I was wondering if you could give me some poker advice?.
When I get really deep in some tournaments and I bump into other skilled players who know all the tricks etc . I have been in a few situations where I have been 4 betted and I have had to fold.
I was pre FT in a $22 5k g game on pacific network and it was last 18 left , there was few well known profitable regs at the table and a couple of fish.
There was 1 player I had never seen b4 but could tell he was a shark he was basically playing the way I do…either 3 betting or folding and being the aggressor , he was very aggressive and he was two places to my right and when he had pos and all folded to him he’d raise my BB from the button. I folded a couple times to him but the 3rd time he raised my BB I 3 bet to defend with 67os.. which he came over the top with a 4 bet……which i folded…
I didnt know to jam him hoping he would fold or not.??.. bcoz I think a player of his skill level prob knew I was just defending my BB ??? and I have been in a spot like this a few times, I also have jammed the 4bet which they have folded but the players i have done this to were not as skilled as the player i mention previous … I am doing the correct thing and folding to the 4bets ? or is there a method I can do to improve against these good players ?
you would make my day if you could help
regards
JAM
Senor Jam,
First of all please forgive me for the brevity of this message, but I spent twenty minutes deciphering and editing your original email so it could be understood publicly.
Now the topic you bring up is a good one. How do we defend versus a player wh0 knows we are threebet bluffing? This is especially interesting in today’s game where there’s more and more players that are convinced that putting in more bets is all they need to win.
There’s a few ideas that have really helped me in these situations. For one, I like to check a person’s Fold to 3bet percentage. If someone has a Fold to 3bet of 60% or higher they are likely great targets for a light threebet…provided your name is not Assassinato and you don’t have that dumbass’s image.
If the person is adjusting you need to lower that percentage, because in actuality its probably not as high when he’s confronted with a common resteal situation. He’s far more likely to find a light fourbet when he raises from a steal position and you threebet from the blinds…that’s a very typical spot. Look for spots that aren’t as typical.
If your opponent doesn’t fold to threebets that much you need to study further or not threebet him. If he flats threebets quite a bit and folds on the flop 60%+ of the time or more to a continuation bet then you can set up many flop C-bets. If he doesn’t fold on the flop but he does on the turn you better be prepared to double barrel. And, if he never folds, you need to start threebetting more decent aces for extreme value.
If your opponent fourbets all the time and never folds to a threebet you need to 3bet/5bet them (preferably with an ace blocker since you’ll rarely get to a flop with a suited gapper) or you need to not 3bet them at all. Open up your value 5betting range to include hands such as A-J or 8-8.
Think ahead. Look at what he does with others. Study him. Crush.
My Plugs: Check out my vids at Pocketfives Training, contact me for lessons at assassinatocoaching@gmail.com, see other stuff I write with my friends at www.pokerheadrush.com, and follow my Twitter at TheAssassinato