With deeper stacks (these hands are all from deep tables), you need to be, not necessarily more aggressive, but aggressive in more situations. With 100 BBs’s, a 4-bet squeeze will almost always commit your stack, which means there’s only a narrow range of hands with which you can make this play. Showdown equity is always important.
But as stacks get deeper, there is more room to maneuver. You can put in more bets in more spots and still have room to fold. That doesn’t mean you can go crazy against just anyone. Reads are important, as you need to know that your opponents are capable of letting go of a hand and/or having a less-than-stellar hand in the first place.
In this first one, MP and CO were both very aggressive pre-flop. I was certain they’d fold often enough to make this profitable. The only x-factor was the Button. I wasn’t sure what would be his standards for cold calling a 3-bet. But he was also deep, and I figured that coming in cold for the fourth bet would get him off of even some pretty strong holdings:
Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BB: $458
UTG: $400
MP: $1,303.30
CO: $1,099
BTN: $827.40
Hero (SB): $915
Pre-Flop: T
8 dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP raises to $14, CO raises to $48, BTN calls $48, Hero raises to $210, 4 folds
Results: $162 Pot
Hero mucked T 8 and WON $162 (+$114 NET)
In this second one, the SB and I had both been aggressive, and this was the second time I’d seen the BB put in a cold 4-bet. This is definitely a riskier play to make, but for that reason I think it will also have better fold equity. BB and I have some history together, but I still think this is a tough spot for him if he holds QQ.
Full Tilt Poker, $5/$10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
UTG: $1,033.75
Hero (MP): $3,620
CO: $2,026
BTN: $1,010
SB: $2,005
BB: $4,111
Pre-Flop: J
9 dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $35, 2 folds, SB raises to $125, BB raises to $350, Hero raises to $1,000, SB folds, BB calls $650
Flop: ($2,125) 3
A
K (2 Players)
BB bets $700, Hero folds
Results: $2,125 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB mucked and WON $2,122 (+$1,122 NET)
While waiting for BB to act, I regretted raising quite so much. I wished I had made it 900 instead of 1000. I felt it would have put him to essentially the same decision, as I really didn’t think he would ever flat call this raise. When he did, that confused me. I think he definitely would have shoved or folded AK pre-flop, and probably would have shoved in with AA and KK as well.
At the same time, this is a really bad board for him to lead out on as a bluff, and it’s hard to put him on a hand that would need to bluff pre-flop. Maybe he was doing this as a probe with QQ? I don’t know, it was tempting to shove in, and maybe with second pair or a gut shot or something with even a little equity against his calling range, I would have. In retrospect, floating seems like a good option, looking to bet the turn if he checks. I really don’t think he could fire a second bluff if I called the flop. Meh, folding can’t be that bad.
Reads didn’t play as big of a role in this one, I think my hand pretty much plays itself here:
Full Tilt Poker, $3/$6 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
MP: $692.70
CO: $1,659
BTN: $1,142.25
Hero (SB): $1,725.25
BB: $691.60
UTG: $813
Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG raises to $21, MP calls $21, CO folds, BTN raises to $72, Hero raises to $225, 4 folds
Results: $192 Pot
Hero mucked A K and WON $192 (+$120 NET)
If the Button shoves in, it’s a crappy spot, but with AK and 20% of the effective stacks in pre-flop against an aggressive opponent (I’ve seen him shove in some dumb spots before), I think I’ve got to call it off. The more important thing is that that won’t happen that often, and there really isn’t a better option than re-raising with AK. Flat calling and playing out of position isn’t appealing, nor is folding.
That doesn’t mean I’m incapable of 4-bet/folding AK pre-flop- it just depends on the opponent:
Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
Hero (SB): $800
BB: $523.30
UTG: $974.30
MP: $936.40
CO: $150.50
BTN: $1,771.40
Pre-Flop: K A dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, CO raises to $12, BTN raises to $44, Hero raises to $155, 2 folds, BTN raises to $1,771.40 and is All-In, Hero folds
Results: $326 Pot
BTN mucked and WON $326 (+$171 NET)
My only regret here is that if I’m going to fold, I ought to raise a little less. $125 would probably do the trick.
Sick hands.
In the second hand you are surprised by the flat call. Given that you expect a raise or fold, would you make the play with any two? I only ask because you have a suited one-gapper and I wonder if that influenced your action at all?
Good question, Darren. It influenced the decision to open in the first place, certainly, but the decision to 5-bet was based solely on the situation. I guess it mattered a little bit that I didn’t have certain hands, like maybe TT-QQ I would have flat called or something, but as you say, I was not expecting to see a flop. If for some reason I had opened 72o, I would have played in the same way.