Dynamic Full Ring Poker

by James Sweeney

  Check. A check can be a great idea, especially when the bet doesn’t accomplish anything. The check can allow our opponent to turn hands into bluffs on the turn, feel comfortable and call our turn bet, and minimize loss when we are crushed by the top side of his range. Of course, if our opponent would call things like 99 or JJ to the CB, then we can go for a bet here, but usually a check is a very valid option. It keeps the pot size smaller and more manageable, creates a mistake-rich environment, and avoids the always awkward flop CR (when we are uncertain on how to optimally handle it).

  So checking is a very good play here. We allow our opponent to make mistakes and also minimize our own loss when we are behind (also remember that players tend to make many more mistakes in smaller pots than larger pots). When these spots come up in 3-bet pots we really need to ensure that our bets and checks are solid. Making mistakes in 3-bet pots can destroy our WR. If we always ask ourselves what our bets accomplish we can keep ourselves out of trouble. Just bet for value when lots of second best hands are continuing, and check when a bet doesn’t accomplish much and a check creates a mistake-rich environment.

  Whiffing with AK is always a soul-crushing experience. For one, it happens about ⅔ of the time. And two, given the boards that come with missing AK, it can be hard to make enough bluffs. Let’s take the same example as before where we 3-bet AK from the button and their Callv3bet range is 99+/AQ+. But this time, let’s say the flop is Th9d5h. He checks and it is our option. Let’s check his range:

  Against 99+. This hits about 53% of the time (by either hitting sets or over pairs). We don’t really expect players to fold any of this range. Most players don’t call preflop with a hand like JJ just to fold to a low flop.

  Against AQ+. This misses about 47% of the time. We can probably expect most of this range to fold to a CB.

  If we think that our opponent will fold the range that misses, bluff super rarely, and only continue with 99+, then a ½ PSB is profitable. Because we just have AK unimproved, and we have no real hand, all we care about is getting folds enough of the time show a profit with a CB. Of course, we do have some equity if we get called, but if we can make profitable potshot stabs at these boards, we should take them if our opponent plays fit-or-fold and misses enough of the time.

  However, let’s say our opponent’s range is a bit different when he flats our 3-bet PF. Say he calls with TT+/AK. Now let’s check out his range:

  Against TT+. This hits about 70% of the time (by either hitting sets or over pairs). Again, we don’t really expect this part of the range to fold if we CB.

  Against AK. This misses about 30% of the time. We can expect this would probably fold to the CB.

  Now if we make a ½ PSB it needs to work at least 33% of the time to show profit. However, we see that he only folds, assuming no percentage of bluffs, 30% of the time. This would be a less ideal CB unless he were folding hands like JJ and QQ, or if a double/triple barrel could show profit. We just don’t expect to get enough folds to show a profit here. Part of being a good player is knowing when to cut our losses on our losing hands. Remember our motto in FR is to potshot bluffs and VB well. Sometimes our 3-bet is the potshot, especially when the subsequent CB spot is a bad one. If we think the CB spot is good then we can potshot the CB, but it is really based on his Callv3bet range versus the board texture and the normalcy of his postflop actions. Just because a CB would be good in a black and white sense (he misses enough of the time to show a profit by bluffing) doesn’t mean it would be good if he turns missed hands into bluffs. This is where reads come into play.

  A few more notes on this spot. First is position. Being IP always makes life easier. We can close action, see how they react, and make more optimal plays. However, OOP there is nothing wrong with checking AK on a K87, same as IP. If a bet wouldn’t accomplish anything, then checking and going into a check/call flop feel turn/river is totally acceptable. Of course, we will have to use a bit of hand/action reading in that spot to ensure that we don’t put ourselves on the bad side of the minimax game.

  Being OOP is actually a little harder when we miss the flop as well. Because players are more likely to peel IP than OOP, a stab with AK can be less valuable because our opponent’s C-Range gets wider. So if we 3-bet an MP raise from the SB with AK, go HU, catch a J86 flop, and think a bet wouldn’t get enough folds, a check is best. However, if a player plays fit-or-fold still, and misses enough of the time, then going for the potshot CB can be fine. If we are unsure, defaulting on check/folding when we miss from OOP is usually a good idea.

  Another note is making the bluff CB with thoughts of the turn. Say we 3-bet a steal with AK from the SB, he calls from the button and we see a HU flop of T43. If we think he calls/peels the flop a lot but would only continue versus a double barrel with an AT+ type hand, then we could consider double barreling here. But in order to do this we need a lot of information:

  His Callv3bet range is wide

  His CallvCB range here is wide

  He only continues versus the TurnCB with small range of hands

  The big issue is that we rarely get this information. This situation comes up fairly rarely, and probably comes up even less against us specifically. If we have the information, then we can make a nice profit by double barreling, especially on cards like a Q or J. If we don’t, we are risking a lot of money with a lot of uncertainty. Again, whenever we are increasing our exposure with increased uncertainty, we usually want to default of avoiding that play. But if we know the above factors are true, then a double barrel can be a great play as a bluff.

  The last note is on turn/river play. Usually when we bet with AK we do so in either a bluff or a SDV type way. We either miss the flop and want folds (aka, bluff) or we hit the flop with TPTK and have SDV/value. Let’s look at two spots:

  With 90bb effective, Frank raises from the CO, we 3-bet AK from the button, and Frank calls. Frank calls 3-bets a little wider than most and is a little bluffy postflop. The flop comes K95. He checks and we check behind. The turn comes a 4 and he bets ⅔ PSB. We call, the river comes a T, and he bets ⅔ PSB again. We call and expect to be good. We took a line that allowed him to make mistakes. We also created a 2 street pot, a pot size that we are usually very comfortable with a TPTK SDV hand. If we lose to TT or QJ, it happens. But more often than not we expect to see something like KQ or 77 show up here. Had Frank checked the turn we could have gone for a bet/bet line (with heavy consideration of folding to a raise). Our flop check effectively “deleted” a street and made for a very simple 2 street hand.

  With 130bb effective, Charles raises from MP, we 3-bet AK from the SB, and Charles calls. Charles plays relatively fit-or-fold postflop. The flop comes J76. We decide to CB and Charles calls. The turn is an A. While a bet here with something 98 or KQ could be great, betting again with AK doesn’t accomplish anything. He folds all the hands that we beat, and never folds a hand that beats us. Because of that, and assuming that we don’t need to be balanced here, checking is the best play. So we check, and Charles checks behind. The river is a 4 and we bet for ⅓ PSB. Charles tanks and calls with QQ. We notice we created the same 2 street pot size with a TPTK SDV type hand, and allowed our opponent to make mistakes. We will talk more about that smaller bet sizing in the turn/river chapters.

  This section is very long for a reason. AK makes up a large part of our 3-bet range (even if our 3-bet range is just QQ+/AK, AK makes up ~45% of that range). However, we can also extrapolate from this how to play hands like AQ or KQ when we 3-bet them. Of course, we would always prefer to be IP when we have these kinds of hands, as it should lessen our opponent’s peel range when we bluff, and allow us to win the minimax game more easily.

  It should also be noted that we don’t want to check AK on a Kxx board every single time. Not only will it turn our CB range face up in that situation, it can also lose value. If our opponent would call with worse hands, we should heavily consider betting the flop. If our opponent would make mistakes versus our bet, we should consider
betting the flop. If our opponent is a good player who can read well, we want to mix up our betting and checking so we don’t become transparent. We need to consider ranges (thinking about how depth can make calling ranges tighter or looser), and make assumptions about our opponent’s mistake-propensities given the board texture. Overall, if we just ask ourselves what a bet would accomplish and think about how to create the most mistake-rich environment possible, we make our job much easier.

  The Big Pair In A 3-bet Pot

  A lot of our range, especially when 3-betting for value, is comprised of big value pairs. While we are often in a smaller SPR pot, it can still be difficult to play these situations correctly. This section will talk about big pairs both as as overpairs and as second pairs. Playing these spots well is crucial to our WR, as misplaying the top part of our range can brutalize our bottom line.

  Let’s first talk about playing second pairs, as they are usually the easiest to play assuming that we take a correct line on the flop. Take a hand where MP1 opens to $3 and it folds to us with KK. We 3-bet for to $10, MP1 calls, and we see a HU flop. Let’s look at a few different situations:

  We are OOP on an AXXr flop

  Most players curse the heavens when the A hits the flop, but an A is going to flop about 22.5%% of the time, so it’s not a very rare occurrence. Because this type of situation happens so often, we need to ensure that we are playing it as well as possible. Let’s explore our options:

  Bet: A bet effectively turns our hand into a bluff. We would bet the A high flop a large percentage of the time with a bluff in an attempt to solicit folds, but it is a little different when we have an actual strong hand with a lot of SDV. The bet lets our opponent consider folding things like QQ and JJ, and also let’s him really exploit his positional edge if he chooses to float us. Betting creates a situation where we allow our opponent to play relatively close to perfect, and generally puts us on the bad side of minimax.

  Check: A check allows our opponent to make mistakes. It allows him to bluff, it allows him to feel more confident with hands like QQ and TT later in the hand, and minimizes our own loss in the hand. If we check, our normal line is to check/call the flop and then check/feel the turn. While most players feel they are turning their hand face up by taking this line with a hand like KK or QQ, we can and should considering taking this line with a hand like AK and Ax as well. If we check and our opponent checks behind, then we can consider betting the turn if we think he would call it with worse pairs enough of the time. If we think they wouldn’t make calling mistakes, then we can just try to get to SD and induce a bluff here and there along the way.

  We are IP on an AXXr flop

  Because we have position this spot is much easier. We can close action, get to SD quicker and at prices we tend to dictate, and have more control over the situation as a whole. Like usual, we have two options on the flop:

  Bet. Similar to when we were OOP, the bet usually doesn’t accomplish very much. A bet just creates a larger pot size in a pot where our main goal is to keep the pot very controlled. We have a good SDV hand, a bad board, and our goal is usually to keep this pot manageable and smaller in size.

  Check. A check here, again, allows our opponent to make more mistakes than a bet usually would. It lets our opponent consider bluffing the turn, gets us one street closer to SD, and instills more comfort to our opponent’s second best hands. If we check behind, our normal plan is to call a turn bet and feel the river out. If we check and he checks to us on the turn, we usually want to consider betting for value and then decide on the river if he would call a second bet with enough second best hands to warrant a bet. If not, we can check behind and be happy with the pot size/situation we’ve created.

  The other side of these situations is when our big pair is an overpair on the flop. Here, the options can be a bit trickier than just defaulting on taking a SDV line. Let’s look at a few different hands and see what goes into this type of decision making.

  Say there is a raise to $1.5 from EP. We 3-bet AA to $5 and only the original raiser calls. Here are a few different situations:

  We are OOP and see a T73r flop

  This is a great flop for us if our opponent will only call 3-bets with a range of TT+. If our opponent is the type to call a 3-bet with a range of 22+/AK then we are against a set 12.5% of the time, overpairs 26%, and the rest of the range is junk pairs and whiffed AK. Let’s explore our options:

  Bet. Against most players this is a great board to CB. Most players are going to peel hands like QQ and JJ here very liberally, given the board is safe and whiffed AK. This means there is a lot of direct value in going for a bet. If he calls, we just need to feel out the turn card. If the card is a K and we don’t think he would call with worse hands, then we can check to induce bluffs now and/or light calls on the river. If the turn card is a 5 and we think he would call with second best hands again, then we should bet as big as he would call.

  Just because we are usually considering betting multiple streets, doesn’t necessarily mean we want to get our stack in the middle though. There is a massive difference between a player calling bets in these pots and going for raises. If we do get raised at any point, we just need to ask ourselves if he would ever raise this with hands we beat. For instance, say we bet the flop for $6 and he raises us. If we think he would never do this with a bluff, then we should just bet/fold. If we think he is the type of player to overvalue a hand like QQ or JJ here, then we might be more apt to consider stacking it off at some point in the hand. If we are unsure, we should just assume that tight players will rarely bluff in these spots and looser players are more likely to misunderstand SDV.

  Check. Against players who wouldn’t peel pairs, for one reason or another, a check can be good to induce bluffs or more liberal calls later in the hand. While players like this are usually fairly rare, it is important that we either take adjusted lines or go for bet/fold lines.

  We are OOP and see a KT8r flop

  This flop is much different. Now there is a big card on board which hits the AK part of his range (assuming that he would have flatted the 3-bet with it), but should scare some of his smaller pairs (QQ/JJ/99/etc.). Due to the texture being much different, our line changes a bit as well.

  Bet. Betting on this board is still a good idea against players that would call with many second best hands often. Because we are OOP, and our opponent is IP, they may increase their calling frequency which makes betting a good play. So against calling stations we might consider going for a bet here. However, against players that would only continue versus this bet with hands that beat us, a check could easily become the best line.

  Say we do bet for $6.5 and our opponent calls. Our action on the turn is based on how we feel he would make the most amount of mistakes. If the turn card comes a 3 and we think that he would call another street with weak hands, then we could bet. If it comes a 3 and we think he would make more betting mistakes than calling mistakes, then we might check and induce a bet. Whether we check/raise or check/call after that is based on how we think he would react to it. If he would give favorable action to the CR, then do that. If not, then check/call and feel out the river. The most awkward spot is when the turn is a big card, like a K or a Q. On these cards, we usually check and induce action rather than bet, as a bet won’t usually solicit favorable action. Whether we check/call on those cards is based on our opponent’s bet size, and frequency of bluffing versus VBing on that particular card. Just because it is a 3-bet pot doesn’t necessitate that we stack off every time.

  Check. Different broadway boards can drastically alter which actions are best. For instance, as the high card on flop gets lower, it makes betting versus a continuing overpair range more favorable. But as that high card gets higher, especially against players who wouldn’t continue versus it with second pair type hands, checking becomes a better option. The check should induce bluffs and lighter calls later, while also minimizing loss when we are behind. Yes, it gives our opponent a free card to impr
ove, but we take the parlay that we make more when he misses than we would lose when he hits.

  Say we check and our opponent bets. Our usual action would be to call and then check/feel the turn. If our opponent fires another bet, especially a big one, when it is unlikely that he would ever take that line with a weak hand, then we might consider check/folding. However, we do need to consider combinations. Because we have AA, it means that at most he would have 6 combos of AK in his range, and there are 3 combos of each set. So if we think he would value AK heavily, and that AK is in his flatv3-bet range, then it makes check/calling a better play. However, if he would check SDV type hands behind, and only bet that turn with sets or better, then we might check/fold the turn. It is rare that we would be in this situation against such a tight opponent, but it does happen from time to time and ensuring that we win the minimax game here is vital to our success in 3-bet pots with these big pairs.

  We are IP and see a 983r flop

  When we are IP we get the privilege of flexibility. We can take free cards and really exploit our positional advantage whenever we wish. On low boards we usually have to proceed with caution. While they are usually great boards against players who tend to overvalue second best overpairs, they can get tricky when we face raises. Let’s explore our options: