We have already covered the strategy for defending against c-bets on Ace-High boards when we have the position, and today we will dive into high-card flops.
In this article, we will dive deeper into defending c-bets in position on different board textures after calling preflop.
Playing on Dry High-Card Boards in Position – Kh8d2c
Firstly, let’s go over dry board textures when we are sitting at the button and call the CO raise preflop.
Key assumptions:
- The hand is played 100 bb deep
- The cutoff is opening the pot
- We call his preflop raise from the BTN
- We face a c-bet on the flop
If we examine a flop of Kh8d2c, you will see that CO will bet this very aggressively and use a big bet sizing in most situations.
Since these high card boars are really favourable for a preflop aggressor, we will be bet very often. To be more precise, you will be facing a c-bet around 68% of the time according to PeakGTO.
Therefore, to avoid being exploited, you will have to defend around 66% of the range.
Luckily, the poker strategy here is pretty straightforward. You will be calling with nearly all the hands that have equity. So, all pairs, strongest ace-highs, and even small Ax hands that have backdoor straight equity.
Since the board favors the cutoff range, you do not need to raise any of the hands on these types of boards. Calling with even the strongest of holdings will protect your overall range.
In the case where the CO player decides to skip their c-bet and checks, you should bet around 54% of the time.
In this situation, stick to a small bet size of around one-third of the pot and mix your bets between your entire range.
Key takeaways
- Call around two-thirds of the time when you face a c-bet from the CO.
- Do not have a raising range on dry high-card boards, so proceed with just calling with all of the hands you continue with.
- If the CO checks, you should bet yourself around 54% of the time and use a small bet sizing.
Defending on Connected High-Card Boards – Kh9h8d
When you face the same situation but see a connected board, your opponent will be c-betting significantly less often, so let’s look into that.
Key assumptions:
- The hand is played 100 bb deep
- The cutoff is opening the pot
- We call his preflop raise from the BTN
- We face a c-bet on the flop
Let’s take a look at an example of Kh9h8d.
As you can see, the CO will only bet around 21% of the time in this situation and stick to a small sizing in almost all cases. Additionally, he will mix his bets throughout the entire range with similar frequencies.
So when you face this small bet, you will need to defend 75% of the time because of minimum defense frequency (MDF) and the great price you are getting.
Game theory optimal strategy says that most of our hands will continue with a mixed strategy as well, meaning you will have to call and raise with the same hand at different frequencies. In this exact spot, the solver suggests raising 23% of the time and calling 52% of your hands.
This gives you a chance to raise some weak draws like gutshots or a bottom pair type of hands, and put the pressure on your opponent.
Since you are only folding the bottom 25% of your range, you will have to continue with pretty much all pairs except for the lowest underpairs, and do the same with any draws that you have. You will mostly be folding Ax hands that do not have a chance to make a flush.
If your opponent decides to check on the flop, as he will do in most situations, you can start betting yourself.
If the CO checks, you can bet 37% of the time and pick a big bet sizing of two-thirds of the pot.
Just as before, you will need to use a mixed strategy throughout your entire range, betting most often with your strongest hands for protection.
Key takeaways
- Defend a lot of your range when facing a small bet from the CO on a connected board.
- Make sure to raise aggressively with over 20% of your range when facing a c-bet and call with a 50%+ of the hands.
- Use a big bet sizing if you decide to bet after your opponent checks on the flop.
