Game is usually at least 5/5/10, often 5/5/10/20, 5/5/15, etc. Game is very reg heavy with some pros a good portion of the time. I usually buy in for $2k.

I have faced a few marginal spots where a cold 4bet comes into play.

Hand 1: 7 handed 5/5/10, $2,000 effective hero from LJ with QQ opens to $30, unknown 30s age player CO raises to $100, 2nd blind unknown young 20s player raises to $400. Hero - all in for $2k

Hand 2: 9 Handed, 5/5/15, $2k effective LAG/reg HJ to $40, hero in CO with QQ to $130, aggressive reg capable of light reraises pre (but unknown cold 4bet range) in SB to $410, HJ thinks for about 10 seconds and calls, hero all in for $2k.

I know GTO wizard will have partial folds and calls with QQ in spots like these, doesn't seem to want to jam from what I've seen. But I think the cold 4bet range from hand 1 and the cold 4bet + HJ calling range are much wider than a solver would out them. They should both mainly be folding jacks at equilibrium, HJ almost pure. It is quite possible SB is 4betting JJ and TT here and HJ is calling with those hands, maybe even lower as well. SB may not be cold 4betting as much suited A, suited K, and lower pairs compared to the solver though, although those are still mostly folds by the solver anyways.

I feel like hand 1 is a lot closer facing two uncapped ranges. Any merit to call/fold, or even just folding sometimes? Call/call?

Hand 2 I feel like I am always jamming because of the dead money from the caller and what looks like one capped range.

I am also not entirely sure what to do with the rest of my range here as well. I think I would jam AA, KK, and AKs in these spots. The more I think about it, JJ, TT, AKo seem like they might just be folds in these spots, although hand 2 seems closer. Especially in hand 2 where I suspect both players are probably looser than the solver, maybe staying wide is the play.

One thing that I don't feel super confident about in my thought process is that I play a fair amount of flats with QQ facing a standard 4bet from an opener after I 3bet. But the cold-4bet range should be even stronger than a normal 4bet range plus I may already be facing a 3bettor with an uncapped range as well. I want the hand to not go multiway so badly that I immediately default to jamming despite facing two very strong ranges. I wonder if I am making some mental mistake here.

Any advice on these spots and how to approach cold 4-bet pots in general in live poker is appreciated.

Hand 1 being 200bb deep I like flatting half TT (fold rest), all AKo and JJ, half AA and AKs. Jam KK/QQ and rest of AA/AKs

Hand 2 can vary upon what u make of HJ flat. If he’s tricky then we flat TT/JJand half AA/QQ. Jamming QQ+/AK seems standard being 125 deep

This is purely intuition, haven’t analyzed/studied this deeply.

Hand 1 is a massive punt. I think QQ is much closer to a fold than a shove. You can gii @100bb, but even that isn't a great spot. Ranges are really tight, QQ is just not strong enough to shove 200bb. Live players tend to play looser than GTO even in reg battles, but without additional reads I'd assume young pro knows what's up, and mostly just stick to proper ranges. Shoving QQ is a huge adjustment without any proof they are ool. If they were playing remotely close to optimal it's suicide.

H2 is much better, but still a bit light, flatting is a decent option here as well. Readless it's kind of whatever, flip a coin.

Just one more thing, I don't know how often this happens, but if your opponents are playing very aggro pre and your opens frequently get raised, then open smaller like 2-2.5x, especially from earlier positions. Also, find a better game lol

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, now that you mention it hand 1 was way more of a punt, not really the same situation.

I don't mind going 2.5x in a 5/10 game, I actually like doing so even though it is small for live. Intuitively though, since the structure of these games is 5/5/10, that seems more like a 10/10 game, so it just feels like I should be opening to a little more than 2.5x. Maybe not though, not really sure.

It's a factor for sure but I think it's much more important how opponents react to your opens. They get better price for a call vs small open, and they are better off 3betting vs big open. So in an aggressive environment, where you're more likely to face 3b than call, it's better to go small. I've yet to play a live game where that was the case though. Today I played a rare bad table where 5-6 of us were pros and there were 3-4 tightish regfish and it was still way more likely to get 1-2-3 calls than getting raised. I'm from Eastern Europe, from what I've heard Western regs are better on average.

In hand #1 i wonder if we are suppose to have a flatting range beside AA? Seems everything else is a fold/shove in that spot.

At 200bb I think we should. At 100 I'd shove/fold. If many people think like this H2 shove gets very bad.

Fold.

Don't.

What do plausible optimistic call-off ranges look like for the cold 4bettors and HJ in H2 when we're blocking all but one QQ combo?

Hand 1: I think I am getting more on board with a fold, maybe call, but I am leaning against jamming.

Hand 2: vs two unknowns, I think a jam is problematic, because at a minimum SB will need to be cold 4betting with AKo and JJ.
But in this case HJ is an agressivr reg who I expect to be making those thing 4bets and have some lighter bluff hands.

If I can put SB on the range I put him on, then you really have to factor in fold equity. I am behind SB's range and possibly HJ's range when they call. I have done a lot of number crunching and I think even if SB is only calling off with AKs and QQ +, and HJ is only calling with KK which he may occasionally flat when SB calls, and calling QQ, KK, AKs when SB Folds, I am still + EV, with something like $20-$180 EV on my raise which is costing me $1,870 more when I raise from $130 to $2,000. I can narrow or widden their ranges a bit and still look to be +EV.

They are in an awkward spot where if they call of with AKo, it is + EV for them against my exact hand, but -EV against entire my range which has AA, KK, AKs. So it is a positive result if they fold AKo because I blow them off their equity, I win more on average when they fold than when they call there.

The question is, can I have more EV by just calling, or if I have similar EV with a call, does it make sense to flat sometimes for board coverage and balance?