Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnySixStars
Hi Matt,
I just finished the preflop section of your book. It’s great, but I wish you had gone at least addressed the issue as to how to modify play against players who play sub-optimally. For instance, at $100 NL and below, you frequently encounter many limpers, players who never 3 bet bluff, and overcallers.
My thoughts are, vs limpers, increase bet size and decrease bluff frequency (since they aren’t going to fold).
Against players who never 3 bet bluff, 4 bet bluff less (or never?). Players who don’t 3bet bluff also make it harder to get value from premium hands. I thought it might be good to have limp 3 bet and limp calling ranges for UTG and MP. But I don’t think it would work because limps will discourage raises unless the limp-calling range is quite a bit larger than the limp 3-bet range, which means playing lots of pots OOP. I guess you could have a limp folding range instead, but that just seems like burning money to me.
Against a raise and a call, squeezing with bluff hands is good since you win more, but you are also more likely to get called since there are two players in the pot. Make a larger bet. I usually 3 bet the same range I would 3bet the opener. I never 5 bet bluff the opener after squeezing because they are 4betting into 2 people, so I figure their bluff frequency is much smaller. I don’t get 4bet by the cold caller very often, but when I do I consider the position of the original raiser. If they cold called an UTG open, I figure AK and QQ might be in their range so I give their 4bet respect. If they cold called a CO or button open, I don’t give them much credit at all and 5bet for value pretty wide/mix in a few bluffs.
Any thoughts?
You're mostly talking basic exploitative play.
I think it's really tempting to imagine you should always exploit X leak with Y strategy, but I think it's more complicated than that.
Suppose someone is too loose. How should you adjust? Most people would say "tighten up" (as you have less fold equity), which is probably a good adjustment if your opponent is a bit more aggressive and a bit more loose than average. But what if your opponent is crazy spewy? I'm talking he almost never folds, plays ATC pre-flop, and will raise recklessly post-flop even with a weak hand. If you follow the simple and commonly given advice of "Play loose if your opponents are tight and tighten up if they are loose" you'll end up folding tons of +EV hands. Here, you should adjust by playing looser and hope to flop a decent pair and stake your insanely spewy opponent before he busts from someone else and leaves.
So, my point here is it's often tricky how to exploit someone. If they're crazy loose, I'll loosen up. If they are a bit too loose, I'll probably tighten up a bit (not "3-bet bluff" as much, but still likely 3-bet bluff some very good bluff randomizers.... I'll also likely 3-bet bluff wider "for value").
When we're multiway I'm more likely to 3-bet loosely "for value," especially if I think an opponent might be bad/loose. I probably get it in pre-flop or end up playing 4-bet pots when behind with 99-JJ/AK more than the vast majority of players as I care a lot about denying equity and I just deal with it when I face the 4-bet.