EP open vs LP 3bet, why do we fold mid PPs but call low PPs?
According to GTOw we're calling with 77-TT only 20-30% of the time, whereas calling with 22-66 pretty much 100% of the time. Villain's 3betting range is mostly suited Ax, suited broadway, KQo+ and TT+.
Isn't 22 and 77 basically the same hand in this spot? It's always gonna be an underpair to their PPs so the only difference I can think of is with the lower PPs they have two overcards more of the time than when we have 88 etc. But doesn't that give us less equity with the lower pairs? I can't really think of any reason why blockers would be relevant because whatever PP we have we're basically just blocking one of their weaker suited aces but their overall range remains pretty much unchanged.
Is it something to do with the fact we're not opening 22-66 100% of the time, whereas we are opening the higher pairs basically always? So our hand is more disguised or something?
7 Replies
Like you kind of said, we defend more with 22-55 because we don't have enough of them in our opening range to achieve the optimal density without defending them all.
And as far as I understand, we don't achieve that even if we do defend all of them, that's why their EV is greater than zero, because we get paid more often when we hit a set, because we have a lower density of them.
I’d guess the middle and low PPs are very similar EV, but we don’t want to defend them all (because none of them do great against the 3-bet range) and the middle pairs block more of the 3-bettors bluffs, also probably get coolered slightly more often by straights when we hit our sets. The low pocket pairs also give us coverage on boards the 3-bettor mostly misses
Thanks guys, makes sense!
Another relevant factor is that our opponent is more likely to have an overpair and thus pay us off when we hit our set when we're playing baby pocket pairs.
That being said I wouldn't get too hung up on this exact result. These types of results are often sensitive to the exact ranges and positions. Factors like board coverage and blocking bluffs can change the output from one position to another.
You didn't mention the exact stack size and opponent position, but this can change the result.
A lot of time our opponent is supposed to bluff with hands that unblock our worst off suit combos, as those will be our auto-folds. We in turn will have to defend with some weaker combos, and we will want to continue with hands that unblock their bluffs. This can mean that the combos change from one position to the next... like BB bluffs will be different vs button compared to cutoff.
However if our opponents aren't playing accurate ranges, which is often the case, all of a sudden the blocker effects aren't relevant anymore.
Don't hands that open a small percentage in the first place generally pure call a 3bet ?
The small pocket pairs and suited connectors often do, but the marginal offsuit high card combos are more often folded.
You highlighted another reason the solver calls the small pocket pairs and folds the middle ones. It's about board coverage, so that we have some strong combos on various board structures.
The medium suited connectors fill that role for the middle boards, but since we're not playing the smallest suited connectors we need to call with the baby pocket pairs for when those cards come out on the flop.
As well as board coverage I think we are more likely to get paid off when we hit our set as the board tends to be dryer with possible straights less likely (plus less chance of getting coolered by such straights)
