DECISION POINT: ​In a 6-handed $5-10 cash game the action folds to the Button, who you’ve observed as being loose and aggressive, and they open raise to $30. The Small Blind folds, you reraise to $100 from the Big Blind with A♠K♦ and the Button 4-bets to $259. Action is back on you, what do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing in a 6-handed $5-10 cash game and have some familiarity with two of the players. We have observed the player in the Small Blind to be very solid and straightforward. The player on the Button has been observed as quite loose and aggressive both preflop and postflop, although this has been over a relatively small sample of play during this 5 hour session.

We are dealt AsKd in the Big Blind and it folds around to the aggressive Button who opens to $30. The Small Blind folds and action is on us. Even without our read that the Button is loose and aggressive, AKo is far too strong facing a Button open to not be 3-betting here.

A typical 3-bet sizing is three times the opening raise amount, in this case $90. However, a larger raise size than default is preferred to account for the fact that we will be out of position postflop. To make up for the positional disadvantage we should add an additional big blind to the total 3-bet amount. We choose the correct sizing in-game and make it $100 total.

The aggressive Button then 4-bets to $259. When facing a 4-bet in a deep-stacked cash game with 100 Big Blinds or more in stacks it may be tempting to just call and see a flop, especially vs an aggressive opponent with wide ranges. In this situation however it is important to plan ahead and estimate the pot size on the flop. Given the increased 3-bet sizing and 4-bet response from the Button there is a clear difference in equity between calling and reraising in this spot.

If we decide to just call the 4-bet the pot will be over $500 postflop with around $800 remaining in stacks, resulting in a stack to pot ratio (SPR) of just under 2. If the Button is appropriately 4-bet semi-bluffing preflop with hands like A5s/A4s and we’re folding every time we don’t hit the flop, we will be giving up equity too often those times we can’t continue.

We also want to have a balanced all in range here. If we just call preflop with AK but shove with our other big hands like AA/KK, then our shoving range is too narrow and the opponent can easily just fold hands like QQ/JJ when we move all-in preflop.

Moving all-in is the best play.