4-Bet Bluffs (4) - Out of Position

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4-Bet Bluffs (4) – Out of Position

by Miiwiin

After the first three parts dealt with the theory behind the topic, you will now find out when you should employ 4-bet bluffs and when you shouldn't. In this context, we will take another close look at the three out of position examples from part 3.

We don't want to make it too complicated here, so we will limit your opponent's stats to the following six and assume that the sample size is big enough.

VPIP / PFR / 3-Bet / Fold-to-3-Bet / 4-Bet / Fold-to-4-Bet

Out of position, you raise from early position, late position 3-bets

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
Hero ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100) (25/19/10/59/18/51) [VPIP/PFR/3b/ft3b/4b/ft4b]
SB ($100)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 5, 6
Hero raises to $4.00, 2 folds, BU raises to $12.00, 2 folds, Hero...

You raised your suited connector from UTG and get a 3-bet from a fairly aggressive opponent.

He 3-bets quite a lot and seems to use his 3-bet and 4-bet weapons fairly often. He has folded his hand to 4-bets in around 50% of cases so far.

Let's look at the most important aspects you have to consider in your decision-making process:

Balancing:

This situation occurs quite frequently. Although a UTG raise does signal strength, it is carried out with a wide range. The raise from the button makes your hand barely playable now. A call out of position is hardly ever a valid option here.

If you fold marginal hands too often here, a 4-bet will automatically reveal the strength of your hand. Especially when you are in UTG, where your 4-bet is an extremely strong move, you have to make sure that you don't only 4-bet for value.

Balancing vs. Villan:

If you don't have any history with your opponent, there is no reason to assume that your opponent is trying to launch a personal attack on you. He is on the button, you are the UTG. Usually, you won't often find yourself in such situations with him. Your opponent will primarily focus on taking advantage of his position. That's why direct balancing in order to defend against his aggression is not necessary here.

Card removal / 4-bet possibility / raise size:

With your suited connector, you will not achieve a card removal effect. A 4-bet is possible, however, and if your opponent pushes you could make a correct fold. If you decide to go for a 4-bet, the ideal size would be around $29-30.

Result:

You should be careful in such spots and ask yourself if your opponent will give you credit for your UTG raise, therefore 3-betting with a tighter range. Anyway, it looks like a perfect spot for your opponent. It's unlikely that you can perform any miracles out of position here.

If this is the first time you find yourself in such a spot, a fold is the slightly better alternative. From that point on, however, you should make sure that you do 4-bet every now and then in such a situation.

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
Hero ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100) (17/15/6/70/6/40) [VPIP/PFR/3b/ft3b/4b/ft4b]
SB ($100)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, T
Hero raises to $4.00, 2 folds, BU raises to $12.00, 2 folds, Hero...

Balancing:

See Example 1.

Balancing vs. Villan:

This time you are facing a 17/15 player, who is a lot less likely to make aggressive preflop raises. He will mainly focus on playing his cards and you should give him a much tighter range on the button. Direct balancing is not necessary against this player.

Card removal / 4-bet possibility / raise size:

Even though the opponent seems to be a rather tight player, you notice the following: On the one hand he does fold 40% of hands to a 4-bet. This means he is either capable of light 3-bets or he 3-bet/folds even with good hands such as medium pocket pairs or AK/AQ-, etc.

On the other hand, you have the card removal effect on your side. Your A blocks a few combinations of AK/AQ and AA. Of course this won't help you much if you put him exactly on these hands and believe he would fold them to your UTG 4-bet.

From a mathematical perspective, 4-betting is of course an option. The ideal raise size would again be $29-30.

Result:

Despite the card removal effect and the high fold-to-4-bet stat, there are only few reasons why you would make a 4-bet here. It won't really help your image much in this situation if you show everyone that you are capable of bluff 4-betting a fairly tight opponent from the UTG. The benefit is just too small and you are much more likely to run into a strong hand than you were in example 1.

Out of position, you raise from late position, late position 3-bets

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
Hero ($100)
BU ($100) (30/21/8/55/12/55) [VPIP/PFR/3b/ft3b/4b/ft4b]
SB ($100)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, J
2 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, BU raises to $12.00, 2 folds, Hero...

Balancing:

This spot will occur quite frequently. You steal from the cut-off, but the button spoils your plans. A 3-bet from the only opponent who has position on you is definitely not what you were hoping for. And while your opponent seems capable of light 3-bets, he gives up to 4-bets relatively often. On top of that, calling out of position is out of the question - especially with this potentially dominated hand.

Balancing vs. Villan:

Watch out! You have to start balancing here. This opponent will have position on you the entire time, and of course try to teach you a lesson. He will try to pocket your bets and raises and attack the blinds.

Card removal / 4-bet possibility / raise size:

The K blocks many AK/KQ/KK combinations. Against a normal broke range, you can again play a mathematically correct 4-bet/fold. The raise size is still $29-30.

Result:

It's possible that your opponent likes to steal anyway, but you may even be able to encourage him to steal if you fold to every 3-bet (he will start doing it just for fun every time). You will have to adapt and choose from these three options:

• open-raise fewer hands
• call more 3-bets
• start to make light 4-bets / 4-bet bluffs

Cutting down on your open-raises isn't necessary, calls out of position are usually a bad idea, so go for the 4-bet bluff! This is a good spot for that.

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
Hero ($100)
BU ($100) (20/11/4/67/5/58) [VPIP/PFR/3b/ft3b/4b/ft4b]
SB ($100)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 5, 5
2 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, BU raises to $12.00, 2 folds, Hero...

Balancing:

See example 3.

Balancing vs. Villan:

Does Villain know what he is doing? Not necessarily. Unless your opponent is capable of playing a "sensible" game while also paying attention to the opponent's game, balancing is usually a waste of money.

Card removal / 4-bet possibility / raise size:

There are countless problems here. You don't achieve a card removal effect, you don't have an acceptable amount of equity in case of a(n) (unlikely) call, and you can't make a mathematically correct 4-bet bluff here.

If you do decide to 4-bet, then again to around $30:

As we have already shown in the theory part, you would need an equity of around 35% for a correct call. Against AK/QQ+, the situation would look as follows:

Result:

Neither the opponent nor your hand is suitable for a 4-bet bluff.

Out of position, you raise from the small blind, big blind 3-bets

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO ($100)
BU ($100)
Hero ($100)
BB ($100) (21/18/9/69/9/48) [VPIP/PFR/3b/ft3b/4b/ft4b]

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, 9
4 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, BB raises to $12.00, Hero...

Balancing:

It's self-evident that in a blind battle you need to pay very close attention to your opponent and his actions. You are forced into this battle and have to play it out of position every time.

Balancing vs. Villan:

That's exactly why the opponent plays a decisive role. In the future, he will think twice about how often he wants to defend against your attacks on him. You will often just have to attack your opponent here because there are many hands that you cannot call with.

Card removal / 4-bet possibility / raise size:

The card removal effect does not come into play here, however, you can make a correct 4-bet/fold. As in the previous examples, the raise size should be $29-30.

Result:

This is a good spot for a 4-bet bluff. It will often be successful as you are up against a fairly loose range; at the same time you show your opponent that you won't just let him abuse you in a "blind vs. blind" situation. And afterwards, you can definitely play 4-bet/call with strong hands.

PartyPoker $100 NL Hold'em (6-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($100)
MP ($100)
CO($100)
BU ($100)
Hero ($100)
BB ($100) (32/26/12/47/17/29) [VPIP/PFR/3b/ft3b/4b/ft4b]

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 2
4 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, BB raises to $12.00, Hero...

Balancing:

See example 5.

Balancing vs. Villan:

This is a very unpleasant opponent who can make life very hard for you out of position. His stats are worrying enough; if he also turns out to be a thinking player, he will rarely interpret your 4-bet as strong. This is due to the fact that you have position on him. Your opponent only folds few hands here and is definitely capable of bluff shoving to your 4-bet. And this is of course something you don't want to see.

Card removal / 4-bet possibility / raise size:

The card removal effect is active in this scenario, 4-bet/fold would be conceivable from a mathematical viewpoint, the raise size would again be around $29-30.

However, you have to mark this mathematical perspective with an asterisk. If you think that your opponent might not just shove very lightly here, but is even capable of pure bluff shoves, the fold is not that easy of a decision anymore.

Add two bluffs with suited connectors to the loose range you are giving him:

Equity analysis
	Equity	Win	Split	Loss	Hand
Player 1	37.02%	35.39%	3.28%	61.34%	A 2
Player 2	62.98%	61.34%	3.28%	35.39%	66+, A9s+, KJs+, 98s, 87s, ATo+, KQo

And all of a sudden you cannot be so sure anymore if you can find a mathemtically correct fold here.

Result:

Still, it cannot be your goal to play 4-bet/call. You have to change your thinking here, refrain from bluff 4-betting, and go broke with somewhat reasonable hands instead. Hands such as JJ/TT or even 99, AQ and maybe even AJ are hands that you could 4-bet for value with and therefore call a shove with.

It's unlikely that you can keep such a player from making a very light move on you. That's why it has many advantages if you go broke lightly here: If you go all-in preflop with medium pocket pairs or hands such as AJo, you show your willingness to play loosely.

It can be extremely counterproductive if you play 4-bet/fold too often, offering your opponent another alternative to take your money from you.

LINKS
Related articles: 4-Bet Bluffs (1) - Theory 4-Bet Bluffs (2) - Theory 4-Bet Bluffs (3) - Theory Discussion forum: Discuss the article in the forum