PLO From Scratch Part 11

Theme: C-betting in 3 and 4 bet pots and defending against them.

We will assume the common scenario of 100bb deep and pot being HU.

- Generally want to avoid bet/folding in 3bet pots as SPR is generally 3 to 4 therefore need to assess our fold equity and hands equity before we c-bet.

- Generally right to jam after 4betting anytime pre flop given the hands we choose to 4bet pre flop.

- In example 2.1, we 3bet and flop air on a K-high dry board. When we calculated the amount of hands villain continues with given his HUD stats we realised a c-bet was profitable regardless of what we hold as his range missed over half the flops (we calculated with propokertools.com). We did use conservative assumptions and it was still profitable.

- There is a HUGE difference with good AA** and bad AA**, so much so that if we 3bet all AA** some are not profitable to c-bet due to the lack of extra pieces of equity we pick up with good AA**

- When we 4bet a non-AA** hand (AKQTds for example), and we do not get 5-bet we can assume villain does not have AA** and we play accordingly, as a c-bet will often be profitable as we both miss at times and if we do get called, we can catch up with our over cards.

Playing against a C-bet

- We will focus on HU scenarios where we are too weak to continue on past the flop.

- This is because multi way, we generally play fit-or-fold, with our strong hands HU we either CR OOP or slow play/value raise IP.

- We can find spots to (check) raise or float our opponents when both opponents’ ranges are weak as we do not want villain to win every pot where ranges are weak.

- We can CR bluff small against an opponent who c-bets to often in LP on a dry board, they are unlikely to 3bet bluff us initially. In the long run we have to remember that both players need to re-adjust to counter the other.

- In terms of when to do it, we go by feel/instinct and preferably have blockers to draws etc. (similar to bluffing by randomization in NLHE), they have a small effect sometimes, but other times they can have a significant change in the % for fold equity and equity we have.

- Floating when we have naked draw but not enough implied odds works well as we can use steal equity to make up the necessary edge we need to make a profitable play. Ideally they have a wide weak betting range on the flop, straight forward on the turn with weak hands, villain never check raises and we have some outs. Better than raising because with our bare nut draw we cannot stand to get 3-bet and be pushed off our draw. Do not ALWAYS bet the turn against tricky opponents who can CR though, use scare cards otherwise we just hope to hit river and get paid.

BUGS’SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES FOR C-BETTING THE FLOP

C-betting in heads-up singly raised pots

• C-bet most flops heads-up, both with your "air" hands and your strong hands
• Keep in mind that with high SPR, you want strong, nutty hands when getting all-in
• You can let your bet sizing vary according to flop texture (but not according to your hand strength). For example, c-bet small on dry/light flops where the opposition rarely is strong (e.g. :8H :5S :2D , :JS :6C :6H , or :AD :7H :3S ). Use the same bet sizing for your bluffs and value bets
• In position, check more flops with marginal hands/draws that have some outs (e.g. a nutty open-ended straight draw without anything extra) and that will benefit from a free card. This is especially important when there's a high risk of getting check raised, and you have a hand that has decent equity with some outs, but it's not strong enough to continue after a check raise
• With marginal hands that have few outs (e.g. top + bottom two pair on a coordinated flop) it's generally better to bet-fold than to check and go for pot control. Keep in mind that you're rarely way ahead/way behind in PLO, and inducing bluffs with marginal hands has less value than in NLHE.
• When you're playing against a c-bet in a heads-up pot, think about how to exploit players who c-bet too much, or who give up too easily on the turn when they get called. You can attack them with selective bluff raising/bluff-check raising on the flop, or float with marginal hands/draws, planning to sometimes steal the pot on the turn when they check

C-betting in multi way singly raised pots

• Rarely c-bet the flop as a pure bluff in a multi way pot. With 3 or more opponents, play completely fit-or-fold, and only c-bet for value or as a strong semi bluff with your best hands
• But if you have a little extra, for example presumed good fold equity, some equity, some blockers, some outs, and information from seeing your opponents check, you might take a stab at the pot also in a multi way pot
• Don't try to fight back against c-betting without a hand in a multi way pot. If you are too weak to continue, based on the showdown equity of your hand, usually just give up. Don't attempt bluff raising or thin floating in a multi way pot without good reads and good reasons to think it will be profitable
• Other than that, use the principles listed for heads-up pots, and remember that with many opponents it becomes more important to focus on nutty hands when big pots get played.

C-betting 3-bet and 4-bet heads-up pots

The adjustments we make in our c-betting strategy in these pots revolve mainly around the fact that low SPR makes it correct to lower our hand strength requirements post flop.

In a singly raised pot, the all-in pots revolve around the top of people's ranges, namely the nutty hands and nutty draws. In 3-bet pots we will also often go all-in with the middle part of our range, for example pair + nut flush draw, a good-but-not-monster wrap, two pair without backup draws, etc. And in 4-bet pots with SPR around 1, we are basically willing to get all-in if we hit any piece of the flop. A naked nut flush is more than enough, and any combination of pair + decent draw is generally a monster.

For 3-bet and 4-bet pots the connection between pre flop play and post flop play is very important. We don't want to set ourselves up for often flopping poor equity in a 3-bet or 4-bet pot, and we avoid this by sticking mostly to premium suited and coordinated hands when we 3-bet and 4-bet pre flop. If we do this, we will be setting ourselves up for lots of profitable c-betting spots on the flop.