Countermoves Against the Rangers: Ury Peleg Shares Strategies
Hey there, it's Uri Peleg here, and in today's GTO Wizard video, I'll walk you through a strategy for dealing with opponents who use small bets in conjunction with aggressive re-raises, especially when holding weak hands.
To understand how to counter such a strategy, first, let's look at two categories of hands on the flop: stronger ones, like and , and weaker ones, such as pocket nines, sixes, and so forth. The question is: which group benefits more from a full-range bet?
The answer is simple - the weaker hands do. When you have and , you want to boost the pot, but that's not the case with and . There are a plethora of weaker hands in the range, so the bet sizing caters to them. That's the first lesson about re-raises - they are designed for weak hands.
In poker, you need to find a balance between trying to put a lot of money in the pot with strong hands and not letting your foe bully you with weaker ones. One way to achieve this equilibrium is by betting the same size with all hands.
Use a solver to set a full-range bet. After a call and a turn, the solver will play polar - either betting big or checking. This allows medium hands, such as pocket nines or sevens, to make it to the showdown safely. That's the essence of the small bet strategy.
So, what can you do against it?
Tip #1: Defend wider
When your adversary employs small bets, remember about backdoor equity. It's not enough to simply call pairs, draws, and overcards with re-raises. For instance, on the same flop, solvers sometimes continue with hands like JT, T9, 97, 76. The same goes for backdoor flush draws - even hands like or will call a small bet. If you fold all this, you're not defending well.
Tip #2: Check-raise more often
If you don't check-raise enough, your opponent can reach the river almost for free with anything. The solver deals with this by employing aggressive check-raises, with a mix of bluffs, value, and backdoor draws, especially on dry boards.
There are also less obvious candidates for check-raising, like A6, A9s, 89s, and even a pair of deuces. By check-raising and then playing it situationally, such as by checking the turn and making a small value bet on the river, we attack our opponent's weak and medium hands without putting our entire stack at risk.
For example, with A6, you can check-raise, then adapt to the situation - check the turn, make a small value bet on the river. The most crucial aspect is to ensure that your opponent doesn't reach the river inexpensively after a re-raise.
Tip #3: Bet the river for value
If your opponent manages to execute their plan and reach the river inexpensively after checking the turn, their range becomes weaker. While solvers can check back strong hands more often, live opponents tend to have pocket pairs from threes to kings, 8x, and K-high. As a result, we need to be extremely aggressive on the river. After a turn check-check, a solver will bet the pot for value starting from the top pair, adding generous bluffs. With second pairs, they will probe smaller, applying pressure on small pocket pairs in the opponent's range. The less frequently the opponent checks for value on the turn, the more we can increase our sizing, up to overbets.
In summary, the vulnerabilities of re-raise bets are:
- After flop bets, the range left includes many weak hands.
- After turn checks, the range on the river also leaves many weak hands.
These weaknesses can and should be exploited. Conversely, large bets on the turn often come from a stronger range.
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- The weaker hands, such as pocket nines, sixes, and other similar hands, benefit more from a full-range bet in poker, as there are more weaker hands in the range that the bet sizing caters to, especially when opponents use small bets and aggressive re-raises with weak hands.
- To counter a strategy that employs small bets and aggressive re-raises, one should consider balancing the bet sizing between strong and weak hands, and not let the opponent bully with weaker hands, by betting the same size with all hands.
- To exploit the vulnerabilities of the re-raise bet, one can use check-raise more often with less obvious candidates for check-raising, like A6, A9s, 89s, and even a pair of deuces, along with check-raising and then playing situationally, such as by checking the turn and making a small value bet on the river, to attack the opponent's weak and medium hands without putting the entire stack at risk.
- In the end, when the opponent reaches the river inexpensively after checking the turn, their range becomes weaker. To take advantage of this, a player should be extremely aggressive on the river, increasing the sizing, up to overbets, to apply pressure on small pocket pairs in the opponent's range and maximize value with stronger hands.
