Cold Calling 4-bet Pot IP vs Unknown Player/Range
Hey guys, I'm new here.. Against a player in which we know nothing, is AJo a fold vs a 4bet? It has decent frequent strength but also I feel like would be dominated commonly by AK, AQ, KK, QQ.. Of course in this specific scenario I flopped poorly but as a whole should i ever be calling this or is that too exploitable?
PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hero (BTN): $2.32 (116 bb)
SB: $0.84 (42 bb)
BB: $2.09 (104.5 bb)
UTG: $2.08 (104 bb)
MP: $3.91 (195.5 bb)
CO: $4.61 (230.5 bb)
SB posts $0.01, BB posts $0.02
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has 
fold,
MP raises to $0.05, fold,
Hero raises to $0.15, 2 folds,
MP raises to $0.38,
Hero calls $0.23
Flop: ($0.79, 2 players)
MP bets $0.38,
Hero folds
Results: $0.79 pot ($0.03 rake)
Final Board:
MP wins $0.76
Hi there playthosekings, thank you for sharing your hand.
The Preflop
Here our decision totally relies on who is raising from MP and who are the blinds. Calling, folding and 3-betting are all correct lines. These lines wil be more or less EV depending totally on your Villain and the overall behavior of the blinds (if the blinds are recreational/broken stack players)
Against a NIT, I am always folding. Against a TAG I am calling 50% and 3-betting 50%. Against players who are opening too much from EP, always 3-betting for
bluff with AJ and AT for example.
The problem is that at the micros, players are too much polarized for 'monsters' or 'nothing' situations, but at 4-bet pots, they tend to commit less errors, in general.
When MP 4-bets to 2.5x, having no information of the player, we are jamming because we have some important removal of AA, JJ, maybe AK and AQ that could be on Villain's range. If we do get called, we know we are already dominated, unless you are facing a Whale.
Having no information of the Villain/MP we are folding, AJ will not play very well on spots where the players at the micros, in general, are totally polarized for value, so even when we hit good flops with AJX, AAX, AXY, KQX, TQX, KJX, etc, we are never ahead of a 4-bet range and we might end up losing more than usual, specially when we do flop two pair or trips: MP will always has AQ, AK, AA, KK and QQ and Hero/You don't, you can't have/represent these hands right now.
We can't just simply cold call 4-bet to fold flop, otherwise why are we calling a 4-bet preflop, with a very dominated hand?
If you think this player could be outplayed no problem.
the postflop
The Flop
Villain/MP is representing its 4-bet range and betting 1/2 pot for value with its entire 4-bet range, if it has potential semi-bluffs on it. Going for 1/2 with QQ, KK, AA, AK and AQ. Our other option could be raising here and pray to hit our gutter T/R.
As you posted yourself, if you believe that at the moment you were dominated for AA, KK, AK, etc, you should've folded 4-bet and let it for another moment.
Weak players don't play too much 4-bet pots on their lives to know that usually on spots like this, the 4-bet Range is dominating a ton when flop comes KQ4, so going for 1/2 pot just gives an easy fold for the player IP.
Since Villain has in its 4-bet range AA, QQ and KK (maybe KQ), it is dominating most of scenarios and usually regulars are going for 1/3 pot both in 3-bet pots and 4-bet pots some regulars at mid limits specially, are going only for 1/4 pot, depending on several factors, of course.
Size bet is precious information that weak players give for us. MP should not be self-value betting its range going with so huge sizing, so it is up to you to figure out whether this information contains more bluffs or more values. IMO, usually contains more values than bluffs.
Regards;
Carlos 'Aballinamion' Barbosa
