What is a 4-bet in poker?

A re-raise of a 3-bet. One player opens, a second re-raises, and a raise over that re-raise is a 4-bet. Usually it comes from the player who opened, but anyone still to act can make one.

The name counts bets, not raises. The big blind is bet one, the open bet two, the 3-bet bet three, so the next raise is the fourth. You will also hear it called a re-re-raise or see it written 4bet. The same count works after the flop, but on its own “4-bet” nearly always means the preflop one.

What does a 4-bet look like at the table?

A $1/$2 game. Under the gun opens to $5, the hijack 3-bets to $15, and everyone else folds. Under the gun makes it $46: that is the 4-bet. The hijack now has three options: fold, call, or 5-bet, which with normal stacks means all in.

Why do players 4-bet?

For the same two reasons anyone re-raises. This part is standard theory:

  • Value. Aces, kings and ace-king want the money in before the flop, while they are most likely ahead.
  • Fold equity. A 3-bet range is wider than it looks, and much of it cannot stand another raise. A 4-bet wins the pot right there a lot of the time.

There is a third reason that only shows up over many hands. A player who never 4-bets lets every 3-bettor attack their opens for free, and good players notice.

How often does a 4-bet happen?

Rarely. In 300,000 six-handed hands played through the 6-max cash solutions PlusEV drills, someone 3-bet in 21.5% of hands and someone 4-bet in 3.9%, about one hand in 26. A 5-bet came up in 0.34%.

So roughly one 3-bet pot in five turns into a 4-bet pot. That rarity is the problem: it is a big pot that comes up about once every four orbits, which is not enough to build a feel for it. (Hands that reached a spot with no exported chart, about one deal in ten and mostly limped pots, were stopped there, so the true rates sit slightly higher.)

When should you 4-bet?

Mostly when the 3-bet came from a player who acts after you and is not in the blinds. Who re-raised changes the answer more than anything else.

Here is what the opener does after a 3-bet in our 6-max ranges at 100bb, as a share of the hands it opened:

The 3-bet came fromOpener 4-betsCallsFolds
A later seat (hijack, cutoff, button)20-22%25-38%42-53%
The small blind10.5-11.7%32-34%56-57%
The big blind9-12% (16.5% when the small blind opened)27-36%48-62%

Against a 3-bet from the blinds, the opener has position for the rest of the hand, and the blinds re-raise bigger, so calling is attractive and the 4-bet range stays small. Against a 3-bet from a later seat, the opener plays out of position if it calls, and the solver 4-bets about twice as often instead. The spot-by-spot ranges are in the facing a 3-bet charts.

Which hands should you 4-bet?

The top of your range, nearly always, plus some hands that play badly as a call. Averaged across all 15 facing-a-3-bet spots in PlusEV’s 6-max cash ranges:

Hand4-betsWhat happens otherwise
A♠A♥94%A call, now and then
K♠K♥91%Sometimes all in at once
A♠K♠80%Call
A♠K♦66%Call, or all in
Q♠Q♥56%Call
J♠J♥42%Call
10♠10♥13%Call

The odd one out is ace-queen. Suited, it 4-bets about 1% of the time and calls almost everywhere; offsuit, it 4-bets 39%. Ace-queen suited flops well enough to call. The offsuit version does not, so it either raises or folds. Under the gun facing a hijack 3-bet shows the whole shape:

Under the gun facing a hijack 3-bet to 7.5bb, 6-max cash, 100bb. The 4-bet is to 23bb.
AAAKsAQsAJsATsA9sA8sA7sA6sA5sA4sA3sA2s
AKoKKKQsKJsKTsK9sK8sK7sK6sK5sK4sK3sK2s
AQoKQoQQQJsQTsQ9sQ8sQ7sQ6sQ5sQ4sQ3sQ2s
AJoKJoQJoJJJTsJ9sJ8sJ7sJ6sJ5sJ4sJ3sJ2s
AToKToQToJToTTT9sT8sT7sT6sT5sT4sT3sT2s
A9oK9oQ9oJ9oT9o9998s97s96s95s94s93s92s
A8oK8oQ8oJ8oT8o98o8887s86s85s84s83s82s
A7oK7oQ7oJ7oT7o97o87o7776s75s74s73s72s
A6oK6oQ6oJ6oT6o96o86o76o6665s64s63s62s
A5oK5oQ5oJ5oT5o95o85o75o65o5554s53s52s
A4oK4oQ4oJ4oT4o94o84o74o64o54o4443s42s
A3oK3oQ3oJ3oT3o93o83o73o63o53o43o3332s
A2oK2oQ2oJ2oT2o92o82o72o62o52o42o32o22
FoldCallAll-InRaise 23

Queens and jacks splitting between 4-bet and call is not indecision. A 4-bet range made only of aces and kings tells the 3-bettor exactly when to fold, so the solver mixes in hands that are strong but not the strongest.

Which hands make good 4-bet bluffs?

Suited aces and suited kings that would rather not call. Their mean 4-bet frequencies across the 15 spots in PlusEV’s ranges:

Hand4-bets
A♠5♠34%
K♠J♠29%
A♠8♠28%
K♠10♠26%
A♠4♠25%
A♠3♠23%
A♠2♠17%

The ace and the king are the point. Holding one ace halves the aces your opponent can have, from six combinations to three, and cuts their ace-king from 16 to 12. That is the subject of our blockers guide, and it is why A♠5♠ outranks pocket nines as a 4-bet.

Bluffing needs more than fold equity alone, and the arithmetic shows why. Under the gun 4-betting to 20bb over a 7.5bb 3-bet, with 11.5bb in the pot, risks 17.5bb to win 11.5bb, so a hand that could never win when called would need the hijack to fold 60% of the time. In PlusEV’s ranges the hijack folds 48.5%. A pure bluff loses money; the bluffs that work are hands like A5s that block the 5-bet and can still make a wheel or the nut flush. The price maths is the same as pot odds, turned around.

Picking A5s over 99 in two seconds at a live table is a separate skill from knowing it is right. That one comes from repetition, which is what the PlusEV preflop trainer drills, spot by spot.

How big should a 4-bet be?

About 2.1 to 2.5 times the 3-bet in position, and 2.8 to 3.1 times out of position. Those are the sizes across the 15 spots in our 6-max ranges: under the gun over a 7.5bb hijack 3-bet goes to 23bb, while the button over a 12bb small-blind 3-bet goes to 26.5bb, a smaller multiple of a bigger raise.

Out of position you play every later street at a disadvantage, so you charge more now. At 100bb, a 4-bet of 20-something big blinds leaves about three-quarters of the stack behind, which is why the next raise is all in. In live games with bigger opens, keep the multiple, not the number.

What should you do when someone 4-bets you?

Fold more than feels comfortable. Facing a 4-bet of 20 to 27bb, the 3-bettor in PlusEV’s 6-max ranges folds between 34% and 53% of its 3-bet range, 45% on average, and moves all in with 14% to 35%.

The hands that shove are not quite the ones you would guess. Kings go all in 98% of the time and ace-king suited 92%, but aces only 48%: the rest of the time they just call, which keeps the 4-bettor’s bluffs in the pot. The hijack facing under the gun’s 4-bet:

Hijack facing an under-the-gun 4-bet to 20bb after a 3-bet to 7.5bb, 6-max cash, 100bb.
AAAKsAQsAJsATsA9sA8sA7sA6sA5sA4sA3sA2s
AKoKKKQsKJsKTsK9sK8sK7sK6sK5sK4sK3sK2s
AQoKQoQQQJsQTsQ9sQ8sQ7sQ6sQ5sQ4sQ3sQ2s
AJoKJoQJoJJJTsJ9sJ8sJ7sJ6sJ5sJ4sJ3sJ2s
AToKToQToJToTTT9sT8sT7sT6sT5sT4sT3sT2s
A9oK9oQ9oJ9oT9o9998s97s96s95s94s93s92s
A8oK8oQ8oJ8oT8o98o8887s86s85s84s83s82s
A7oK7oQ7oJ7oT7o97o87o7776s75s74s73s72s
A6oK6oQ6oJ6oT6o96o86o76o6665s64s63s62s
A5oK5oQ5oJ5oT5o95o85o75o65o5554s53s52s
A4oK4oQ4oJ4oT4o94o84o74o64o54o4443s42s
A3oK3oQ3oJ3oT3o93o83o73o63o53o43o3332s
A2oK2oQ2oJ2oT2o92o82o72o62o52o42o32o22
FoldCallAll-In

Every spot is in the facing a 4-bet charts.

What is a 5-bet?

A re-raise of a 4-bet, and at 100bb it is all in. Every 5-bet in PlusEV’s 6-max cash solutions is a shove. The player who 4-bet then calls with 50% to 64% of its 4-bet range, 56% on average, and the bluffs give up: A5s folds every time under the gun faces a hijack 5-bet. Those calls are in the facing a 5-bet charts.

What is a cold 4-bet?

A 4-bet from a player who had not put any money in yet, over someone else’s open and 3-bet. It is a strong statement, because it comes through two players who both showed strength. Across the 20 cold 4-bet spots in our ranges, 2.6% to 5.8% of hands cold 4-bet and cold-calling the 3-bet is under 1%: raise or fold, almost nothing in between. The ranges are on the cold 4-bet charts.

How does 4-betting change in live games and tournaments?

Everything above is 6-max cash at 100bb with opponents who play back properly. The adjustments are standard theory rather than our data:

  • Live low stakes. Most players almost never 4-bet as a bluff, so a 4-bet from them is usually aces, kings or ace-king. Fold more against it, and 4-bet your own value hands bigger, since they call too much.
  • Full ring. Opening ranges are tighter, so 3-bets against them and 4-bets back are tighter too.
  • Tournaments. With 40 big blinds or less, a normal 4-bet already commits over a third of the stack, so the 4-bet is usually just all in.
  • Specific opponents. Against a player who 3-bets constantly, add bluffs like A5s. Against one who only 3-bets premiums, fold everything except the very top.

The solver range is the baseline; moving away from it should be a choice made against a specific player, never drift. The short version: 4-bet aces, kings and ace-king, mix in queens and a few suited aces as bluffs, do it twice as often against a 3-bet from a later seat as from the blinds, and size up out of position.

Quick answers

What does 4-bet mean in poker?

Re-raising a 3-bet. The big blind is the first bet, the open the second, the 3-bet the third, so the raise over it is the fourth. It is usually made by the player who opened.

What is a 5-bet in poker?

A re-raise of a 4-bet. With 100 big blinds it is almost always all in: in the 6-max cash solutions PlusEV drills, every 5-bet is a shove.

How big should a 4-bet be?

About 2.1 to 2.5 times the 3-bet when you have position and 2.8 to 3.1 times without it, in PlusEV's 6-max cash ranges. Over a 7.5bb 3-bet from a later seat, that is a 4-bet to around 21 to 23bb.

How often should you 4-bet?

Facing a 3-bet, the opener in PlusEV's 6-max cash ranges 4-bets between 9% and 22% of the hands it opened, depending on who 3-bet. Across whole hands that is rare: someone 4-bets in about one hand in 26.

What is a cold 4-bet?

A 4-bet from a player who had not put any money in yet, over someone else's open and 3-bet. It is almost always raise or fold: in the solver ranges, cold-calling a 3-bet happens with under 1% of hands.

Should you 4-bet pocket queens?

About half the time. Across the 15 facing-a-3-bet spots in PlusEV's ranges, queens 4-bet 56% of the time and call the rest. Under the gun facing a hijack 3-bet, it is 46% 4-bet and 54% call.