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Originally Posted by mongoose0141
So I see lots of advice these days where people advocate c-betting a small size, like 25% pot, with ~100% of our range on certain boards. I vaguely understand the idea; it puts our opponents in a tough spot with a lot of their range and allows us to deny equity while also getting some thin value. I'm just trying to get a better handle on the concept.
Another thing is that there are 2 more streets of play and hand value is not as clearly defined, so keeping our continuing range very wide can be beneficial.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mongoose0141
What makes "range betting" better than the latter approach, and how do we decide when to do it?
We risk less on stealing the pot and improve the EV of hands we would otherwise give up on, which improves our overall ev.
We also keep ranges wide which might benefit us in different ways on future streets.
Also I don't think the 2 philosophies are necessarily at odds. I am sure there are flops and situations where Doug Polk would advocate just betting our whole range (perhaps with variable sizing).
Quote:
Originally Posted by mongoose0141
What factors make a situation ideal for betting our whole range with a small size?
It's all about range/board interactions and who holds the most nut combos and how likely a range is going to hold future nut combos.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mongoose0141
Additionally, I know "range betting" generally implies cbetting ALL of our hands, but are there ever hands we choose not to include (instead betting like ~90%)? If so, how do we decide which hands not to bet?
The narrower the opening range and the more the board benefits that range, the more combinations that range can bet, so the closer to 100% you will get.
So someone opening from UTG with a high card unconnected flop is likely to bet at a high percentage of that range than someone who opens from the button and hits a high card unconnected flop just due to the sheer number of additional hands in buttons range.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mongoose0141
Finally, how do we deal with flop raises? According to MDF we're gonna have to call some % of our range to avoid being exploited. Of course, when we bet all of our hands on the flop that MDF % is gonna include a lot of very marginal stuff. How do we make sure we properly defend on the flop/turn/river when we have so many weak hands? Are we generally bet/calling flop with any pair?
Choosing flops correctly based on the above criteria I mentioned will help prevent this as well as choosing opponents wisely. Good opponents won't c/r you on those boards and bad opponents typically aren't aggressive enough overall.
If you're playing against a tough player you can also cbet less frequently as a defense as well as mix sizings etc.
I would say this high cbet frequency play is much more of an exploitation than an optimal play.
Above all just don't defend some hand because you think you have to reach some arbitrary defense frequency or you'll get exploited. It doesn't really work that way the farther you get from the river.