In this highlight thread we will explore some considerations in determining whether we should cbet oop.
Here is such a hand:
Originally posted by sandraardnas
Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.Hero (SB): $108.26 (108.3 bb)
BB: $121.57 (121.6 bb)
UTG: $103.29 (103.3 bb)
MP: $445.93 (445.9 bb)
CO: $105.26 (105.3 bb)
BTN: $154.46 (154.5 bb)Preflop: Hero is SB with K
9
4 folds, Hero raises to $3, BB calls $2Flop: ($6) 6
8
9
(2 players)
Hero ???Hey, vill is average reg, maybe bit more agro.
On this flop I except to get raised quite a lot, so I wouldnt bluff much. Then, Id like to protect weak checking range with more TP+ kind of hands.
If I bet stong 9x, then it would be a bit unreachable.
Hand might seem like it needs protection but bb is probably going to bluff very often on this board especially with hands that has most outs against A9, after xb he will be probably left with hands like QJo which has 2 overs at most.
Also if I get raised then it wouldnt be dreamed spot.
So what do you think about checking high TP here?What worst hand would you x/r for value in this spot when you dont really know about his betting frequency in such spots?
In general we should be aiming to cbet with a relatively low frequency oop, especially in a speed variant environment.
Some reasons for this are:
- Coldcall ranges are a little tighter
- There are fewer fish and more reg-vs-reg play
- Being oop generally sucks and we want to try to keep the potsize to a minimum
So, in this hand we are BvB and in the SB with a marginal hand. It does not take many bluff hands to balance our confident value bets on this board. AK, AQ, AJ alone are 48 combos, add in flush draws, gutshots and we are already at well over 60 combos. If we value bet all overpairs+ that is TT+(30), twopairs(18), sets(9), straight(4 to 8) = 63 combos.
If we valuebet 2/3 pot with the prescribed bluff range we are already over-bluffing - so now we can valuebet more and include hands like A9, K9 etc or bluff less.
Considering the factors mentioned above + the potential of maintaining a valid x/c range means we should likely be maintaining a low cbet frequency oop. Even ~30% or lower might be ideal. Of course we can help our x/c range by doing so with very strong hands like top set or mid set sometimes as well. Doing so can have a dramatic effect on the equity of our x/c range while not doing much to influence the value combo % of our cbetting range.
However you craft your range - it is difficult to say exactly what is optimal and it does depend on your sizing strategy. We can posit however that generally, and especially in speed variants maintaining a low cbet % oop will be higher ev than most other conflicting strategies.
If you are cbetting with a higher frequency, overbetting turn and shoving river or something similar it opens the door to much more in the way of bluffing potential and thin value betting - however that is trivially more EV, difficult to implement as well, and potentially much higher variance.
What do you think - low cbet oop or super aggro mode and keep large cbet range?