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 Cbetting: opponents, board texture
Let's have a discussion of how these factors affect your decision to cbet. Recently I played against a very loose opponent that was passive post-flop heads-up. His cbet calling range is any piece of the board and ace high. His fold to cbet therefore was only around 30% and his c/r cbet was around 5%.
Did that mean I had to reduce my cbetting frequency? Not necessarily. First of all, he called all gutshots and better draws on the flop and turn. Since he did not play all of his hands preflop, he chose connected cards and high cards to play to the flop. That means his range is heavily weighed towards gutshot draws since he peels them every time while playing mostly connected cards.
That means that if I'm cbetting a drawy board I'm doing it for value. So if I think I'm ahead of the highest card he can have in his draw, it's a value bet. In fact, on a board like A56 I cbet my jack high for VALUE because he's never raising me with a strong draw. I'm also firing a turn barrel if the turn is a blank. But the reason I say I'm doing this for value is that he's less likely to call a hand like 5x with no draw on the turn than to try and hit his gutshot. He's also not bluffing me on the river that much because he's passive. Since the highest hand that has a gutshot is 98, I'm ahead of a large portion of his range.
I ended up having 89% cbet against the guy and something like 45% turn double barrel. I don't think that is incorrect, because he did not fight back and would let me check behind my high card hands. I would cbet when I was strong on drawy boards and check when I was weak on drawy boards. In this case "drawy" boards are different in heads-up than full ring because he won't have suited cards that often. K82 two tone is not drawy in heads-up, but it could be drawy against fish who play any two suited cards in FR. This is the kind of board I'd check A3 on because he's only calling with better since there are no draws other than the flush draw that would call, and he only has two suited cards one out of four times and he only matches the suit one out of four times. He probably prefers suited cards, but playing more than 60% of his hands in heads up he only gets a flush draw on this flop no more than one in ten times. In FR he will have the flush draw somewhat more often. Another difference is that in FR he's going to have a small pp that he can't let go of on the flop and turn while in heads up they're going to be a smaller part of his range as well.
I postulate that your cbetting frequency should be tied NOT to how loose your opponent is, but to the amount of fighting back he's doing. It's not the fact that your opponent calls cbets that matters, it's the fact that he's going to make you fold on later streets. Against my opponent, I was able to exploit the fact that he calls so much by value betting big thinly. Three streets of value with middle pair no kicker and being good. If I lower my cbetting frequency because he calls often, he might actually believe I have something and I can't value bet as thinly.
Flop texture is also dependent on your opponent, since a nit will not call all of his draws. 456r might be a fine flop to cbet against a nit if he's not peeling with overcards or a gutshot. Against a very loose opponent it would be a good flop to cbet for value. So flop texture is not the property of just the flop, but also the opponent. For example, you'll hear that a JTx flop is a bad flop to cbet in a 3b pot because it hits everyone's 3b calling range. These pieces of information are reliant on certain assumptions about the opponents. First of all, it is assumed that our opponent will rather play a 3b pot with 89 than A5. Second of all, it is assumed that our opponent will not just check/call both flop and turn with his draw. If he did, it would be profitable to bet both streets with a hand like 22 because it is ahead of both KQ and 89. Why it is not a good board to cbet with 22 is because you're going to have to fold against most opponents when they raise the flop with their OESD. They only have a J or a T 20% of the time so if the turn is a 6 and you were not going to get raised you might actually consider betting it for value. Against the guy I was playing against, 22 is good enough to cbet a board like JT3 for value and to barrel a 6. He's showing up with any ace and calling both streets and checking the river. If he has a strong draw like an oesd he's going to call both streets and bet river if he hit, or check if he missed. But normal good "dry" boards like K83 I'd check an ace-small down because he's peeling ace high and any pair so I'm only making worse hands fold. For aforementioned reason I'll bet JT3 board against a TAG when I hold JT and I want to get it in, since they're likely to shove over a hand like KQ thinking they have fold equity as well as many outs.
I realized that "flop texture" is dependent on your opponent(s), game type, as well as the actual cards on the board. Cbet when they're likely to do what you want them to do, whether it is call, raise, or fold.
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Originally Posted by Keith_MM
