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It’s become the fashion to adopt 3bet-heavy strategies. Many regs have no cold-calling

range from the SB, and some of 5️⃣ the newer generation regs are now also playing 3bet-only

in CO/MP. We are not here to comment on the effectiveness 5️⃣ of these strategies, simply

to underscore that 3betting is more common than ever before in poker history.

As we

might imagine, 5️⃣ adopting a 3bet-heavy strategy whilst having no clue regarding how to

deal with 4bets can be a big problem. It’s 5️⃣ also a very common problem. After all, there

is plenty of strategy advice telling us to increase our 3betting frequency, 5️⃣ but hardly

any teaching us how to effectively defend vs 4bets. Well, here is the crash course

version!

Defending Frequencies

The first 5️⃣ obvious indicator of an issue is our

fold-to-4bet stat. It should likely be in the 50-60% region. Note that values 5️⃣ above 55%

tend towards giving the 4-better automatic profit, but this is typically ok in most

environments since the average 5️⃣ player has an overly low 4-bet range. A good winning

6-max reg will typically have a 4bet range in the 5️⃣ region of 4-5%, whereas the average

player has a 4bet range in the 2-3% region. In other words, it’s not 5️⃣ a big deal to

slightly overfold when facing a preflop 4bet from an unknown.

Once our fold-to-4bet

stat falls outside of 5️⃣ the 45-65% region we almost definitely have some sort of leak

going on. We are either folding way too much 5️⃣ or defending an insupportably wide range.

Folding too much to 4bets might not be a big deal in anonymous environments 5️⃣ but can

potentially make us targets in lineups where screennames are visible and we are putting

in decent volume. Many 5️⃣ regs might hesitate to exploit a 60% fold-to-4bet stat, but the

best play against an 80% fold-to-4bet is far too 5️⃣ obvious.

Key Defending Principles

Many

players don’t have default defend-vs-4bet ranges, let alone different defending ranges

based on 4bet sizing. However, the 5️⃣ size of villain’s 4bet is extremely important in

establishing the best defending strategy. In the modern poker environment, 4bet sizings

5️⃣ can range from 14-15bb at the smaller end to over 25bb at the larger end. Using the

same defending range 5️⃣ against both a 15bb and a 30bb 4bet is not smart.

Let’s list some

important principles for defending against 4bets.

1. The 5️⃣ smaller the 4bet the wider the

range of hands we defend.

Hopefully, this should be obvious. Not only do we get 5️⃣ a

better price to defend but the postflop SPR will be higher. The higher the postflop SPR

in general, the 5️⃣ more correct it will be to play a hand that might be second-best

preflop. This is especially true when we 5️⃣ are in position and have increased

manoeuvrability.

2. The smaller the 4bet, the less we are incentivized to have a

jamming 5️⃣ range with 100bb effective.

The second idea might be less obvious to some

players. After all, shouldn’t we 5bet more aggressively 5️⃣ against a small 4bet? It

depends on the effective stacks. With 100bb stacks, 5bet/folding is mathematically

questionable. We typically want 5️⃣ to be either 5-bet jamming all-in or flatting. Of

course, the smaller the overlay (i.e the size of villain’s 4bet) 5️⃣ the less attractive

jamming becomes. We should hence find ourselves jamming more frequently against large

4bets than small 4bets. We’ll 5️⃣ still defend wider against small 4bets overall, but

jamming will be a smaller component of our defending strategy.

3. Flatting is 5️⃣ more

attractive against small 4bets and less attractive against large 4bets.

Although we jam

tighter against small 4bets, flatting becomes a 5️⃣ very attractive option when the 4bet

sizing is small. Many players have a hang-up where they have been conditioned to 5️⃣ either

5bet or fold when facing a 4bet. Small 4bets are brutally effective against such an

approach. Why so?

Folding frequently 5️⃣ is a mistake when getting a great price, and

jamming is unattractive due to the small overlay. If we force 5️⃣ ourselves to either jam

or fold, then we are picking between two bad options. The best counter is to start

5️⃣ flatting a much wider range against such 4bets. Some poker schools even still teach

that “flatting against 4bets is incorrect”, 5️⃣ but without this important tool, a skilled

opponent can cause us a lot of trouble.

4. Flatting is less attractive when 5️⃣ OOP.

Any

time we think about defending against a 4bet we are primarily interested in the

expectation of flatting vs the 5️⃣ expectation of jamming. There is no need to arbitrarily

mix up our strategies, if the expectation of jamming is higher, 5️⃣ we will always jam.

Our

jamming expectation usually won’t change that much depending on whether we are IP/OOP,

but the expectation 5️⃣ of flatting will. IP hands gain an equity realization bonus in 4bet

pots after flatting. If a hand is close 5️⃣ between a flat and a jam it will often end up

being a jam while OOP but a flat while 5️⃣ IP.

5. 5bets prefer folds.

Many players are

confused regarding the function of a 5bet range, especially value-hands. For example,

when jamming 5️⃣ AKo in a late position battle we might think that it is preferable that

our opponent has a low fold-to-5bet 5️⃣ frequency. After all, we are shoving for “value”,

and if villain folds a lot we could isolate ourselves against a 5️⃣ calling range that

beats us.

This is an example of an inaccurate assessment of the function of AKo. It

isn’t too 5️⃣ taxing to demonstrate with tree-building software that the higher villain’s

folding frequency, the more profitable our 5bet jam becomes. In 5️⃣ other words, AKo

functions more like a semi-bluff than a value-jam. The main reason we prefer folds over

calls is 5️⃣ simply that our opponent gets to fully realise his equity when calling, but

none of it when folding.

50% fold-to-5bet is 5️⃣ a sweet spot in the sense that, if our

opponent is folding more than this we can proceed by 5bet 5️⃣ jamming relentlessly. Much

higher than this value and we could find ourselves being able to 5bet jam any 2 cards

5️⃣ profitably. However, if our opponent never folds to 5bets, we can only get away with

expanding our jamming range by 5️⃣ a minute amount. (In other words, our opponent calling

too much vs 5bets is not that exploitable, but if he 5️⃣ folds too much, we can print

money.)

We should therefore not be especially concerned if our 5bet jam with a holding

5️⃣ such as AKo is consistently an underdog when villain calls. This absolutely does not

mean that 5betting was a mistake. 5️⃣ Many players might incorrectly deduce that they are

value-shoving too thin when they see their average equity with AKo is 5️⃣ <50% when their

jam gets called.

We might wonder “isn’t it simply better to flat the 4bet, if our AKo

jam 5️⃣ would be an underdog when called?”. In some cases, it might be, but it’s important

to keep in mind that 5️⃣ hands such as AKo have equity realization issues when calling a

4bet, especially when playing OOP. It’s hence easily possible 5️⃣ that the expectation of

jamming beats the expectation of calling a 4bet, since certain preflop holdings have a

tendency to 5️⃣ under-realise their equity in 4bet pots. (Note that suited broadways such

as AKs do a lot better on the equity 5️⃣ realization front, especially when IP).

Range

Construction Examples

Most of the scenarios where we deal with preflop 4bets are going

to occur 5️⃣ in late position since this is where ranges are widest. Let’s see some sample

range constructions for dealing with 4bets. 5️⃣ These are just a rough guide, the exact

range construction we choose will depend somewhat on our initial 3bet range. 5️⃣ After

looking at the examples we can consider constructing defending ranges from other

positions.

The colour scheme is straightforward.

Light Green = 5️⃣ 5bet Jam

Dark Green =

Flat vs 4bet

BB vs SB Large 4bet

BB vs SB Small 4bet

BB vs BTN Large 4bet

BB vs 5️⃣ BTN

Small 4bet

MP vs UTG Large 4bet

Flat or Jam?

Take a closer look at the BB vs BTN Small

4bet defence 5️⃣ range as an example. AKo is in the jamming range while AKs is in the

flatting range. Why is this 5️⃣ the case?

It’s true that AKs typically has a few percents

extra equity when compared to its offsuit counterpart. AKs will 5️⃣ hence undoubtedly be a

more profitable jam than AKo. AKs realizes its equity a lot better postflop however, so

it’s 5️⃣ possible that the expectation of flatting with AKs is higher than the expectation

of jamming. (Think about how it’s easier 5️⃣ to call flop cbets when we have a backdoor

flush-draw or direct flush-draw some percentage of the time.) Some of 5️⃣ the hands in the

jamming range are hence weaker than those in the flatting range. This approach also

allows us 5️⃣ to protect our flatting range with some premiums.

Can this approach be

demonstrated to be theoretically correct? Unfortunately, not at this 5️⃣ stage. Any models

we run would usually involve a high enough degree of assumption regarding the postflop

tree that results 5️⃣ could be misleading. Interestingly, neural networks such as

Pokersnowie prioritize jamming AKs over AKo in the same spot, despite equity

5️⃣ realization issues postflop with AKo. Snowie literally jams all the highest equity

hands and flats the weaker holdings with little 5️⃣ or no range protection. Which is

correct? Time will tell – but in the meantime, it’s good to be aware 5️⃣ of the issues and

be able to make an informed decision.

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