BB vs BTN Continuation bet Guide
table of contents
Introduction
BTN vs BB is the most common spot in poker. How well you play this spot will dramatically affect your overall win rate. Because poker is so complex, it’s not surprising that many spots are misunderstood by players, especially BTN vs BB. This article will help you see beyond these complexities and demonstrate the key strategies you will need to master this spot. If you are a beginner and find this guide a bit too challenging right now, check out our blog post here. We provide a simple explanation for what GTO is and links to resources which can help you get started.
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Categorizing Flops
There are 19,600 different flops in No Limit Holdem. Fortunately for us there are just 1755 strategically different flops (because Ad7h2s is strategically the same as Ad7h2c). This is still a huge number to tackle and so in order to get started we need to separate them into different categories. We will then look at each category, study its characteristics, and develop strategies for effective play.
We break down the flops in the following ways:
1. Dry Rag Flops
2. Wet Rag Flops
3. High Connected Flops
4. Middle Connected Flops
5. Low Connected Flops
6. Monotone Flops
7. Paired Flops and Flops with Three of a Kind (e.g. 777)
By studying the characteristics and strategies for each category we will begin to see key similarities and differences, and from there we will build basic heuristics that you can bring to the table. These are the fundamental steps in expanding your poker knowledge and will help you master not only BTN vs BB but other spots as well.
Humans vs Solvers
We can’t expect humans to play like solvers, there are just too many mixed strategies in a solver solution that can never be memorized. Instead we need to approximate how a solver plays by finding basic methods that can be easily applied and that will work for most of the spots we encounter in game. We will take you through this process step by step. We will see that one of the most important parts in analyzing any flop is determining which player has the stronger hands in their range. Once we know this, we can understand what the appropriate bet sizes and frequencies should be. This gives us humans a very good method for approximating how solvers play. And as we will see, once we know what to look for, the process is actually quite easy to follow.
Flop Bet Sizing and Relative Peak Equity Distribution (RPED)
Flop bet sizing is a tricky subject. Many players select a bet size without being able to explain why. When asked they might say it’s the size they’ve always used, or it’s the size they see good players use. But understanding the reasons for a bet size is fundamental to becoming a better poker player. We will introduce a new term we’ve coined to assist you with this - Relative Peak Equity Distribution.
The first and most important thing to understand when studying a flop is how the strongest hands in each players range compare to one another. By strongest hand we typically mean two-pair or better. We call this comparison Relative Peak Equity Distribution (RPED), it’s a way to describe how the strongest hands compare and is the basis for determining our bet size and frequency.
The good news about RPED is that with practice you can quickly make this determination in your head while at the table. You don’t need any special software and you certainly don’t need to compare the overall equity each player has like you would with an equity calculator. Instead you just need to determine which player has more two-pair or better. Sound too good to be true? Well it’s good, and it’s true! We will run you through a number of examples to show why.
Let’s take a T53 rainbow flop. You wouldn’t expect the BB to have TT because it would have raised this hand preflop. Nor would you expect the BB to have T5, T3 or 53o as they would have been folded preflop. The strongest hands are 55, 33 and 53s. This means the BTN has a tremendous advantage when it comes to RPED, and this advantage is even larger when you include over pairs. For this reason, the BTN can choose a large bet size on this flop and we’ve seen solver solutions in some cases even use an overbet size. Yes, that’s right an overbet size on the flop! Now you may say that the players you play against do call T5 preflop. That’s ok too. By the end of this guide you will have an understanding on how to deal with that situation as well.
Here’s another example: AK2 rainbow. We know the BB cannot have AA, KK, nor AK as those would 3 bet preflop, so the strongest hands are A2s, K2s, and 22. The BTN clearly has more strong hands and because of this many players will elect to c-bet their entire range for say 33% of pot thinking they will get a lot of folds. While this might generate folds, it’s not the strategy that will generate the most EV. A solver will look at this spot differently and will bet big to generate the most EV. Since the BTN has such an advantage at the peak of the equity distribution (RPED) it can freely bet large and force the BB to continue with hands that are strong yet behind our range. Betting large (especially with flop overbets) allows the BTN to get the money in by the river. When we think about it this makes absolute sense: we have a single raised pot where our range is strong, the BB is unlikely to check-raise at any noticeable frequency since its range is weak, so why bet small? The BTN must put in the money itself if it wants to get all the money in by the river in a single raised pot so you have to bet large at some point during the hand and the solver show the best place to start on this kind of board is on the flop.
Now let’s contrast this with A72 rainbow where the solver says we should bet smaller. Note the BB can have 77, 22, A7o and A2s (it will sometimes 3bet 77 and A7s). It doesn’t have 72s but neither does the BTN. Both players will have top pairs in their range, however the BTN will have more as the BB would have 3bet the stronger ones. In addition, the BTN will have AA for the absolute nuts. So, while the BTN does have an equity advantage it cannot bet very large for fear of the BB’s strong hands at the top of the distribution. The solver instead prefers a smaller bet size (25% of pot) using a merged range. Many players prefer to use 33% not because it is a better size but simply because this size is commonly entered into a solver and so that’s what the solver spits back out.
With A72 rainbow it’s perfectly acceptable to go 25% or even less. For example, if you’re on the BTN in a 10/20 game and raise to 50 and the BB calls, there will be 110 in the pot (50 from you, 10 from the SB and 50 from the BB). Betting around 25 dollars here would be a good bet size. It’s even acceptable to bet as little as 1 bb in this spot.
While this may at first seem strange, very small bets even as little as 1 bb are perfectly fine given the right flop texture. For example, there are paired boards where it’s clear the BB cannot have any dominating strong hands. We can apply RPED to understand this. Consider the AAK flop. The BB will have strong hands (Ax and some Kx hands) but they are dominated by the BTN’s hands mostly because the BTN will have more of these hands (because the BB will 3 bet their stronger Ax and Kx hands) and they will have better kickers. The BTN’s range is so strong here with more Ax combos, AK, KK and AA that betting its entire range using a size of 1 bb is perfectly fine. The BB is left with little option but to overfold and when it does defend it will do so with a lot of marginal hands like any pair, gut shots and backdoor draws. As for a raising range the BB just doesn’t have one. The BB is completely crushed here, and we see this happening with many other paired boards such as KK4.
Don’t worry if this sounds confusing or overwhelming. After you are done reading this article you will be able to go back and understand everything we just covered and the reasons why.
Next, we will go through each category and discuss how to play the flop. We will cover donking ranges, flop c-bet, check raise and response to check raise. Our goal is to help you understand the key concepts.
C-Betting on Dry Rag Flops
Dry rag flops are unconnected static boards which means they don’t have many draws and the strongest hand on the flop will often be the strongest hand by the river. This is in contrast to a very wet board where there are many straight and flush draws and where the strongest hand on the flop is unlikely to be the strongest hand by the river.
On dry rag flops it is a reasonable strategy to bet your whole range for a small sizing such as 25% of the pot. This works well as a default strategy against most villains. However, against very strong opposition you should aim to play more optimally by varying your bet size. It’s not as difficult as you may think, it’s simply a matter of training your mind properly. We will show you how to adjust your bet size to the flop without being some sort of super genius or human calculator.
We will look at the following flops A72, K72, AK2, T53, and 923 and show you sims for them. We picked these flops for a reason – they are all dry rag flops but as we will see they have major differences when it comes to optimal bet sizing.
Let’s compare A72 vs K72. K72 is a board where you should bet range in theory. A72 however is different and this brings us back to the subject of equity advantage. Now while we typically consider two pair or better, it’s worth noting that the BB has more Ax than Kx in its range and so hits the A72 board harder. The BB also has more A7 than K7 because A7o is always called and K7o is mostly folded vs a 2.5x raise. (Note that vs a 3x raise K7 is always folded and vs a 2x raise it is always a call. So, it’s important to keep this in mind when thinking about equity advantage at the table). Taking these differences into account we see that in theory you c-bet the K72 nearly 100% of the time but you only do this 80% of the time on A72.
As for bet sizing we note that the BB has 77 and 22 in its range so it is not without some very strong hands. It therefore makes little sense to go for a very large bet on these boards (such as a flop overbet) because you will isolate the BB to strong hands like good top pairs or better.
Let’s now look at the sims for these flops.
A72 vs K72
You can see that the solver chooses a small sizing for most of its range. Larger sizes are rarely used, so it’s best for a human to just simplify and put those hands into the small sizing. There will be almost no EV loss in making this simplification.
In terms of hands which check, we believe it makes sense for KK and Kx hands. They gain very little from betting as they don’t need protection from overcards. That’s why a hand like 88 is almost always bet while TT+ is bet less often. This is because betting 88 can fold out high equity hands like J9 which can hit an overcard to the 8. A hand like KK doesn’t need to worry about overcards and is unlikely to get more than one street of value. So, it can wait and get that value on a later street. That being said, it’s useful to have some KK or Kx in your flop betting range so you can represent the K. Otherwise your range will be too weak when the K comes. This is called board coverage. Sometimes we will see the solver take a line with some combos so that on every turn card some part of its range improves. This will not always be possible (mainly when ranges are narrow such as in 4 bet pots) nor always important (when stacks are very shallow) but it’s a very important concept when dealing with wider ranges such as BTN vs BB at 100bb+ stack depths. Weaker Ax are checked sometimes too, and this helps protect the BTN’s range from turn overbets. Otherwise, if the BTN never has top pair in its range it invites the BB to overbet on any turn card knowing the BTN’s range is capped.
The BTN has a huge advantage when it comes to raw equities: 55.32%. With such a large advantage why does the solver only bet 80% of range instead of 100%? In all likelihood betting the entire range will work fine vs any normal opponent and that is what you should do since it’s much easier to execute. However, it’s important to understand why the solver doesn’t bet the entire range as it will assist us in other spots. Let’s take a closer look.
Below is a snapshot of the PioSOLVER Range Explorer for the BB (OOP player). It also shows the equity distribution for both players in a comparative graph. As expected, we see that the BTN (IP player) has an overwhelming advantage for most of the distribution chart. However, once we get towards the peak of the distribution, we see the green line of the BB shoot up at the 80th percentile and from there trend upwards to meet the red line of the BTN. This tell us that the BB clearly has some strong hands despite being at an overall equity disadvantage. We can verify this by looking at the Range Explorer chart. The BB has 17.2% of its range as top pair which is quite large. It also has a fair combination of sets.
Because the BB has so many top pairs and other good holdings if the BTN c-bets too much on this board it will open itself up to get exploited by the BB check-raising more often then it would at equilibrium. RPED is very relevant in relation to bet sizing but in terms of frequency we need to consider not just the peak of the equity distribution but extend our analysis to include all the hands strong enough to check raise in the BB’s range. it is very important to defend against check-raises when on the BTN. If a solver sees that by betting 100% of the time it loses EV compared to checking it will start checking some hands until this is not the case. The biggest factor that results in a loss of EV in betting is having to fold to a check-raise. If though you are playing the micros and your opponents rarely check-raise then c-betting this board 100 percent of the time will be a good strategy.
K72
Let’s explore this concept further by comparing with the K72 board.
We can see here that the BTN is basically c-betting its entire range. The solver checks a little bit but as a human you should simplify and bet your entire range. The BTN’s equity is 55.34% compared to 55.32% on A72. This is a minuscule difference so in essence the equity advantage is the same across both boards. However, K72 is c-bet much more often and in order to understand why we need to take a look at Range Explorer.
If we look at the equity distribution graph and focus on the peak (the Relative Peak Equity Distribution or RPED) we see that the BB (the green line) takes much longer to catch up with the BTN (the red line). Unlike the A72 board it doesn’t begin to catch up until well past the 80th percentile. Now why is this? Well if we look at the BB’s range the answer becomes crystal clear. The BB has only 5.6 combos of two pair on K72 compared to 9.7 combos on A72. It also has far fewer top pairs: 49.8 combos compared to 67.9 combos. It is true the BTN also has less two pairs but the BTN has a large advantage having much more top pairs and all the sets. When comparing A72 and K72 and determining why there is a frequency difference we are very much focused on the BB having less hands that it can check-raise with. On K72 the BB has fewer stronger hands such as top pairs and two pairs and so the BTN cannot so readily be punished by check-raises. The BB will still have to find check-raises against the BTN and it does so quite frequently, but it is now forced to do so with some very marginal holdings (including backdoor draws, middle pairs and weak top pairs) and the BTN can comfortably defend this without having to overfold despite c-betting 100 percent of the time. If you want to know more about BB defence, check-raising and defending against the check-raise read our flop play guide (but you should finish this guide first!).
AK2
We’ll now cover a different situation where the BB has a major disadvantage in terms of RPED. The board is AK2 where the BTN has an exceptionally high equity of 56.5%.
Looking at the BB’s range we see that it has 22, A2s and K2s for hands at the peak of its equity distribution. Importantly, there are no off-suit two pair combos. Generally, whenever we have a situation where the BB has no off suit two pair combos the RPED heavily favours the BTN. When we also consider that the BB has only 3 combos of sets (those being the combos of 22) compared with the BTN having 9 combos (3 combos each of AA, KK and 22) then things are indeed looking very unfavourable for the BB. You may think that this is a perfect spot for the BTN to bet its entire range for a small sizing, but this is far from optimal. Will betting small work? Yes, it will work, it’s a reasonable simplification and you will make money doing this. However, there is a better way, one that will generate even more EV and will set you apart from the vast majority of players.
The way to generate even more EV in this spot is firmly grounded in solver solutions, toy games, and poker mathematics. Stated simply, whenever the BB is at such a huge disadvantage in terms of nutted hands the BTN should bet HUGE such as 200% of the pot as shown in the solver solution above. You can’t do this on the A72 board because the BB still has nutted hands like A7 (suited and unsuited), A2s, 77 and 22 to defend with. Overbetting on the A72 board isolates the BB’s range to include the majority of these stronger holdings which is not the result the BTN wants. Now to be fair the BB will also have to defend some weaker holdings (like AQ) but overall the BB’s range will be very strong.
However, on a board like AK2 the BB is at a large disadvantage with its small quantity of nutted hands. So, it will be in a position where it’s defending the BTN’s c-bet with some very marginal holdings.
Looking at Range Explorer we see some startling results:
We see that the BB has very few sets and two pair combos and suffers from a large equity disadvantage. Top pair combos make up the bulk of the BB’s strong hands at the peak of the distribution (77.5 combos). Looking at the curve of the green line we see that the BB’s equity starts to catch up at around the 80th percentile (the top pair hands), however we also see that the BTN’s equity advantage continues to increase. The BB’s equity stays flat until the very end where the only set in its range (22) comes into play with 93.1% equity. However, elsewhere on the graph it’s readily apparent just how much of an RPED advantage the BTN has. There’s no mystery as to why – the BTN simply has more nutted hands. The good news is we don’t need a graph to make this determination. Just by looking at the flop we can see that the BTN has AA, KK, AK and A2o, hands that the BB does not have. This tells us that the BTN is highly favoured not just in terms of raw equity, but also in terms of equity at the peak of the distribution. It’s this RPED advantage that makes it possible for the BTN to overbet the flop.
T53
T53 is another board where the solver sometimes makes a huge flop overbet.
While the small bet size is used a good amount of the time, the solver most often uses the half-pot sizing. The BB has 55, 33, T5s, 53s and occasionally some T3s in its range. This tells us the BB does have some strong hands, however its range as a whole is not super strong, because it lacks the offsuit two pair combos and top set (TT). This is the key factor that enables the BTN to bet larger than 25% of pot.
Many players at higher stakes (1Knl and 2Knl) will bet anywhere from 60% to 90% of the pot on this type of flop texture because they recognise this board as being one where the BTN can bet larger due to the lack of offsuit two pair combos. While we can’t fault this strategy, we should note that there are other bet sizes and frequencies that also come into play. Many players will miss this because they lack the RAM requirements to run an accurate BTN vs BB sim. These smaller less complex sims will point to larger bet sizes being used more frequently (we’ve seen overbet frequencies of 10-15%). These same sims show the small sizing not being used frequently. Keep in mind that much of this discussion is also range dependent. If, for example, the BTN opens to a smaller size (say 2 bb) ranges will be wider and the stack to pot ratio will be higher and so the sims will show overbets occurring at a higher frequency. However, 2x is not the optimal raise size on the BTN and it should not be used (if you want to know why, check out our preflop section).
With this board we see the solver betting less often and splitting it’s bet sizes. There’s a level of complexity here and many players will wonder if simply betting range for 25% of pot is good enough to get the job done. The answer is yes it will work against most opponents, however if we want to become better players we need to work with the complexities and not always look to simplify. Our preferred strategy is one of mixing using a random number generator (RNG) so that we sometimes check and sometimes bet. And when we bet, we use a larger sizing. Let’s look more closely at the sim to demonstrate what we mean.
With a 35% checking frequency there are many hands in the BTN’s range that rarely want to c-bet because very little is achieved by doing so. And there are other hands that want to c-bet more often. Understanding which hands and why is key. Overcards prefer to bet because they have 6 outs to beat top pair. However, a hand like A9 rarely bets as it only has 3 outs to beat top pair but does have some showdown value and the possibility of improving on the turn if checked. 5x is a much more effective bet than 99 because 5x can fold out two cards that have 6 outs against it and when called has 5 outs to two pair or trips. 99 on the other hand doesn’t really need to fold out random 6x, 7x and 8x hands, and overcards to the 99 won’t often fold to a bet anyways. And when called, or even worse check-raised, 99 has only two outs to beat top pair +.
It just makes sense to have a checking range and by understanding which hands are bet more often than others (and by using an RNG) it is possible to achieve an overall checking frequency in line with the sim. This will get you playing very close to optimal with little effort. You do not need to memorize the sim’s frequencies or play like the sim. This is impossible. If you understand though the reason why certain hands check and certain hands bet then in conjunction with an RNG you will get very close to approximating the sim’s frequencies with the correct hands.
Now, if you still want to c-bet everything and your opponents are overfolding then by all means you should do this. This is a viable strategy at micro and low stakes and will likely work at even higher stakes (e.g., 500nl), provided you play future streets correctly. It will especially work well on soft sites like Ignition Casino where there are a large amount of recreational players and weak regulars. There is yet another way to simplify your strategy without deviating too far from optimal. Many of the hands are split between the 25% and 50% bet sizes and we can simplify this by using the 50% sizing for those hands that are c-bet at high frequency. We then balance this by having an even higher check back frequency for those hands that are often checked. 98s for example can be bet at 50% sizing while A7s which is bet at a very low frequency can be always checked back.
If you are wondering why JJ, QQ and AT have a higher overbet frequency than AA or KK, the answer lies in the BB’s range. Remember the BB does not have JJ+ since it would have 3 bet those hands, so JJ is similar to AA in terms of strength but at the same time it needs more protection from overcards. JJ is overbet at a higher frequency in order to fold out hands like KQo and Q4s. The BB will find it extremely difficult to continue against a 2x pot bet without at least a pair (there are some exceptions which we will discuss later when looking at the BB play vs a c-bet). Betting 2x pot with JJ has the benefits of folding out hands which could out draw it by the river while still being the likely best hand.
If you want to confuse opponents or if you want to look like a fish in a live game, feel free to overbet the pot with hands like JJ+, AT and be sure to add some occasional bluffs for good measure. You will get some strange looks, but you will still be playing optimal poker!
C-Betting on Wet Rag Flops
Wet rag flops are dynamic boards where draws are in abundance. The BTN will typically want to avoid making a small c-bet such as 25% of pot and instead go for a larger size like 50%. The main reason for this is the presence of flush and straight draws in the BB’s range. Betting larger makes it more difficult for the BB to realize the equity of his draws. We will go through some examples.
952
We see that the BTN can still make pot sized bets and overbets as the BB does not have many two pair and set combos. However, the presence of flush draws bring the equities a bit closer and as a result the solver does not overbet nearly as much on two tone boards as it does on rainbow ones. This is because the BB can more easily continue with higher equity hands that can play back at the BTN (for example the BB can re-raise a flop overbet with hands like bottom pair and a flush draw, sets, and two pairs). As a result, you should approach these boards the same way as you would approach a non-flush draw board save for just c-betting a bit less often with naked overcards.
Now you might think the solver would prefer to c-bet combos with a diamond on the basis it’s better to build the pot with a backdoor flush draw than without. Well this is not actually true. Let’s take AJo as an example:
We see the solver is c-betting all combinations, however, is less likely to bet those with a diamond. There is an explanation for this. A hand like AdJs has showdown value on this board texture and isn’t in need of protection against a diamond coming. In fact, this combo prefers to see a diamond come. On the other hand, AsJh also has showdown value but is in need of protection against a diamond which is why it c-bets more often. However, this preference for a non-diamond is very slight, so you can just use an RNG and bet these overcards some of the time. It is best to just simplify your strategy and bet all AJo say 25% of the time. If you want to up your game though you could decide to shift the percentages to bet more often without the diamond.
In summary you can c-bet wet rag flops like you would the dry version, just do so a little less often with naked overcards and low equity hands and be sure you use a larger bet size. RPED still comes into play which is why the overbet size is chosen sometimes, however the presence of flush draws and gut shots results in a slight shift in strategy.
C-Betting on High Connected Flops
High connected flops are broadway boards where straights are possible. We will now look at how to approach these boards.
AJT
The first sim we will look at is AJT:
At first glance you might be confused by these results, especially when comparing them to the AK2 board above. We see the BTN actually has more raw equity on this board than it does on the AK2 (a whopping 57.3%) and yet there are no overbets. Let’s figure out why.
Note that on AJT the BB has no sets to speak of. However, (and this is very important) it has the absolute nuts in its range (KQo) as well as a large number of two pair combos including the offsuit variety like AJ, AT and JT. Because of the BB’s nut hands and two pair combos the BTN cannot make the same large overbets that it does on AK2. If it did then the BB would have an easy job defending. Overbetting is a poor strategy when opponents can have the nuts in their range. The opposite of course is true, which is why we hear so much about overbetting vs a capped range on later streets.
If we look at Range Explorer for the BB we see some dramatic results:
We see the BB’s equity (green line) is drastically behind for most of the distribution and then skyrockets up at the peak of the distribution. In terms of RPED, things look extremely unfavourable for the BB until its two pairs and straights come into play. The BTN has far more stronger hands and overall range advantage but is restricted from overbetting simply because the BB’s range contains the nuts. A BTN who gets out of line and overbets too frequently will be readily punished by the BB’s strongest hands. Take an extreme example: if the BTN were to open shove the flop it would only be called by the nut straight, so that’s obviously a bad play!
The solver’s strategy is to split the bet sizing between half pot and full pot and bet almost 100% of its range. Rounding up to 100% just makes it easier for us humans to remember. This is in contrast to a board like AK2 where we want to bet less often but to a very large sizing because our opponent doesn’t have the nuts, nor even the second nuts. On a board like AJT we bet often for a medium size to push our equity advantage, but we stay away from the overbet to avoid being punished by the BB’s nut hands.
KQT
Now let’s look at the solver results for KsQsTd.
The BTN has 57.7% equity on this board which is actually higher than on the AJT. We see that the BB has less two pairs and no sets, however this is countered by having more straights (J9o and AJo). It’s the abundance of these straights that reduces the overbet frequency even more than on the AJT. We also see that despite the presence of flush draws, the overall tendency is to not bet too large. The solver also c-bets less often which is a tendency we see with flush draw boards.
Let’s see what the Range Explorer reveals:
Here we see the equity distribution highly favouring the BTN. When we look at RPED we see the BB’s peak equity catching up to the BTN much sooner than on the AJT board, and the curve doesn’t rise as sharply. Both these effects are due to the extra combos of straights on KQT. This prevents the BTN from betting too big despite the presence of flush draws and despite its extremely high overall equity advantage.
C-Betting on Middle Connected Flops
On middle connected flops the BTN will typically c-bet about half pot. Let’s work through some examples.
976
There are several factors in play here. The BB has slightly more straight combos due to 85s being in its range, but overall both players have nutted hands. As a result, the BB will not get out of line with check raises. Also, because this is a dynamic board, the BTN will not want to give the BB an attractive price on all its draws. The strategy therefore is quite simple: on dynamic boards the BTN will size up its bets and c-bet those hands that want to c-bet. There is no need for the BTN to protect its checking range to any significant degree (although the BTN will still rarely check back some strong hands like a set). This is because when the BTN checks back appropriately they can turn two pair, sets or straights and so any turn card puts some strong holdings into the BTN range.
Note that AA is not c-bet that often. This is because AA does not need protection from overcards. You will also see a progression from TT to AA, where the c-bet frequency falls as the pair value increases. This is a function of betting to deny the equity of the BB’s overcards to the weaker overpairs and betting for protection. Keep in mind the BB has no overpairs and so TT is similar in value to AA save for TT being far more vulnerable to naked overcards.
Underpairs will want to check since they aren’t very strong on this board and have to fold to a check raise. Very strong hands like sets and straights will tend to c-bet, though they are checked back some of the time for range protection purposes. Including some strong hands in the check back range will prevent the BB from overbetting the turn into what would otherwise be a capped range.
The BTN also c-bets some 6x and 7x hands for board coverage purposes. If these hands are never c-bet the BTN will not have trips in its barrelling range when the board pairs nor will it have two pairs on certain turns. As previously mentioned, board coverage in BTN vs BB spots is a driving factor behind flop strategy. For example: if the BTN never c-bets Q7 and Q6 then the BB will know that on a Q turn the BTN will not have many two pairs. This frees the BB to punish the BTN by check raising (or even donk betting) whenever this turn card comes. The key takeaway is you must be able to turn strong hands both when you check and when you bet, which is why hands like 6x and 7x are bet. This is contrary to the conventional wisdom that middling hands should be checked since they are bluff catchers. Doing so just opens you up to exploitation on various run outs and strong players can punish you for this.
Bluffing on the flop with naked overcards gives the BTN a 6 out draw to top pair as well as ensuring there is adequate board coverage on various turns and rivers. Board coverage is also the reason why the BTN cannot c-bet all its 9x on the flop. Otherwise the BTN’s turn range will be too weak after a check back allowing the BB to probe with large overbets. For this reason, straights and sets are sometimes checked back to prevent the BTN’s range from being capped to the point where the BB can use large turn bets as an exploit.
You may wonder why 22 is c-bet more often than other underpairs. It’s not always clear why a solver takes certain actions, however in this case we believe 33, 44 and 55 block far more of the BB’s folding range. The BB will have A3o, A4o, and A5o, hands that will fold vs a half pot c-bet. However, it does not have A2o nor does it have many T2s. So, from this perspective it makes sense to c-bet a hand like 22 which blocks less of the BB’s folding range. It’s also an advantage for the BTN to have 22 on the turn in order to have some sets when a 2 comes. Except for A2-Q2s, the BTN does not have many 2x hands. This makes 22 a good candidate to bet to have board coverage on a turned 2. It may also be the case that 22 needs more protection than the larger pairs though we don’t think this is a major factor. If it were than we’d see 33 and 44 betting more often. We believe the primary reason 22 is bet more often is because this hand does not block the A5o-A3o hands that will fold 55-33 are bet less often because they do block those hands. That being said it’s still mostly checked and at equilibrium it’s indifferent between betting and checking.
Note that when it comes to 3x hands the BTN prefers to bet a hand like K3s since it has 3 outs to top pair and still offers some coverage when a 3 comes after a flop check back.
We can conclude that playing these boards is a matter of understanding which hands to bet, as we’ve already determined the betting strategy is half pot and that a checking range is required. With practice it becomes easier to find those hands that make sense to bet. We’ve learned that underpairs should be checked and overpairs bet with a preference going to the lower overpairs. An RNG can be used to ensure 6x, 7x and 9x hands are bet at the appropriate frequencies. And in terms of which 6x and 7x to bet, give preference to those with a bit more equity such as having a gut shot. However, don’t abandon the other 6x and 7x hands as you still need to have board coverage for all runouts.
Finally, it’s preferable to bet combos having a back door flush draw. For example, Ks7s should be bet over Kc7c. We see from the sim Kc7c is bet only 12% of the time while Ks7s is bet 47% of the time.
Q85
This board is like 976 in that we c-bet around 60% of the time and mostly using a medium size. The BTN has a has higher raw equity than on 976 at 54.9%, However what really sets it apart from 976 is that the BB does not have top set nor are there any made straights possible. Because of this the BTN can bet a bit larger at times. For the sake of simplicity, however, it’s perfectly fine to default to a single sizing anywhere from half pot to full pot. Keep in mind the larger the bet size the lower the betting frequency. As you gain familiarity with these middling connected boards it will be easy to remember in game the 60% betting frequency and medium sizing.
If you want to add a layer of complexity to your strategy, you can adopt the following heuristic: the BB has no made straights, and unlike the BB, the BTN has the absolute nuts in its range (QQ), so on occasion the BTN can size up its bets. You can take this one step further and make the occasional overbet, however we do not recommend this unless you have studied this line in depth using a solver. Unless you can execute an approximation of the solver strategy on the turn and river, you will not be able to extract the additional EV from this rarely used line.
The main challenge on these boards is to work out what to bet and what to check given the relatively large checking range. Range betting such a board is a huge mistake. We see that underpairs (both to the Q and to the board) are not bet that often. This should be obvious as these hands are weak and the BB can easily have a higher pair, so getting to a cheap showdown is the goal. Strong hands will value bet and will rarely check. It’s perfectly fine to bet all your strong hands like sets and two pairs and check your weaker holdings. You will not be capping your range because you are in position, the board is dynamic and there are several turn cards that will change the hand strengths in your checking range. You can turn two pairs, sets and flushes. If you take a close look at the checking range, you will see that most of the hands have the potential to become strong on the turn. Any underpair can give you a set and any pair can turn into two pair. Any A or K will yield top pairs and any heart will yield flushes. And some cards will yield straights (note how T9 is checked back some of the time).
Once again, using an RNG program is helpful in tuning your betting and checking frequencies. We see that every hand is bet at some frequency, so it becomes a matter of choosing those hands that are more appropriate to bet. To give an example, you know you need to bet some 8x hands for board coverage, and we see from the solver that it makes more sense to put money into the pot with a strong 8 like A8 rather than a weaker one like 98. With A8 you are ahead of more hands. You may think this is due to linear hand strength, and you would be right, but this is only a small part of the story. The more important reason is that turning a 9 with 98 will give you two pair, but will also give your opponent a possible straight, opening the door to your losing a massive pot. On the other hand, turning an A with A8 is much more likely to lead you to a situation where you have the best hand and without being coolered. You are unlikely to lose to AQ as the BB likely 3bets this hand preflop. In addition, you have the chance to win a massive pot against A5o. Because of this A8 is far better to bet on the flop than 98. This serves as a reminder that we need to be constantly thinking about hands – not just their linear strength but also how our outs are going to interact with our opponent’s range.
C betting and donking on low connected flops
These low connected flops are interesting because this is where the BB can develop quite a sizable donking range. This comes back to Relative Peak Equity Distribution (RPED). The reason the BB cannot develop donking ranges on other board textures that we have looked at up to now is because the BB does not have a strong enough range to build both an adequate donking and checking ranges simultaneously.
654
The first thing we should note about this board is that the BB has all combinations of sets - 66, 55 and 44. The BB also has more combos of straights than the BTN despite 3 betting suited connectors (because the BTN doesn’t RFI 87o and doesn’t have 32s). The BB also has all the two pair combos in its range. The BB has a slight equity advantage here at 50.358%. This is the BB’s donking range:
As you can see, it’s very sizable. When you have donking ranges of less than 5% it’s quite easy to just simplify your strategy by never donking. However, the BB should be donking frequently on this sort of board, especially because the BTN is going to be checking back a lot. In fact, if the BB never donked, the BTN would have to check back a lot more. That being said, if you are uncomfortable with donking, it’s ok to still check everything. The issue though is that it may result in less EV if the BTN does not c-bet often on this sort of board and you do not find a way to make up the EV by getting money into the pot on later streets. If the BB checks the BTN only bets about 50% of the time:
This makes a lot of sense because if the BTN could c-bet 100% of the time when checked then the BB should stop donk betting so much to stop that occurring. The fact is that the BB can both donk and force the BTN to only bet about 50% of their range when checked to due to RPED. It simply has a lot of good hands to split into both ranges. Let’s look at the equity distribution in the range explorer:
This is the first time that we have seen BB’s distribution (the green line) be higher than the BTN’s distribution (the red line). When we consider the RPED, we can see that the BB’s equity sharply increases as we approach the 100th percentile and stays ahead of the BTN’s equity. The BTN only catches up towards the end due to it too having some nut hands such as straights (but again it has less absolute nut hands than the BB). While the BTN has A LOT more overpairs, from the perspective of choosing whether to donk bet and how often to c-bet that does not matter here because the focus is on the strongest hands rather than raw equity.
The BB donk bets because it has just so many nutted hands here and the RPED favours the BB strongly. The BTN still can’t overbet when checked to since the BB won’t cap its range. If the BB donked every single straight, set and two pair then the BTN when checked to could overbet the flop and there isn’t much the BB could do about it. However, of course, the BB will split its range and it’s vital that if you do a donking strategy you split your nutted hands between betting and checking. You can see above when looking at the donking range while straights and sets are bet over half the time, they are also checked quite frequently which prevents the BTN from betting too often on the flop and for really big sizings as the BTN still needs to be careful of the BB’s range. As a side note -if the BB is never going to donk this board (which is common) the BTN should check back much more often since it becomes very dangerous to bet due to how strong the BB’s range is and the threat of the check raise.
542
We will now look at another board where the BB has a slight raw equity disadvantage (49.375) and less advantage in terms of RPED.
You can see here that the BB is donking less often on this board than it did on 654. It’s important that the BB only donks to the point where when the BB checks its range can prevent the BTN from cbetting too much. If the BTN can c-bet more than approximately 50% then the BB is donking too often. Let’s look at the BTN strategy now:
We donk just enough in the BB that when we check the BTN c bets about 52% of the time. This is slightly higher than the 50% mark which could indicate the sim is donking too much, but this is ok because it is still within the correct vicinity. If the BTN was c betting over 55% then we should be worried about the accuracy of our sim. Each sim is going to have errors because Pio Solver won’t converge on 0% exploitability and with sims this large it’s almost impossible to converge anywhere close to 0% (these sims required over 50GB of RAM). In our software section we consider alternative solvers that do converge on 0% exploitability but the time taken to do this is usually not worth it.
We can see a significant distinction in the range explorer between 542 and 654.
The RPED is less favored for the BB on this board. The BTN catches up sooner than it did on 654. This is so due to a combination of factors. The BB has fewer straight combos on this board but that’s not the main contributing factor. The main contributing factor is the flush draw and the presence of huge combo draws (like straight flush draws and pair + flush draw) - meaning that both players have some monster draws with very high equity which leads to a more evenly matched RPED when compared to the rainbow board.
C betting on monotone flops
In general, on monotone boards, the BTN will be c-betting small (although there is some exceptions which we will discuss). Some people believe that you should bet big for protection on these boards, but this doesn’t make sense. The solvers prove this wrong. You end up just isolating the opponent’s range to very high equity hands. Further, as monotone boards have at the very least a flush draw attached to them, by betting big you are making it easier for the BB to play against you. Not only is it easier for the BB as a human to identify high equity hands to continue with, on dynamic boards such as these big bets in position make it harder to leverage your positional advantage on later streets because there is less money behind to work with. It also just makes a lot of sense to bet small because most BBs will have a hard time finding enough hands to continue with so it is likely the most exploitative line as well as the GTO line.
The BB will be check raising as well and the BTN typically calls with any reasonable amount of equity, so any pair or better. There will be some cases where pairs should be folded like bottom pair with no other equity. The solver will often indicate that the bottom pair is indifferent between calling and folding. In those situations, it is often better to try to exploit the opponent or population tendencies. If the opponent or the population tend to over bluff on monotone boards then it’s going to be better to call and if they play too tight on them it’s better to fold. If you don’t know then pick an option using an RNG (which is what a solver would do). In live games and small stakes games we err on the side of calling rather than folding because players are so weak and are bound to make many mistakes on later streets. However, the other view is that in lower stakes games people do not raise as a bluff as frequently on monotone boards and so you should be more likely to let your hand go. This is a judgement you are going to have to make yourself. We can tell you the GTO line is to call sometimes but you need to consider whether you can make this hand profitable or not if you do choose to call. Verse very strong opposition it’s going to be hard to make an indifferent hand a profitable call by exploiting the opponent on later streets and so it can be better to just let marginal holdings like bottom pair go. There isn’t much EV to be gained out in these spots anyway.
KQT monotone
KQT monotone flop sim which shows that the BTN c bets a small sizing about 55% of the time
A monotone KQT board is quite heavily BTN favoured when considering raw equity. The BTN has 55.818% equity here. The BTN should bet a small sizing about 55% - 60% of the time. It is safe to ignore the larger sizings in the sim here. This is different to the KsQsTd board where the BTN will c bet about 80% of the time and mostly for a half pot c bet. We must bet smaller and less often on a monotone board. This comes back to RPED. Here is the KsQsTd board again for comparison:
The BTN has 57.735% equity on this two-tone board compared to 55.818% equity on the monotone board. In both cases the IP player has far more straight combinations. As a straight is the nut hand on the two-one board, this is highly relevant. However, on the monotone board, the presence of the BB’s flushes means it’s a dangerous proposition for the BTN to c -bet to the same frequency for the larger sizing. This factor alone is what reduces the BTN’s c betting frequency and c-bet sizing. We can see the effect of this in the RPED of the players.
The below is the equity distribution chart on the two-tone board as seen above. You can see the BB’s green line takes a long time to catch up to the IP’s red line after the 80th percentile. It only catches up towards the end. The Relative Peak Equity Distribution massively favours the BTN.
Now if we look at the equity distribution on the monotone board:
You can see on this board the BB’s green line catches up much faster after the 80th percentile and the distance between the lines is very close. The Relative Peak Equity Distribution is therefore quite close and the IP and BB start mirroring each other after about the 90th percentile. The BB does not have the absolute nuts being the AsTs in its range, but this is only one combo. The presence of made flushes means that the top of the BB’s range is stronger here and so it makes little sense for the BTN to bet very big or very frequently or the BB can easily punish it.
654 monotone
The monotone version of this board is very different to its rainbow counterpart we looked at previously. While previously the BB donked due to having an RPED advantage, the presence of made flushes works both ways in the sense that now it makes very little sense for the BB to want to donk since the BTN has many strong hands in its range such as flushes. Therefore, the BB should always check. Here is the BTN c bet strategy:
On this board the BTN has a slight raw equity advantage at 50.689%. You will recall that the reason the BB can donk on the rainbow version of this board is because there are enough strong hands in its range compared to the BTN’s range to prevent the BTN from c-betting more than 50% of the time even with the BB’s donking range in place. In this case even with the BB checking their entire range, the BTN gets to have a field day and c bet relatively frequently. The BTN still must go with a small sizing though because the BB still has strong hands here. However, the RPED is very different on this board as it is monotone. It’s basically equal:
Range Explorer showing the BB’s combos and equity distribution on a 542 monotone flop. It’s quite even.
You can see the RPED is very evenly matched. Therefore the BB no longer donks and the BTN has to choose a smaller sizing and cannot go overboard with c-bets.
AK2
You will recall we looked at AK2 already and concluded the BTN should bet very large on this board due to its Relative Peak Equity Distribution advantage. Because we bet very large, we also do not bet very often. A very interesting thing happens when we turn this board to monotone though.
You will recall we c-bet about 40% of the time on a normal AK2 board. Now we c bet about 30% of the time. We also c-bet smaller being half pot. While we are not c-betting very small, it’s all relative. On the rainbow board we were c-betting 200% of the pot! So, this is a significant reduction. Let’s look at the RPED:
You can see it’s quite evenly matched after the 80th percentile. Despite the BTN having all the two pairs and sets while the BB does not, the BB now has flushes, and this evens things out at the top of the equity distribution so that the BTN can no longer get out of line. If the BTN were to bet 200% of the pot on this flop it would be too easy for the BB to just defend only with flushes, flush draws, very strong made hands and the very best top pairs (mostly Ax plus a flush draw). Every Kx hand is an auto fold to such a big bet on this board. It just isolates the BB range too much to the strongest hands and does not achieve anything other than to punish the BTN.
C betting on Paired flops
When it comes to paired flops the main contributing factor is who has more trips in their range. A board like KK2 isn’t so interesting. The BTN clearly has more trips. The way this spot works is that the BB will check their entire range and the BTN can c-bet very small (even just 1 bb). As both players will always have trip combos the Relative Peak Equity Distribution is generally quite even. This means that the BTN does not want to bet very big because if it bets too big it will isolate the BB’s range too much to just its trips or better and it’s quite easy for the BB to deal with this as it’s quite clear to the BB which hands have equity and which do not. Therefore, the BTN will bet very small -as 25% of the pot.
776
Piosolver 776 paired flop showing the BTN c betting a small sizing quite frequently.
For example, on the 776 flop the BTN mostly bets 28 into a pot of 110. There are some larger sizes chosen very rarely but this can be ignored for simplicity and because it adds pretty much no EV to include them in. We do not believe in simplicity if there are EV gains in a more complex strategy but when there is basically no EV gain it will be quite pointless. On the 776 board the BTN has a raw equity advantage of 54.225%. However, let’s look at the range explorer:
The BB has 24.6 combos of trips and 4.1 combos of boats and very rarely quads. The BTN has 22 combos of trips, 5 combos of full houses and 1 combo of quads. The BB here has an advantage in terms of trip combos. So, it obviously has some very strong nutted hands. When we look at the Relative Peak Equity Distribution, we can see the BTN’s equity slowly rises after the 80th percentile. The BB’s equity also rises as well but on a sharper incline and then it shoots right up past the BTN’s red line. When we look at the Relative Peak Equity Distribution, we can see both players have very strong holdings at the peak of the distribution and so the BTN can’t get out of line by betting big. It needs to bet small to not get punished by all the BB’s strong holdings here. We can contrast this to a board like AK2 where the BB’s strongest holding is the third nuts and it has no two pairs so the BTN can overbet. We can also compare this board to a monotone board where both parties have very strong hands such as flushes leading the BTN to want to bet small as well.
Now let’s look at a flop where the BTN has an advantage in terms of trip combos:
992
On 992 the BTN has 55.429% of raw equity. It has 48.7 combos of trips, 3 combos of boats and 1 combo of quads. The BB has 40.2 combos of trips, 3 combos of boats and it typically won’t have quads since that’s always 3-bet. This lends itself to the BTN wanting to c-bet far more often and against most players it would be fine just to c bet small with your entire range as the BTN. You must bet small since the BB still has very strong hands but more frequently given the range advantage. Let’s check the range explorer:
We can see here the Relative Peak Equity Distribution is a bit different to the 776 board. There is very little increase in the BB’s equity after the 80th percentile for some time while the BTN’s equity goes up on a sharp incline. The BB’s equity does eventually sky rocket to match the BTN at the peak of the distribution, but this rise comes in quite a bit later. Therefore, in terms of Relative Peak Equity Distribution the BTN is quite favoured here so it c-bets more often on 992 than 776. The way to look at this at the tables is to think about and know who has more trips by thinking about the range of each player. This may seem difficult at first but eventually it will become quite simple and trivial (especially because you would just be able to rote learn it eventually).
C betting on three of a kind flops
Three of a kind flops tend to favour the BTN because the BTN has more pocket pairs and therefore more full houses given the BB will 3 bet a lot of its pocket pairs. It’s also important to consider who has more quad combos and this is just the same as considering who has more trip combos when looking at paired boards (so we already know 7 is better for the BB but 9 is better for the BTN). However, the main factor is simply that the BTN always has more boats and so is going to be ahead on this sort of board.
888
Before looking at this sim have a think about 888. It should be easy to realise by now that both players have quads. Therefore, think about what size the BTN should be betting and how frequently based on the knowledge that the BB has very strong hands. If you guessed small you would be wrong! That was a trick question. We would forgive you for thinking you should bet a very small sizing since everything we have said so far may lead you to that conclusion because the BB still has some very strong hands. While the BB does have quads though, it’s just not that often. It’s very hard to make quads! The biggest factor here in terms of Relative Peak Equity Distribution will be the massive full house advantage of the BTN. This comes back to the old saying of not worrying about monsters under the bet. We sometimes care about absolute nut combos, but if the nuts is quads, well you can discount that somewhat due to how hard it is to have quads.
The BTN has an overwhelming raw equity advantage here at 56.617% due to its many full house combos.
This time let’s first look at the range explorer from the BTN’s perspective:
The BTN has 72 combos of full houses which is massive and furthermore the BTN has stronger full houses than BB due to the overpairs. The Relative Peak Equity Distribution is heavily favoured for the BTN as well. It increases on a sharp incline and the BB takes AGES to catch up. Let’s now look at the BB’s range explorer:
While the BB has a similar number of quad combos, it has massively less full house combos. Just 31.2 combos to 72 combos. Because of this, the BTN’s quite sizable Relative Peak Equity Distribution advantage means it can bet half pot rather than a very small sizing with all its range. However, we do not go crazy with overbets like we do on AK2 because the BB still has quads and full houses.
Summary and Heuristics
You typically c-bet less often on boards with flush draws than you would on the same board without one.
If the BB can have the nuts, then generally don’t overbet (or overbet very rarely).
Bet sizing is determined by Relative Peak Equity Distribution and not by raw equity advantage or EV.
Determining who has the advantage based on primarily offsuit two pair combos (but also sets and straights) is how you as a human can work out how often you should be betting on the flop as the BTN and which size you should be betting. This is a key secret that the guys beating 2knl know that the guys stuck at 500nl have a poor grasp of and it’s quite simple. Once you can master this by training your mind you can adjust it as well in live play. For example, if you know an opponent never 3- bets and is quite tight then you shouldn’t bet double the pot on AK2 since your opponent can have AA, KK and AK. You need to make this sort of adjustment. If your opponent 3-bets sometimes but often traps with premium holdings then the same applies.
You generally won’t be donking BB vs BTN but if you want to have a donking range you generally will do it on small connected boards. If the BB never donks on a board that they should (like most BBs in real life) you want to check behind more often on the BTN than the solver would suggest. Therefore, on the BTN, vs most people, you will be doing a lot of checking back on a board like 654. We believe this makes a lot of sense intuitively and it’s something most people get right.
If you enjoyed this guide you should now move onto the flop guide where we discuss the BB defence including check-raising and the BTN’s response to it.