Quote:
Originally Posted by BenT07891
Just curious DGI, what do you suggest for a 3-betting pre flop range, defending range against a 4-bet, and flatting range?
I suggested 3-betting A2s-AKs, A6o-AKo, any two paint cards including offsuit, any pair, suited connectors 56s+. That's about 25% of hands.
I also suggested defending against a 4-bet with 7.5% of hands if we will be 5-betting. One set of ~7.5% that is polarized is 99+, AJs+, KQs+, AQo, A5s-A4s, 22-33.
I would also flat around 25-30% of the time. That includes hands weaker than our 3-betting range.
I can get behind the above, it seems pretty solid.
My strategy is a touch different though.
Against these types of hyper aggros, ego maniacs and "awesome possums" (as I have dubbed them) is two fold.
Initially, my first few 3-bets are going to get a lot of respect from them, so my initial 3-betting range is pretty wide against them, about a 22% range, 88+, all broadways, and some SCs 65s+, 75s+.
Then, once I feel them adjusting by either calling me or pushing back then I adjust by tightening up to a top 8% range that I merge with my 4-bet/5-bet call/shove range. I think of this as my "go to war" range. and it's AJ+, KQ, 88+. If V is really really hyper aggro I will lower to AT+, KJ+
I'm not that big a fan of polarizing that much against hyper aggros and ego maniacs because they don't fold enough to warrant polarization. Imo, the whole point of being polarized is so that we aren't exploitable by villain if he overfolds to our 3-bets (or 4-bets) when our 3-bet range is top heavy or too easily defined as AK, JJ+. Also, if villain over shoves us and we fold hands like A4 or A3 then we aren't making that big a mistake against villain as we can likely deduce he won't over shove with a weak hand. So polarizing imo works best vs your more typical aggro thinking players, but not so well with hyper aggros, ego maniacs, or awesome possums because they are just too likely to overship on you. Thus, I'm more a fan of widening what I would call my "go to war" range and essentially merging my 3-betting range with my 4-bet /5-bet calling / shoving range.
I think mathematically I could probably loosen this up a bit, however, since the hyper aggros / awesome possums have such a high raise frequency and ridiculously wide range and once they raise they just aren't folding, I don't mind sitting back with an 8% range waiting for them. Essentially this equates to going to war twice every 3 orbits and I'm fine with that frequency and don't feel like I'm missing out on value.
I also didn't talk any about the times during this leveling war where I do raise/call weaker broadways and SCs so that I mix it up enough so my overall range (from villain's perspective) isn't too easily defined. However, with these hands I'm not trying to overly inflate the pot pre and I want to keep the SPR above 10 preflop so I can manuever post flop (so I need both villain and myself to be deep) .
I don't have as much data as I would like vs these types of villains because like I said, these situations are pretty rare, like they happen 1% of the time imo. But I know that in my notes vs these players I really like having value hands like pockets much more than I like having AK/AQ type hands, though of course I'd go to war in a heart beat with AK/AQ vs those villains preflop and have no problem hero calling them on relatively safe boards with AQ ace high. Just sayin that against these players, pockets like 88+ do very well against them as they are just so likely to overship on you thinking that they have two live cards (and by live cards I mean ATC like T7, 93, etc) and so when you do have 88+ it just dominates them moreso than having AK/AQ would.