF. This is a spot where you should elect to smooth call hands like AA, KK or QQ. Your opponent has a tight range of probably AQo+, TT+ .... depending on the type of player. 3-betting just makes him (correctly) fold hands like AQo, AQs, TT and JJ. By smooth calling we give him the opportunity to spazz out on the flop, which he duly obliges and open-shoves TT, which is just awful.
Think for a moment about our range. If he thinks we are loose, we might have some broadways and PPs in our range, AK, AQ, AJ maybe as well ... although I'd never flat with those hands (way unbalanced but villains are so terrible they don't notice). The only worse hands calling are PPs <TT and open shoving is a bad way to extract any value from them. I see this all the time and I know why people do it because I used to do it. Poker isn't about winning pots, it's about getting opponents to play big pots when they have a weaker range. People bet here because they don't want to lose the pot to AK, which is a fucking dumb reason to bet.
No Limit Holdem Tournament
8 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$15+$1
Stacks:
UTG (1,545)
UTG+1 (1,590)
MP1 (1,460)
MP2 (1,520)
CO (1,635)
BTN (1,430)
SB (2,540)
Hero (1,780)
Blinds: 50/100
Pre-Flop: (150, 8 players) Hero is BB K K
UTG raises to 250, 6 folds, Hero calls 150
Flop: 4 5 4 (550, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG goes all-in 1,295, Hero calls 1,295
Turn: Q (3,140, 2 players, 1 all-in)
River: 9 (3,140, 2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: 3,140
Hero shows two pair, Kings and Fours
K K
UTG shows two pair, Tens and Fours
10 10
Hero wins 3,140 (net +1,595)
UTG lost 1,545
Hand 2
Same villain, similar mistake. Given our tight opening range and how regs usually play this hand, 3-betting with QQ here is a really bad plan. He is forcing me to play correctly by forcing me to fold hands like TT or JJ or AQo etc. He wants to take a flop against me with those hands in my range. It's obvious isn't it! Instead he 3-bets, I shove, gg ... I didn't flat in this spot because he has demonstrated a lot of strength by betting 1/3 of his stack. He is never folding PF, but may fold if he doesn't like the flop.
No Limit Holdem Tournament
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$15+$1
Stacks:
UTG (1,210)
Hero (1,500)
MP1 (950)
MP2 (1,485)
MP3 (1,240)
CO (1,495)
BTN (1,425)
SB (2,375)
BB (1,820)
Blinds: 25/50
Pre-Flop: (75, 9 players) Hero is UTG+1 A A
1 fold, Hero raises to 125, 1 fold, MP2 raises to 400, 5 folds, Hero goes all-in 1,500, MP2 goes all-in 1,085
Flop: K 10 4 (3,060, 2 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: 3 (3,060, 2 players, 2 all-in)
River: J (3,060, 2 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: 3,060
Hero shows a pair of Aces
A A
MP2 shows a pair of Queens
Q Q
Hero wins 3,060 (net +1,560)
MP2 lost 1,485
Hand 3
The correct way to respond in these situations is to flat. Villain is a tightish player and likely has a premium hand in this spot. 4-betting just makes him play correctly, but flatting him allows him to spazz out when his AK misses the flop. Coincidently I see that all the time when people get flatted holding AK/AQ. This hand plays itself since his range is likely JJ+,AQo+. The flop hits his range so hard, it's an easy check-fold to the river.
No Limit Holdem Tournament
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$15+$1
Stacks:
UTG (1,500)
UTG+1 (1,500)
Hero (1,500)
MP2 (1,500)
MP3 (1,500)
CO (1,500)
BTN (1,500)
SB (1,500)
BB (1,500)
Blinds: 10/20
Pre-Flop: (30, 9 players) Hero is MP1 Q Q
2 folds, Hero raises to 60, 4 folds, SB raises to 180, 1 fold, Hero calls 120
Flop: A 2 A (380, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
Turn: 9 (380, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks
River: J (380, 2 players)
SB bets 350, Hero folds
Final Pot: 730
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