Cold 4-betting: over an open and a 3-bet

Why is almost everything a fold?

Because two ranges have already shown up strong. An open is strength; a 3-bet over it is more strength. To come over the top of both, cold, you need a hand that beats the range that 3-bet, which is a high bar. Most hands, even good ones, are crushed by the combined story in front of you, so they fold. Flat-calling is worse than it looks too: you would be entering a bloated pot, out of position against the 3-bettor, with a hand not strong enough to 4-bet, which is why the calling frequencies here are near zero.

What does the cold 4-betting range actually contain?

Mostly the top of the deck for value, the hands that beat a 3-betting range and want the money in, plus a small number of bluffs chosen for their blockers. Holding an ace makes it less likely either opponent has aces or a strong ace-king, which is exactly when a bluff 4-bet gets through. The result is a polarised, tiny range: monsters and a few well-chosen bluffs, with nothing in between.

How narrow is a cold 4-betting range?

Between 39 and 79 combinations out of 1,326, which is 3.0% to 5.9% of the hands you can be dealt. Averaged across the twenty spots on this page it is 3.8%, or roughly one hand in twenty-six.

For scale, the tightest opening range in the game, under the gun, is 17.5% of hands. A cold 4-bet is about a fifth as wide as that, and it is the narrowest range anywhere in 6-max preflop play.

Why is calling almost never an option?

Because the hand has nowhere to go. Across the twenty spots, an average of 48 combinations raise and 2 call. Calling is 4% of the strategy, and in most individual spots it is zero.

The reason is the money already committed in front of you. A raise and a re-raise have built a pot you cannot enter cheaply, and flat-calling invites the original raiser to come again behind you while leaving you with no initiative. Either the hand is strong enough to put more in, or it is a fold. There is very little in between.

Which hands cold 4-bet?

Aces, kings, queens, ace-king suited and ace-king offsuit act in all twenty spots without exception. After that it thins out fast.

The more interesting entries are the ones that beat hands ranked above them. King-queen suited continues in fourteen of the twenty spots, pocket jacks in only seven. Jacks look stronger and they are not: against a range containing aces, kings, queens and ace-king, jacks are behind most of what continues and flop badly. King-queen suited removes a king and a queen from that same range, which makes the monsters you fear less likely, and it retains a flush and straight story when the money goes in. The full mechanism is in poker combos and blockers.

How do you actually learn these?

Not by memorising every grid. The gap between knowing the right play on a page and finding it under a clock is where the money goes, and closing it is a matter of repetition. PlusEV deals these exact spots back to you and returns to the ones you keep getting wrong. The opening ranges these all branch from are in the chart library, and the positions guide explains why seat decides so much.