Quote:
Originally Posted by browni3141
Why would you ever min 5-bet/never fold instead of 5-bet jam? I guess Snowie thinks the EVs are the same so it doesn't matter?
It's quite mysterious, but I think the min 5-bet gives the opponent the chance to make a bad call or a bad shove with something from his/her light 4-bet range. (4-bet ranges are typically very polarized, containing hands like A6o or ATo or A2s that don't work well as flats of 3-bets. An opponent that flats a min 5-bet, or 6-bet jams A6o with no fold equity, isn't going to do very well.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by browni3141
Why would Snowie flat such a specific narrow range? Isn't it extremely exploitable to see a flop with a range that is only AQ-AT? On low boards we never have a pair.
AQs-ATs make up a decent chunk of the range it flats 4-bets with, but it flats with TT-88 (and sometimes better and sometimes worse pairs) from time to time. There's loads of mixing going on, and each positional battle has different ranges.
Quote:
Originally Posted by browni3141
Is AK ever flatted earlier in the tree? That would be one situation where perhaps A5s is 5-bet just because there aren't enough AKs combos to balance.
Yes. In fact, there are some spots (like CO or BTN vs an UTG open*) where it 3-bet/calls KK and AKs in position, but 3b/5-bets QQ and AKo. It's possible that some Axs might also appear in its 5-bet range occasionally, but when I built my charts I ignored anything that had a super-low frequency.
My analysis of those spots where it called with KK/AKs instead of 5-betting was that KK and AKs do very well flatting 4-bets in position vs a 4-bet range containing some Axs (KK/AKs also 'protect' some of the lighter calls), but that QQ is more vulnerable (it hates seeing overcards on the flop), so it usually 5-bets QQ/AKo and calls a jam.
In a spot where the player in position can 4-bet, Snowie often flats KK, QQ and AK, and its (very polarized) 4-bet range is very narrow and is mostly made of AA and some Ax airballs. According to Snowie, KK/QQ apparently have a slightly higher EV as calls in position instead of 4-bets in many spots. (i.e. It doesn't stack off KK pre-flop particularly often).
Snowie almost always hits the re-raise button with AA, but there are a couple of spots where it
sometimes flats 4-bets with the nuts. This tallies with how some regs play. Quite a few regs say they like to flat with AA in MP v an UTG 4-bet, and I can kind of see their point. (If you 5-bet in that spot, it's hard to get any action, as everyone puts you on aces, but flatting with AA keeps all the bluffs in).
The kind of summary I'd use for Snowie's 3b/4b/5b strat is that it does a lot of calling in position when faced by 3-bets, the 4-bet ranges are extremely polarized (especially in position), and the (min) 5-bet ranges are very nutted.
* In MP vs UTG at the micro level, it flats QQ, but has AKo as a 3b/
fold, apparently because UTG's 4-bet range is so strong.