preflop strats with premiums: slowplay or fastplay?
facing a 3bet with a premium, solver tends to prefer different options across different stack sizes and positions.
sometimes it mixes slowplays with fastplays, sometimes it's purely calling, 4betting or jamming premiums.
what are its incentives to choose one way over another?
8 Replies
Deviousness. When BU solver flats AA vs the SB solver 3b the SB solver commonly forgets this is possible and screws up its range post.
In the other direction.. there was that benjamin buttons chap in cash last year who claimed his super mda-enhanced AI model predicted some unconventional exploits with 3b jamming ranges OOP that yielded >solver EV in practice. Like 99/AQ+ having nearly always about ~50% equity on average when called in most cases vs fish.
AA +23 EV as a 3b jam vs GTOw's +13, iirc.
However, he died so we've no way of knowing if any of it was true.
Calling range: the wider you flat (or equivalently, the more aggro villain is postflop), the more incentive to trap.
how's that an equivalence?
anything else?
in reality, say solver fastplays, but we choose to slowplay.
how big will the EV loss be vs specific populations? or can it actually be the best option under certain exploitative conditions?
say people overfold vs 4bets, and "gift" you chips in 3bet pots.
do you wanna call and take them post with premiums, and 4bet rather bluffs?
Calling range: the wider you flat (or equivalently, the more aggro villain is postflop), the more incentive to trap.
how's that an equivalence?
anything else?
in reality, say solver fastplays, but we choose to slowplay.
how big will the EV loss be vs specific populations? or can it actually be the best option under certain exploitative conditions?
> how's that an equivalence?
Good question. When you call wider you have a weaker range, therefor villain is incentivized to attack more postflop.
> can [slowplay] actually be the best option under certain exploitative conditions?
Yes, almost anything can be exploitatively justified. If your opponent is super aggressive after you call, and over-folds a bunch facing a 4bet, then slow playing AA might be best regardless.
Do you have any particular slowplay spot in mind?
I think the BU v blind spot makes somewhat intuitive sense, being in position vs a 3b range stocked with coolerable Ax. Plus is mixed so the tactic only marginally creeping in vs a good opponent.
I find SB's flatting AA to the 4bet more perplexing tho. Now that's some sneaky shit
