I am trying to construct a 3 bet calling / 4 betting range. How do i calculate the amount of hands needed to call a 3 bet or 4bet from my opening range.
Trying to get a hold of the basics once more hehe.
There are no exact numbers but on average you should be folding to 3bets around 40-50% of the time. around 63-68% gives 3 bettor autoprofit on bluffs and their bluffs have equity so you need to call more often. You should defend your 4bets over 60+ % of the time in general. It depends a lot tho.
Obviously on the button vs a 2% 3bettor you should fold almost 70-80% + of your range. But contrary to what some people believe being unexploitable isn't making every individual decision to prevent an any 2card bluff. For example if sb only 3bets 2% then 98% of the time he loses his sb and only 2% of the time he has a chance to win 6sb. He is already exploiting himself by having 0bluffs so you dont need to be a hero and call 50% of a 40-50% button opening range to fight against any2card bluffs which dont exist in the first place.
There are some decent examples in the Grinders manual and the 2+2 books by janda
Last edited by yadrooolahCOGD; 06-07-2018 at 11:37 AM.
So much depends on what the positions of each player are and what sizes are chosen.
For example, if you open UTG and get 3-bet by MP, you should probably fold over 60% of the time, because you don't have many hands that play well OOP against the extremely strong range that MP is representing. (He's saying that he has a hand that can beat an UTG raiser and 4 other players yet to act). Compare that spot with opening on the button and getting 3-bet by the BB; a situation where ranges are wide, villain only needs one player (you) to fold for his bluffs to work, but you can call in position. Unless villain in BB goes super-big with his 3-bet, you might only fold 30% of the time in that spot.
To get to the point, ratios or frequencies aren't much use for pre-flop. You should have different calling/folding/4-betting ranges depending on where you opened from, who puts in the 3-bet, and what size he/she chooses.
If someone minimum 3-bets you, you can call very wide. Maybe hands that are easily dominated can be folded, but you can pretty much call anything.
An interesting shorthand to use is to make your 3-bets 1:2 ratio of value bets to bluffs. Make your 4-bets a 2:1 ratio of value hands to bluffs. This isn't set in stone obviously, but it is a good rule of thumb.
In terms of calling normal sized 3-bets I'd say you can go on the tight side of things. Call 3-bets with strong pocket pairs. AQs-A9s are usually good calls. Calling with some other suited broadway can be marginally okay, but definitely dump the offsuited stuff if you are out of position including AQo and AJo. If they are a bit looser you can actually call with AQo and AJo, but tread carefully. There are some times where it is good to call with a low suited connector like 76s for board coverage or whatever, but I've actually found some of that to be overrated sometimes. Often times you won't be deep enough to justify it, unless your opponent is fairly loose.
4-bet with KK+, AK, maybe QQ, and throw in a bluff every now and then when it is appropriate. Perhaps choose a low suited ace or two. AK can sometimes be a good card to call. With AA and KK, save yourself the trouble and just 4-bet them. Mind games can make you score marginally better with these hands, but I find it better to just 4-bet them pretty much all the time unless I have a killer read.
At some tables you won't even want to 4-bet bluff at all especially if players aren't folding to 4-bets. Ultimately you should adjust to your opponents, but the ranges above won't have you being ripped apart at least.
edit:
Set mining sucks too. Don't call 3-bets with 22 hoping to score big unless you are fairly deep or on the button. People don't stack off as easily as they use to.
