Full Tilt Poker, $10/$20 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 3 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter
BTN: $2,573.50
SB: $2,737.70
Hero (BB): $3,441.50
Pre-Flop: T
T
dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to $70, SB raises to $260, Hero raises to $591, 2 folds
Results: $590 Pot
Hero mucked T T and WON $590 (+$330 NET)
I found this to be initially a tricky spot but with a fairly simple solution once I thought about it. Both of these players were loose and aggressive when we were playing 6-max and even moreso once we got short-handed. Even with a raise and a re-raise in front of me, TT is in good shape against these player’s ranges. The problem is that it’s awkward to enter the pot now. If I just call, I’m putting a ton of money into a pot where I’m going to be out of position post-flop (assuming the button overcalls, which he almost always will) and have not taken the betting lead (though my cold call shows enough strength that it may accomplish a similar effect). I also reveal a lot about the strength of my hand while giving worse hands or unpaired overcards good odds to try to out-flop me. It’s a clear reverse implied odds situation.
Coming in for a cold 4-bet is nice because it forces the button off of damn near anything, probably even JJ, QQ, and AK, since the only option he really has is to make a shove into two reraisers that will only get called by KK+. The SB won’t have to play quite so tightly once he knows the button is out, but he’s still probably not going to shove worse hands than mine except maybe AK. That means I can comfortably fold to an all in without losing much value.
I’m not turning my hand completely into a bluff, either, because given the odds he’s getting, the SB may call with some pocket pairs or maybe AQs or something, and in those cases, it matters quite a bit that I have TT and not 85s or something.
The only thing I think I’d do differently is raise a touch more, to $625 or so. This makes a bit harder for the SB to call and still leaves me plenty of room to fold to a shove.
I like your thinking, but there’s an interesting follow-up question here. Would you rather have TT or 76s in that spot, moving all in?
And if you are worried that increasing your 4-bet frequency will tip off the players that you are 4-betting light, you should consider dropping TT from the range before 76s.
Counterintuitive, but true under certain assumptions.
I’m not moving all in here- if I were, 76s would certainly have better equity against my opponents’ calling ranges. Given the odds that SB is getting to call, though, I think TT will still be in better shape if we see a flop than 76s will. This is a pretty rare situation, which is why I found it interesting, though I generally agree with what I take to be your meaning about 76s vs TT when 4-betting.
In fact, this is a leak I’ve seen in some otherwise strong players recently. As these small 4-bets, and correspondingly lighter 5-bets, have become more frequent, I’ve seen people 4-bet both TT and JJ in position in heads up pots and call 5-bet shoves. I think this is sooooooooo much worse than just taking a flop with them in position. Unfortunately, I lost both times, AK losting to TT and KK losing to JJ. Hopefully that will encourage them to keep doing it!