AKo from MP vs SB defend

Either call the 3bet or 4bet/call. 4bet / folding such a strong hand is in my opinion is the worst play you can make. You need massive information to 4bet / fold - he should be able to call weaker hands and almost never bluff, which is unrealistic. Best conservative option is just calling the 3bet and play the hand in position postflop versus his wide 3bet range from SB.

Got it, thanks!

As a rule of thumb i 4bet/call from later positions co btn sb and in early positions utg and mp i prefer calling hands like AK unless i have decent info villain is on the aggressive side.But don't 4bet to fold it's a value 4bet when you choose to take that line so call the shove.You can use an rng to help with these decisions with mixed strategy hands not something i bother with atm.I'm not sure how disadvantaged i am not using an rng tbh that's something you would need to look in to.But i susspect i'm not heavily disadvantaged below say 25nl or 50nl by making the decisions based on more static ranges.

Originally posted by RedsYNWA
As a rule of thumb i 4bet/call from later positions co btn sb and in early positions utg and mp i prefer calling hands like AK unless i have decent info villain is on the aggressive side.But don't 4bet to fold it's a value 4bet when you choose to take that line so call the shove.You can use an rng to help with these decisions with mixed strategy hands not something i bother with atm.I'm not sure how disadvantaged i am not using an rng tbh that's something you would need to look in to.But i susspect i'm not heavily disadvantaged below say 25nl or 50nl by making the decisions based on more static ranges.

Currently, I am following W34z3l's preflop charts quite literally. There, AKo from MP and UTG is a 4bet vs a 9bb 3bet, regardless of being IP or OOP. (However, there are no charts for defending vs 5bets as it solely depends on villain's range.)

Similar to your rule of thumb, my intuition is to be a bit more cautious when I am in EP. Normally I would just call a 3bet from that position. I guess, that conflict plus lack of experience lead to a wrong decision. I made a mental note now, that every time I 4bet with AKo I will always call a 5bet shove. (Only makes sense to fold if you know for sure that villain only 5bets with KK+)

I'm guessing those ranges are balanced with some 4bet bluffs maybe AJs KQs AQo type hands ? so AKo would be a value 4bet in that case we don't fold the value part of our range to a 5bet.What are you doing with QQ and AKs in these spots ?

I'll only fold AK if villain 3bet stats show like 1-2% with decent sample size.
Since villain is relatively unknown, I'm happy to GII with AK

Originally posted by RedsYNWA
I'm guessing those ranges are balanced with some 4bet bluffs maybe AJs KQs AQo type hands ? so AKo would be a value 4bet in that case we don't fold the value part of our range to a 5bet.What are you doing with QQ and AKs in these spots ?

Here is the exact range for MP vs 9bb 3bet IP:
4bet: QQ+, AKs, AQo+
Call 3Bet: JJ-77, AQs-ATs, KJs+, QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s

Here is some of what he says about countering 3bets:
- In general the player pool doesn't 3bet enough and tends to far towards value
- Natural exploit is to fold more frequently vs 3bets
- Slightly overfold in general ~60%
- 4bet more aggressively OOP (but defend tighter)
- Cold-call more liberally IP (and defend wider)
- Use depolarized 4betting strategies (extended value range)

Since this is a depolarized range, there is not an obvious 4bet-bluff kind of hand. When villain 5bets, it all comes down to an equity problem, whether you call or not.

AQo would definitely be your 4bet bluffs in this spot i'm assuming the rest should be 4bet/calls.And if you cant reasonably 4bet say QQ AKo for value if you have info they are on the tighter side then lean towards flatting those hands vs the 3bet.