At a glance
- On the HUD
- F5B
- Formula
folds / times they 4-bet and faced a 5-bet- Typical range
30–70%
- Where it shows
- Badge: the 4-bettor, and everyone else in a 5-bet pot. Panel on your turn: when you 5-bet.
- Trust it after
- 12 chances. Below that the number is faded; reads need 12 chances and a number at least one standard error outside the typical range.
What it measures
Fold to 5-bet looks at the 4-bettor. They put in the third raise of the hand, someone came over the top, and now they decide: fold, call or, rarely, raise again. F5B counts the folds.
The 4-bettor can be the original opener re-raising a 3-bet, or a player who cold 4-bet from behind; both count. The 5-bet can come from anyone, usually the 3-bettor. At 100 bb it’s almost always all-in, so the real choice is call or fold.
Because the 4-bettor already has a big chunk of their stack in, folding gives up a lot. A player who folds often must be 4-betting hands that can’t call a shove, which is what a 4-bet bluff is. So F5B is a rough guide to the share of their 4-bets that are bluffs.
Don’t mix it up with fold to 4-bet, the 3-bettor folding one level earlier, or with 5-bet, how often the 3-bettor makes the shove this stat responds to.
How it’s calculated
F5B = folds ÷ times they 4-bet and faced a 5-bet
- Chance: they made the 4-bet, as the opener or as a cold 4-bettor, and their next preflop action faced a 5-bet.
- Event: they folded.
- The 4-bet must be a full raise. An all-in for less than a full raise doesn’t make someone the 4-bettor.
- One number, with no split by position.
There’s no separate call-5-bet stat. Because a 5-bet at 100 bb is nearly always all-in, whatever isn’t a fold is almost always a call, so 100% minus F5B is a fair estimate of how often they call off. If a player cold 4-bets and the original opener then 5-bets, that counts too: the 4-bettor faced a 5-bet, whoever made it.
Example: Ren 4-bet 22 times over a few thousand hands. Five times someone 5-bet; he folded 3 and called 2 → 3 / 5 = 60%. That’s inside the typical range, but five chances can’t tell 30% from 90%. At 60% over 5 chances the standard error is √(0.6 × 0.4 / 5) ≈ 22 points. The HUD shows the number faded, and you should read it as a rumor.
Why it matters
F5B decides whether a 5-bet shove works as a bluff, and how often your value 5-bets get paid.
Take the usual line: a 2.5 bb open, your 3-bet to 9 bb, their 4-bet to 20 bb, blinds folded. The pot is 30.5 bb. A 100 bb shove adds 91 bb, so as a pure bluff it needs them to fold more than 91 / (91 + 30.5) = 74.9%. That’s above the top of the typical range, which is why pure 5-bet bluffs rarely work. Even against a high folder, you want blockers and equity when called, like A5s–A2s.
Their side of the price matters too. Facing your shove, they call 80 more into 121.5 bb, so they need 80 / 201.5 = 39.7%. A player who 4-bets QQ+ and AK will call most shoves at that price; one who 4-bets A5s has to fold. Sizing moves it: after a 35 bb 4-bet over a 13 bb 3-bet, they’d call 65 into 136.5 and need only 65 / 201.5 = 32.3%. Big 4-bettors fold less to 5-bets.
Too low, about right, too high
Too low: under 30%
What it says
They almost never fold a 4-bet. Their 4-bets are hands that are happy to get it in, like QQ+ and AK, or their sizing commits them: a 4-bet to a third of the stack or more leaves them priced in. Short stacks push the number down too, since a 5-bet shove over a 4-bet at 40 bb costs little more. Check 4-bet size to tell these apart.
How to exploit it
- Never 5-bet bluff them. A shove into a range that won’t fold is a donation.
- Treat their 4-bet as strong. Fold hands like JJ, TT and AQ unless the price is very good, and 5-bet only KK+ (and AK when stacks are short).
- If their 4-bet frequency is also low, their range may be just AA, KK and AK. Consider folding QQ.
- When you have the goods, shove rather than call. They’re calling anyway, so get it in before the flop.
About right: 30–70%
What it says
A mix: they 4-bet some value and some bluffs, and fold the bluffs to a shove. Toward 30% the range is mostly value; toward 70% a good share is hands like A5s, A4s and suited kings. Most players who 4-bet at all land somewhere in here. With the sample this spot gives you, though, a number in this band often just means you don’t know yet.
How to exploit it
- 5-bet for value with QQ+ and AK at 100 bb; enough worse hands call.
- Don’t 5-bet bluff unless your hand has a blocker and some equity. The 74.9% bar is above even a 70% folder.
- Read the 4-bet size. Small 4-bets, around 2.2x, give them a worse price against your shove and more folds; big ones commit them.
- Lean on what they’ve shown. A single 4-bet bluff at showdown says more than a 50% number over four chances.
Too high: over 70%
What it says
They 4-bet light and give it up to a shove. This is the aggressive player who 4-bets to win the pot preflop with blockers and suited hands, then lets go when you fight back. Check their 4-bet and cold 4-bet: a high F5B with a high 4-bet is the clearest bluffing profile you’ll find before the flop.
How to exploit it
- 5-bet shove lighter. JJ, TT, AQs and AK become clear shoves: they win the pot most of the time and have equity when called.
- Add a few blocker bluffs (A5s–A2s) once you’re confident. At 75% folds, a 91 bb shove to win 30.5 breaks even as a pure bluff; above that, plus the equity A5s has when called, it wins.
- Don’t overdo it on a thin sample. One or two folds can push a small sample past 70%, so wait for 12 chances before shoving junk.
When it’s your own number
No read is tied to fold to 5-bet, but anyone with the HUD can see it. If yours is high, a sharp 3-bettor will shove over your 4-bets with a wider range. If it’s low, they’ll know your 4-bet is a value hand and fold everything but the top.
A rule that keeps you safe: before you 4-bet, know whether the hand calls a shove. With a 4-bet to 20 bb you need about 40% to call a 100 bb jam, so 4-bet bluffs should be hands you’re happy to fold (A5s, K5s) and value 4-bets should be hands that call (QQ+, AK). If you find yourself 4-betting JJ or AQ and folding them to a jam, that’s the leak: those hands usually do better calling the 3-bet.
Using it on the HUD
Fold to 5-bet shows on the 4-bettor’s badge in a 4-bet pot, and on everyone else’s badge in a 5-bet pot. On your turn, when you can 5-bet, the panel lists the 4-bettor’s fold rate so you can weigh a shove. It turns gold above 70% and blue below 30%, and it has no read.
This may be the slowest stat on the HUD. A chance needs a 4-bet and then a 5-bet, which is rare even among aggressive players, so 12 chances can take many thousands of hands, and as the example shows, five chances leave error bars of ±20 points or more. Until it fills in, use 4-bet, cold 4-bet and 4-bet size: frequent small 4-bets point to a high fold to 5-bet, rare big ones to a low one. Player type helps too: a Nit’s 4-bet doesn’t fold.
Questions
What does fold to 5-bet mean?
It’s how often a player who made a 4-bet folds when someone re-raises them again, usually with an all-in. The HUD counts it out of every time they made the 4-bet and their next action faced a 5-bet. Its typical range is 30–70%, and a high number points to light 4-bets.
Should you 5-bet bluff a player who folds a lot to 5-bets?
Only with the right hands. After a 2.5 bb open, a 9 bb 3-bet and a 20 bb 4-bet, a 100 bb shove needs about 75% folds to profit as a pure bluff, which is more than most players fold. Use blockers like A5s that have equity when called, and shove value hands like JJ and AQs against a high folder.
Is a low fold to 5-bet a sign of a strong player?
Not by itself. A low number means their 4-bets are mostly hands they’ll get in with, which is sound but easy to read: you can fold marginal hands to their 4-bet. It can also come from big 4-bet sizes that price them in, or from short stacks where folding makes little sense.
Why does fold to 5-bet stay faded for so long?
Because the spot is rare. A chance needs a 4-bet and then a 5-bet before the player acts again, and the HUD fades any number with fewer than 12 chances. Expect thousands of hands per player before it fills in, and use their 4-bet frequency and sizing in the meantime.