Pain Threshold

The ‘Pain Threshold’ concept was made popular by Christian Soto and Matt Berkey. It’s based on the idea that there is a bet or raise size below which calls are common, but above which we are likely to obtain mostly folds. The threshold itself is therefore dependent on the opponent, and requires them to be at least somewhat elastic with their ranges. The idea is most commonly used preflop, although in principle it can be applied on every street.

Here’s a typical scenario. A player to your right frequently limps into the pot preflop. When you make your standard isolation raise to 5bb, the player always calls. So you start increasing your raise size until the opponent regularly folds. The raise size at which the transition from limp-calls to limp-folds occurs is the pain threshold for this particular opponent.

Here are Matt Berkey and Christian Soto with an example of the concept from a single hand, followed by a discussion of how to employ the pain threshold within a broader strategic framework. There are several key ideas crammed into this video, so don’t hesitate to view it twice if the material doesn’t sink in the first time!

Here’s a postflop application. You are the preflop raiser and flop a draw which you c-bet. The turn card does not improve your hand. If barreling the turn for half-pot would result in your opponent continuing often, but going 1.2x-pot would result in them folding too frequently, why not consider the 1.2x-pot bet?

Always remember that pain thresholds vary from player to player, sometimes considerably. Some players refuse to give any bet size action without top-pair+ on turns and rivers. Against such opponents, your bluffs can create pain (resulting in them folding too often) even if you use relatively small bets.

Keep this concept in mind going through the rest of this sub-course, particularly in the context of isolation raises preflop, 3-betting, 4-betting, and even open raising. Understanding how different opponents will react to different sizes will help you craft a better bet-sizing strategy, thereby keeping you in control and them out of their comfort zone.