LD1977 said:
I have been trying out SCs as OOP 3betting hands and there are problems.
Kind of some conflicting statements going on here though.
First I have to drop them to 4bets and I feel it is a waste. I can fold small pairs to 4bets due to stack sizes and normal 4bet ranges - usually steal is small, 2-2.5bb, so my commitment doesn't snowball until I can't fold anymore even vs. non-100bb stacks. SCs actually have decent equity vs overpairs and I hate folding but can't regularly stack off 87s and such and calling 4bets OOP is retarded.
Except that it's the exact SAME waste whether you have a small PP or a SC. Unless you want to suggest that SC have more value in single-raised pots than small PP's do, thus it's a waste to 3b/fold them. But since that's not what you said, I assume that's not what you were thinking. Also, whether or not you can profitably jam depends on whether your opponent has a 4b bluff range. And if he does, we can 5b jam sometimes. Plus, if you're that worried about being 4b, why are we 3betting that wide to begin with? Just 3b depolarized and stack off a value range imo.
Then there are situations where I found myself questioning how much equity I truly have (paired boards + possibility of bigger FDs/straights if I hold low end of a straight draw) while I am OOP in an inflated pot and the opponent is decent. Thing is, there is slightly more equity on average but often it is not "pure" equity since outs are potentially tainted vs. a calling range which can dominate me when I hit my "nutted" hands.
Um, okay, but that's why I specified that we need to consider what kinds of hands villain is flatting. Beluga whale talked about this some. If villain is going to flat a bunch of suited connector type hands, we're usually better off 3betting depolarized for value. If he's flatting broadways and stuff then it's better to have suited connectors because we can cbet Ax boards (where we rep strong) as well as low boards (where we actually have pot equity). Point being, if you have no idea what your equity is in any spot, you should probably start considering your villain's range. Yes, even if he's a fish.
Also I'm confused, because now you seem to agree that we want some equity when bluffing, whereas before you seemed to want to 3bet things that don't flop much equity. I'm unsure if you're flip flopping or just don't know which you think.
Advantage with small PPs is that decision making process is quite simple unless I spew like in the above hand ('cause I am an idiot sometimes).
Normally 3bet is slightly unprofitable by itself (rarely do you see 67% fold to resteal) and flop cbet is profitable in a vacuum. By the turn I am usually well behind unless I actually did bink the set and with that added chance (which is around 16% by now so not exactly minor) this line appears to be profitable (small sample though).
Okay and here, I seriously am not trying to sound condescending - please don't take it that way. But decisions in poker should rarely if ever be made such that we make our life easier. If the EV is otherwise the same and we get to save some brainpower, sure. But that's not really that relevant typically. More relevant is the fact that we should be making the most +EV decisions, not marginally +EV or breakeven ones where we "know what to do." Even if we make mistakes sometimes that's how we get better anyway
Also, not sure where you're getting the 16% for a set? Are you counting flop and turn? Because those are two different scenarios and shouldn't really be considered together imo. If we do flop a set in a 3b pot, we're obviously just trying to put the money in. But if we bluff cbet a flop, I'd rather have 15-20% chance of hitting my hand OTT plus some backdoor equity, rather than a 5% chance of making a disguised hand.
Once again, maybe you can 3b and Cb small pairs OOP profitably vs. a steal range, and maybe you can't. But I'm almost positive that other hands will be MORE profitable. So if you need to add hands to 3b, pick blockers and hands that flop better.