Great poker players are aggressive. Aggression leads to a lot of big pots.
You can’t be
afraid of big pots if 🌝 you want to be a great poker player.
In fact, you have to be
willing to create big pots by 3-betting; 🌝 odds are, you don’t 3-bet often enough.
Note:
Prefer listening or watching to reading? Check out this episode of Upswing Poker
🌝 Level-Up which is all about 3-betting strategy.
What is a 3-bet in poker?
The term
3-bet most commonly refers to the first 🌝 re-raise before the flop, although the term
also refers to the first re-raise after the flop. (This article focuses exclusively 🌝 on
preflop 3-betting.) Subsequent raises are referred to as a 4-bet, 5-bet, etc.
For
example, suppose another player raises preflop, leaving 🌝 you with the option to call,
fold, or re-raise. If you choose to re-raise, that action is known as a 🌝 3-bet, and you
are the 3-bettor in the hand.
You can set yourself up for success in crucial 3-bet pots
by 🌝 using a well-thought-out and aggressive preflop 3-betting strategy.
I’ll show you
how to construct an effective 3-betting range in this article. 🌝 But first, I will list
the reasons why you should ramp up your 3-betting frequency.
Why you need to 3-bet more
🌝 often
3-betting makes your opponent’s decisions more difficult
Many players start out
3-betting with only premium hands. We’re talking QQ+, maybe JJ 🌝 and AK if they’re in an
ambitious mood. Such a strategy is far too conservative.
If you only 3-bet JJ or
🌝 better, you become easy to play against. Your opponents can confidently fold all but
their strongest hands against your 3-bets, 🌝 preventing you from extracting value with
your monsters.
Including a number of non-premium hands in your 3-betting range makes
you much 🌝 more difficult to play against.
You can isolate weak players by 3-betting
When
you 3-bet after a weak player raises preflop, you 🌝 force players behind to fold that may
have played for a single raise. Additionally, it forces the weak player to 🌝 make a
decision they are likely unprepared for due to their lack of experience.
Unless the
opener happens to hold a 🌝 premium hand, they’re going to be up a creek without a
paddle.
3-betting reduces the average number of players in the 🌝 pot
As more players
enter the pot, the equity of your range decreases. Take a look at AK’s equity vs one,
🌝 two and three random poker hands:
A 3-bet will usually force some players out before
the flop, making it more likely 🌝 that you will win the hand.
3-betting gives you a
chance to pick up the pot preflop
Calling an open-raise gives you 🌝 no chance to pick up
the pot preflop, but 3-betting does.
Note: A solid 3-betting strategy is almost useless
if you 🌝 don't know what to do postflop once your 3-bet gets called. Learn effective
strategies for 3-bet pots when you get 🌝 this free guide.
Types of 3-betting ranges
There
are two primary ways to construct 3-betting ranges:
Merged ranges usually consist of
premium hands, 🌝 strong hands and hands with great playability–no bluffs
Polarized ranges
usually consist of premium hands and bluffs
Let’s take a closer look 🌝 at each of
these.
When should you merge your 3-bet range?
Here are a few situations that warrant a
merged 3-betting range:
The 🌝 open-raiser is a strong player that will give you trouble
postflop
You are in a position/situation that is not favorable for 🌝 calling ranges– like
the small blind
The open-raiser or player(s) behind are calling stations
Let’s say a
strong player named Doug opens 🌝 to 2.5BB from middle position and you’re in the cutoff.
You want to avoid tough postflop spots with weak hands 🌝 against Doug, so you decide to
use a merged 3-betting strategy like this:
If you 3-bet with only strong and/or
playable 🌝 hands, you will hit the flop more often and Doug will have a tough time
pushing you around.
Raising to around 🌝 3 times the open-raise is good when using a
merged 3-betting strategy in position. When out of position, use a 🌝 size around 3.5-to-4
times the open-raise. (These general rules assume 100BB stacks.)
When should you
polarize your 3-bet range?
Polarized 3-bet ranges 🌝 consist of the hands at the top and
bottom of our continuing range. Here are a couple very common situations 🌝 that warrant a
polarized 3-betting range:
The open-raiser folds more than half of the time to
3-bets
You have a large number 🌝 of hands that play better as calls rather than
3-bets
Imagine you are in the big blind facing a button open-raise 🌝 to 3BB. You can
profitably call with a relatively wide range of middling hands given your great pot
odds–calling 2BB 🌝 to win 4.5BB–like this:
We attack the dead money in the pot by 3-bet
bluffing with hands just outside the calling 🌝 range. Additionally, these hands help
balance out our value 3-bets.
As your range becomes more polar, it is theoretically
correct to 🌝 up your sizing. When using a polarized 3-betting strategy in practice, you
should usually use a slightly larger size than 🌝 you would when merged.
What factors call
for adjustments?
Always be ready to adjust your 3-betting strategy based on your
opponents’ tendencies. 🌝 Consider:
How often your opponent folds
Against a player who
often folds to 3-bets, mix in more 3-bet bluffs with weak hands. 🌝 Against a player who
rarely folds to 3-bets, add more value hands and cut out some bluffs.
The open-raiser’s
postflop aggression 🌝 tendencies
If the opener plays weakly postflop, you can exploit
them by 3-bet bluffing and c-betting the flop at a high 🌝 frequency. Conversely, you
should cut down on 3-bet bluffing against players with fierce postflop skills.
The
tendencies of the players behind
Remember 🌝 to glance at the players to your left before
deciding how to react to an open-raise. The more likely you 🌝 are to get squeezed, the
narrower your calling range should be.
3-betting examples
Vs a Weak Regular
200NL
6-Max.R$200 Effective Stacks.
Hero is in 🌝 the big blind with 6♥ 4♥
folds to co. CO
raises toR$5. 2 folds. Hero…
The player in the cutoff is a 🌝 weak regular that we have
played with before. Our stats on him show that he open-raises at a standard frequency,
🌝 but folds to 3-bets at a somewhat high frequency–55%.
6♥4♥ fits neatly into our
polarized 3-bet range and, given the likelihood 🌝 that they will fold, we can comfortably
3-bet to aroundR$20.
It’s not a big deal if the cutoff calls; we’ll still 🌝 have a good
chance to win the pot with a very playable suited connector.
Vs A Loose Opener
200NL
6-Max.R$200 Effective Stacks.
Hero 🌝 is in the cutoff with A♠ Q♠
UTG raises toR$6. 2
folds. Hero…
The player UTG has been raising almost every hand, 🌝 and continues that
trend here.
The range charts from The Upswing Lab indicate that we can either 3-bet or
call with 🌝 A♠Q♠ against a UTG open in 6-max. In this case, the clear choice is to 3-bet
for value.
Think of the 🌝 three possible outcomes when we 3-bet:
UTG folds and we win
theR$9 pot UTG calls and we have position against a 🌝 seemingly weak range We face a
4-bet from UTG and we can profitably call
None of these are bad situations for 🌝 us when
we have a strong hand like A♠Q♠. We either win the pot or get to play a big 🌝 one in
position against a loose player.
Vs A Late Position Open
500NL 6-Max.R$500 Effective
Stacks.
Hero is on the button with J♠ 🌝 8♠
CO raises toR$12.50. Hero…
Our value range is
relatively wide here as hands like AJs, JTs and TT are slam dunk 🌝 value 3-bets from
these loose positions.
We need to 3-bet a bunch of bluffs to balance this value range.
A suited 🌝 two-gapper like J♠8♠ is a great candidate because it is too weak to call, but
plays well postflop.
Intro to Squeezing
The 🌝 idea of a squeeze play is meant to take
advantage of the great pot odds you are getting when facing 🌝 a raise and 1 or more
calls.
Squeezes aim to accomplish similar goals to standard 3-bets, but larger sizes
are required 🌝 to keep reduce the chances that the pot goes multiway.
In general, if you
are squeezing against a raise and one 🌝 call, you will want to raise to about 4 times the
original bet. Against a raiser and two callers you 🌝 will want to squeeze closer to 5
times. When out of position, add one more bet.
These sizing shortcuts are not 🌝 carved in
stone. You will certainly want to change your sizing based on your opponents tendencies
and range. If you 🌝 have AA against a group of calling stations, for example, you can
size even larger.
For more info on squeezing like 🌝 a pro, check out this article.
That’s
all I’ve got for you guys today. Until next time!
Note: A solid 3-betting strategy 🌝 is
almost useless if you don't know what to do postflop once your 3-bet gets called. Learn
effective strategies for 🌝 3-bet pots when you get this free guide.
Go back to the top of
this 3-bet strategy article.
