Playing in Three Bet Pots: Four Betting to Take down a Pot
10/11/2009 10:56
on: Games Playing, Internet Gambling, The Funny Farm
You visit a casino online. You’re out of position and you see that the button raiser makes the standard button raise and he’s been playing loose and aggressive. The small blind is also a loose aggressive player who’s been 3 betting more frequently than is mathematically feasible and you’re in the BB, now with position and the ability to act last on this betting round.
Now, one of the more expensive moves, though very worthwhile moves to make at a online poker table when you’re getting a lot of loose raising and 3 betting is to put in a 4 bet.
But this requires two conditions to be met. First you need to know whether or not you’re going to call or fold if the players behind you decide to 5bet shove. Second, you need to have a tight aggressive image.
The reason this will work is simply because of the sheer strength of the move. It’s tough not to give you respect if you’re four betting with a tight aggressive image. So it really doesn’t matter what cards you have when you’re looking to do this against loose aggressive poker players.
What matters is simply the fact that you’re playing their hands against them. Now let’s say you 4 bet with 77, and you get a 5bet shove. Even with a loose player, you’ll probably want to give him some credit since his shoving range is most likely crushing your 4bet. But let’s say you pull the same move with AKs (this is all preflop) and you get a 5bet shove all in. You’re going to have to realize what his range might be, and see what cards you may have that are blocking his range. With AK, you’re probably going to be calling his shove, and it’s a hand you should consider as part of your four bet range anyway.
In any event, chances are you’ll end up either taking the pot down with your four bet if your image is in good condition, or you’ll just get a call from a looser player hoping to catch something, in which case, you can make your standard continuation bet (though maybe a bit smaller than usual to make it look like a value bet) and take down the pot there after he checks it back to you (something he’ll do about 70% of the time since he won’t connect with the flop).
