There are multiple situations that you can face before the flop
1. You raise and get 3-bet or squeezed.
2. You make a small 3-bet and get 4-bet.
3. You are facing a pre-flop raise and are deciding whether to 3-bet or resteal. 4. You get 3-bet and are considering a 4-bet.
5. Your open gets flatted.
6. You are deciding whether or not to steal.
Using The Stats Contained In The Pre-Flop Pop-up
3-Bet: This is how often a player 3-bets overall and from various positions. When I am on the fence about committing versus an opponent, I will use this stat to see if a player 3-bets more frequently from a particular seat.
Resteal: This is an indication of how staunch a defender my opponent is against steals from various positions. Some opponents defend particular positions much more resolutely than others. This stat can be a big help if we think our opponent may be getting out of line against us.
Squeeze: This is how often a player 3-bets after there is a bet and a call. I compare this stat to the frequency of his overall 3-bet stat to see if he is prone to squeezing light.
4-Bet: This is how often a player 4-bets from various positions. This stat seldom comes into play except in the rare instances that you choose to make a small 3-bet instead of shoving.
Most pre-flop decisions revolve around 3-bet and 4-bet decisions but also include other useful information to help determine how an opponent can be exploited. Note: Before a stat normalizes, a number in parentheses next to a stat denotes the sample size.
Fold to 3-bet: This stat shows how often an opponent folds versus 3-bets. This is another indicator of your opponent’s calling range versus a short stack shove. If the number is high, we can generally widen our shoving range due to increased fold equity. The opposite is true if he calls particularly light. If that is the case, we should tighten our shoving range. If he appears to be calling very light versus 3-bets, I put a note on him as a quick reminder for future situations.
Fold to 4-bet: You will rarely have enough hands on a player to get any meaningful 4-bet reads. However, this stat can be used to see if an opponent is ever capable of folding to 4-bets. I often use this stat when facing a small 3-bet from a regular in late position range wars.
Call: This stat indicates how often a player calls a pre-flop open before the flop. Generally, pre-flop calling stations also tend to be post-flop calling stations.
Fold to Steal: This lets me know both my opponent’s overall and positional fold to steal percentages. I can widen my stealing range considerably if an opponent folds to steals often. Defend Steal: This stat indicates how often a player defends versus a steal by either calling or 3- betting. As this number rises, the profitability of stealing against them typically decreases. I tend to tighten up my pre-flop stealing range against players who religiously defend their blinds. However, if a player calls often and plays fit or fold post-flop, I expand my stealing range versus them.
