Hey guys, I thought I write a bit about my preflop play (40-75bb deep) to detect some flaws in my thought process and I also to point out where I think i need improvement. As preflop situations occurs in any hand I think it's very important to be rock solid in this area. Any sort of comment is of course appreciated, not just from mers. :) Alright, I usually start off 2,5xing a pretty wide range vs an unknown, only folding trash like 73o, 82o, 94o etc. I like the 2,5x actually over 50bb (under I start minraising) but maybe it's just a personal preference thing. Against everbody I try limping early on to find out how they react. I limp like the bottom part of my medium strength hands (low Kx and Qx and weak connectors like T8o, 97o etc. If the let me limp I will take advantage of this once the blinds got higher. Ok, let's continue with adjustments against different opponent types.Calling Stations:- Limps a ton, rarely raises, calls light postflop.Against this type of opponent I like limping quite a bit if I'm getting away with it and raising like 40-50 % (hands which play well postflop and have barrel potential and toppair type hands). I find that if I keep raising 80%+ I just own myself. 3bets obv only for value if he raises (99+, AJ+) and flatting any broadway, pockets, A8o/A7s+.This wider limping range / decreased raising value I also use against freq. donk bettors / c/raiser (depends obv. on other tendencies aswell).Weak tight / Nits:Not much too say. Ball till you fall. :)Standard reg: Against a reg who isnt 3betting much I just keep raising close to 100 %. If he opens wide I like to 3bet a range of: AJ+,99+ for value, 88 mix between 3betting and calling and for light 3bets I use hands like low Ax, Kx (blocker), Qxs, T8o/97o (not so often), suited junk. Good suited connectors like 78s,98s etc. I actually like to flat because I think they play really well in a single raised pot.Which hands to call oop? Against a 3x I have a very nitty range: 22+, A8o+/A7s, any broadway, K9,Q9,J9 good scs, one gappers. Against a minraise I add any ace, king, any suited queen, J7o+, T8o+, 97o+, more suited stuff.Ok, which hands should we call 3bets with? Against a nitty 3bettor I call 77-99 (depending on gameflow I jam 99) and maybe hands like T9s/JTs if we are deep.What should we do against frequent 3bettor? At the moment I jam any pp / A2s-A5s (not so often) if he is overdoing it, calling with ATo/A9s, KQ/KJs+, QTs+ and sometimes stuff like 76s+ but I find them hard to play in 3bets if we are not very deep, so mostly I just ditch them. I think playing against a freq. 3-bettor I find the most difficult at the moment.Ok, enough from me. Your turn. ;)
Against a frequent 3bettor I would reship like suited 1-2 gappers and suited connectors depending on how deep we are (obv not like for 50-60BBs). Especially if he has a calling range, his wide 3bet range just can't call your jam that often, and suited connectors and gappers do better vs his likely calling range (somethink like A7-AK, KQ, 22-AA). Really depends on how light he is 3bet/calling though.Against that range A2s has 35% equity, and 8Ts has 38% equity. That actually makes a huge difference, since (for example) if we're 25 BBs deep and he 2.5x's our open, we need 44% FE to be breakeven when we have 35%, but only 36% FE when we have 38%.Obv that suggests that reshipping hands like JTs and QTs is going to be great, but I'd prefer to limp/call those hands if he's aggro vs. limps. I would say that the aggro 3betters aggression vs. limps is the main thing you left out of your discussion.
Forgot to mention that I only talk about deep play, as endgame is a whole different area.Good point with the limping though. Forgot to mention that. :) If he is constantly attacking your limps which hands do you like to limp/jam? If he is 3betting wide I think raise/jamming pp has more value than limp/jamming so I rarely limp/jam vs this type of opponent. If he isnt 3betting wide but raising limps relentlessly I actually like limp/jamming 22-66 if we aren't to deep.
Definitely raise/jamming pocket pairs, I basically never limp/jam them deeper; 22 is a monster vs. an active 3better when you combine FE with your equity vs. his call range.I don't really limp/jam deep. I would limp/call a lot of hands that play really well but like to be deeper, like JTs/T9s etc. Not sure if that's a leak, but that's my thought process (if he is constantly raising limps). If someone is 3betting and attacking limps a lot I try to think more in terms of what potsize I want postflop.
Going to go through this and make some comments. Here's the first one:"for light 3bets I use hands like low Ax, Kx (blocker)" - I'm really not at all a fan of this. When your opponent flats, he's going to have hands that have 50% equity against you in position, and while you'll have the initiative, you'll also have your ace essentially face up, because it's such a bigger part of your range that villain's. I actually prefer it with Kx to Ax because at least Kx has worse expectation from just calling preflop (sometimes folding is best) and you can rep ace high boards as well, but I still don't think those hands are good to 3-bet because of just how well your opponent will play against you in position.
"Which hands to call oop? Against a 3x I have a very nitty range: 22+, A8o+/A7s, any broadway, K9,Q9,J9 good scs, one gappers. Against a minraise I add any ace, king, any suited queen, J7o+, T8o+, 97o+, more suited stuff."This seems reasonable, although I still think you should call any suited ace. I also really like your adjustment detail vs nits/stations/etc, people should read those.
"Ok, which hands should we call 3bets with? Against a nitty 3bettor I call 77-99 (depending on gameflow I jam 99) and maybe hands like T9s/JTs if we are deep."I jam any pair readless when we're <50bb, if you're the full 75bb deep against a nittier player I think your range is readless. I think T9s/JTs play too well in position even against nittier players, so I'm calling those even if we're not that deep.
reallymonkeyish, I would be careful with your calculations. It seems like what you're doing is comparing the equity of jamming against the equity of folding, but we're definitely not folding QTs/JTs/T8s, so it's a misleading comparision. We have to compare against what we'd guess would be the expectation from flatting the 3bet, because that's our other option and those hands play really well flatting 3bets (They're also good limp/calling hands vs aggressive attackers of limps, as you note).
Makes sense. I guess my question would be what stack depths you're willing to flat those JTs type hands at. Maybe a better way to say it is what SPR would you be comfortable with postflop, assuming villain is an active 3bettor (like 20-25% type)?
JTs you can flat all the way down to like 22bb effective preflop to a potsized 3bet (and maybe even shorter). Leaves 16bb behind in a 12bb pot which gives you a pretty good stack size to pick your flops to jam over a c-bet.
""for light 3bets I use hands like low Ax, Kx (blocker)" - I'm really not at all a fan of this."Which range do you use then for 3-betting light against frequent btn openers?Also it would be cool if you could write some words about playing a freq. 3-bettor (opening range, limping range, 3bet calling range, jamming range) if we are deep. Maybe this is also an idea for a weekly theory topic. :)
Good idea. I'll make that this week's article.
What about people who constantly bet pot after we flatted their 3bet ?For instance, if we're kinda shallow like in your JTs example. Would JTs still be a great hand to flat with if we could expect him to overbet-jam a ton of flops ?
Yep, still totally fine. The bigger and more frequent their c-bet, the better, actually. Put it this way: If they overbet jam every flop, you essentially get to decide when the hand is being played for 12bb, and when the hand is being played for 48bb. That's a huge advantage.It's frustrating when people bet pot/jam into you when you don't have a hand (or have like a gutshot you deem isn't strong enough to continue), but your benefit from their strategy is a big one when you hit.