What Is a 4-Bet in Poker? The Re-Raise of a 3-Bet
What is a 4‑bet? It is the fourth bet of a hand: the re-raise of a 3‑bet. Example: the cutoff opens to 2.5bb, the button 3‑bets to 8bb and the cutoff re-raises to 20bb. As a pure bluff, that 4‑bet has to win the pot right away 59.3% of the time; when called, it leaves 80bb behind for a 41.5bb pot, a stack-to-pot ratio of 1.9.
K♥J♥ in the cutoff facing a small blind 3‑bet
The cutoff opens to 2.5bb with K♥J♥, the small blind 3‑bets to 11bb and the big blind folds, 100bb deep. Fold, call, 4‑bet to 26bb or all‑in?
See the answer
The options, for a 14.5bb pot:
| Option | What you add | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Call | 8.5bb | 37% equity |
| 4‑bet to 26bb | 23.5bb | 61.8% folds for a pure bluff |
| All‑in | 97.5bb | 87.1% folds for a pure bluff |
Before the flop, K♥J♥ against hands that 3‑bet:
| Small blind's hand | K♥J♥'s equity |
|---|---|
| K♦T♦ | 69.9% |
| J♦T♦ | 69.4% |
| Q♦T♠ | 64.6% |
| 7♠6♠ | 61.4% |
| 8♦8♠ | 48.8% |
| 9♣9♦ | 47.5% |
| A♣9♣ | 43.2% |
| A♥T♣ | 42.8% |
| K♣Q♦ | 30.6% |
| K♠K♣ | 14.3% |
K♥J♥ beats the call's 37% against eight of these ten hands; the exceptions are K♣Q♦ and K♠K♣. When the 4‑bet is called or 5‑bet, it is often by a high pair like K♠K♣, against which K♥J♥ has only 14.3%. The expected answer is the call.
The price of a 4‑bet by size
The cutoff opened to 2.5bb and the button 3‑bet to 8bb, blinds folded, 100bb:
| Cutoff's 4‑bet | Folds needed for a pure bluff | Stack-to-pot ratio if called |
|---|---|---|
| 18bb | 56.4% | 2.2 |
| 20bb | 59.3% | 1.9 |
| 22bb | 61.9% | 1.7 |
The bigger the 4‑bet, the more often it has to fold out the 3-bettor, and the closer a called pot gets to all‑in.
Keep going
- The bet before: what is a 3‑bet.
- Which hands 4‑bet for value: the 4‑bet value range.
- Calling a 3‑bet in position, in numbers: facing a 3‑bet in position.
- What the remaining stack changes: stack-to-pot ratio.
- The spot's hand: suited broadway hands.
- Preflop decisions to practice: the preflop quiz.
- One spot every day: the daily poker puzzle.
- A 4‑bet that already commits half the stack: short stack strategy.
Sources
- Every equity is computed by exact enumeration with the app's equity module, and every price with its pot odds module, checked on October 11, 2026.
- The answer to the spot follows rules written by the app's author; it does not come from a solver.