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Optimal frequency regarding monotone boards in 3bet pots

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Optimal frequency regarding monotone boards in 3bet pots

First of all excited to join the community. Site looks awesome

One of the spots I have the most trouble with in 3bet pots is in mono boards.

I find this situation very hard to play as the aggressor because I get floated/raised a lot when I make the initial cbet.

It is also difficult to do multi street barreling because ppl's calling range is very wide.

Say for example we have AA89 on Q25ccc board. I feel like betting isn't that good of an option because once I get called I lose the hand. Maybe check calling becomes better to balance my range when I have 2p/lower flushes? By doing this I can c/c and if the turn goes c/c I can either showdown the hand or turn it into a bluff repping a medium flush on river?

If this is the line we take with medium hands then our flop betting range would then become polarized. Would this distribution be good for this spot?

8 Comments

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Phil Galfond 12 years, 3 months ago
Thanks for joining! Glad you like the site. We worked very hard on it, and are continuing to.

To be entirely honest, I'd say that this is the spot in PLO I have the most difficulty with. So, good post.

I like the idea of having a somewhat polarized betting range, and checking with more medium strength hands (especially hands with outs v nut flush) and with some slowplays and nut flush blocker (to c/r river or turn... river if you have sd value).

I also think that people call flops in these spots very wide, which means you have to have a reasonably wide 2 and 3 barreling range, including 4th nut flush, and plenty of air v. most players.

Also, we really do need to be check folding sometimes when we miss. With no flush in our hand, and no blockers, it makes it more likely they have a flush. Add that to the fact that people are fairly loose in position against us, and we really need to have a reasonable amount of give-ups to protect our range.
cAp217 12 years, 3 months ago
When you say people call in these spots very wide, what do you mean? How wide of a range is a standard villian calling with? If it were reversed, what would you be calling with?
newt 12 years, 3 months ago
Or, the question is .... Phil, say you have KKxx here with no hearts. Are you floating 75%+ of the time here if you are the villian?
Jonathan Davis 12 years, 3 months ago
I think this is one of the most interesting spots in PLO just like any spot where the board is essentially locked down as the PFR in a 3 bet pot OOP. I find that c-betting a wide polarized range is very ineffective against either thinking opponents or just aggressive opponents in general. Our range is just too weak and this can be exploited quite easily. Where as when we check, we can rep a more credible range that is not mainly air since flushes are a low % of our range in general. Like anything else in poker, its extremely opponent dependent. Overall people assume most players bet a very weak wide range here with few strong hands and mostly air, so when we check and continue, our range is viewed as strong and more credible.
homer5554 12 years, 3 months ago
I think those boards to play in 3bet spots HU or multiway are often underated by video producer, because especiallly for unexperienced players (but also for experienced players) they are often very hard to play. If you play these boards HU you should think about your gameplan against different types of opponnents (the nits, the loose ones, the aggro ones) and how to react to them. Betsizing, barreling and having a check/calling range (and a check behind range) are the key concepts I would say to get comfortable for thats boards with your range. In 3bet 3way pots you have to also take a close look against which opponents you like to bluff on thats board or against which you have to value barrelling lighter. Like always there are more good flush flop and flush flops you just like to check/fold (HU also and of course 3way). A flush flop like Q42sss is a lot different than QJ8sss.
Lenny Seward 12 years, 3 months ago
With AA98 on Q52ccc I'd either B/F against players who don't float a ton/don't play back light or X/F against opponents who will make life hell on the flop and/or later streets. I'd like to X/C with some hands that can turn equity or have SD value like two pair, and maybe some wraps against people who will bet a lot when checked too with a wide range. Also, X/C with some flushes that don't want to get raised OTF. To balance the times we're barreling with our nut/near-nut flushes, I'd barrel hands that have blockers and top set that can improve and might be good if they view us as flush heavy and are calling with lower sets.
RiverOfTears 12 years, 2 months ago
I would recommend a balanced barreling strategy as a default and then you can adjust a little bit according to type of player Villain is. To construct such a strategy, first of all you have to figure out how often you actually have a "nutty" flush. What constitutes as a nutty flush depends on the SPR and on Villain. You do this by examining your own 3bet range and figuring out how often you flop high flushes. You then contruct a balanced barrelling strategy based on the SPR and your betsizes on flop, turn and river. Your bluffing frequency can be higher at higher SPR and with bigger bets, but roughly I would say that you can bluff the flop 2-3 times as often as you actually have a nutty flush. Turn you can then bluff with a little lower frequency, maybe about the same freq as you actually have it and the river about 30-50% depending on your betsize.

Now, that you know your optimal bluffing frequencies you can then assign blockers corresponding to the right portion of your 3betting range. For instance you may cbet the flop every times to have A-T blockers, continue on the turn with A-Q and only bluff the river with the A blocker, depending on how you put together your 3bet range.

You should note that there is a "price to be paid" for the times the board pairs and the times Villain is slowplaying a big flush, so you probably have to take some bluffs out of your range. But overall you now have a balanced and polarized barrelling strategy vs the balanced calldown strategy. Note that if people fold too much just keep cbetting every time.

With more mediocre hands like TP, 2P, sets and low flushes I would mix it up and check more.

I would then adjust my ranges to different players a little bit. Against a very stabby opponent I might XR more often instead of cbetting. Against the over aggro lag I might slowplay multiple streets more often.

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