Explanation of Three-bet
Bets in poker can be assigned numbers to show where they fall
within a sequence of bets.
One-bet – The first bet in a sequence
Two-bet – The first
raise in a sequence
Three-bet – The first re-raise in a sequence
Four-bet – The second
re-raise in a sequence
Five-bet – The third re-raise in a sequence
Note that the first
open-raise preflop in Hold’em and Omaha is referred to as a “2-bet” because the
mandatory blind payments are considered as the first bet of the sequence. This can
cause some confusion amongst novice players. It’s common for a postflop 2bet (the first
raise) to be mistakenly referred to as a “3bet”.
Watch Kara Scott Interview with Martin
Jacobson on 3 betting:
Example of Three-bet used in a sentence -> Our opponent
open-raised on the button and we three-bet from the big blind.
How to Use Three-bet as
Part of Your Poker Strategy
3bets happen routinely both preflop and postflop in the
majority of poker variants. Postflop 3bets are a little less common since they are
often heavily indicative of strength.
For example, in No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit
Omaha, it’s extremely rare for a player to 3bet the flop without holding a strong value
hand. While some 3bets should be a bluff according to poker theory, many players only
ever three-bet postflop for value.
The preflop betting rounds are a slightly different
ball-game, since even the average recreational player has often been exposed to the
idea of re-raising a preflop open (3betting) as a bluff. While the average player still
3bets way too tight of a range preflop, the line is less indicative of strength than a
postflop 3bet. As a rough guide, the later the street the 3bet occurs, the greater the
amount of strength that is represented.
Preflop 3bet Strategies in Hold’em
Many players
advocate making use of polarized 3betting strategies preflop, although depolarized
strategies are becoming increasingly popular from a variety of position at the
table.
Polarized – Implies 3betting a selection of strong value hand and a selection of
semi-bluffs. The semi-bluffs range will typically be comprised of speculative holdings
such as suited connectors and suited-gappers. They don’t have a lot of raw-equity
preflop but still have the potential to make big 5-card holdings by the river. These
types of speculative 3bets are especially useful when facing opponents who fold too
frequently to preflop 3bets.
Depolarized – Implies 3betting a range of hands for
value/thin-value but never semi-bluffing preflop. Although the line between
thin-value/semi-bluff can become blurred at times, a depolarized three-betting range
won’t typically involve any of the lower ranked suited-connectors and gappers such as
57s. A depolarized 3betting strategy is especially useful when dealing with opponents
who defend too frequently against 3bets.
Preflop 3bet Strategies in Omaha
As we
increase complexity into a variant by adding additional cards, it becomes harder to
describe strategies as depolarized/polarized. The lines between the different types of
approaches become blurred. The general consensus regarding Omaha 3betting strategy is
as follows -
- 3bet the absolute best hands for value. i.e AAJTss, AAKK, AKQJss etc
etc.
- 3bet a selection of speculative hands with “smooth” equity, especially rundowns
such as T987ss
One might describe this strategy as “polarized” (since we are 3betting a
mixture of value and speculative holdings), but it could also be considered as
“depolarized” since T987ss just so happens to be one of the best hands in PLO despite
the fact that it doesn’t have as much raw-equity as holdings with bigger cards. Hence,
the terminology itself loses importance – but the broad view generally accepted
strategy is that advised above.
What Size Should Our Preflop 3bet Be?
Opinions vary on
the best preflop 3bet sizing but in most cases it will be somewhere between three times
and four times the size of the initial open raise. For example, if a player open raises
preflop to 3bb a typical 3bet size might be 10bb.
What Types of Hands Should We 3bet
Preflop in Hold’em?
It usually makes sense to 3bet holdings that have some type of
potential to make a big hand postflop. Many players make use of a linear (also known as
‘depolarized’) 3bet range which simply means that we 3bet a selection of the strongest
possible holdings we are dealt preflop. We would only 3bet very weak holdings preflop
if our opponent is folding too much to 3bets.
Why is a Preflop 3bet Not the Second Bet
in the Sequence?
It may appear that a preflop 3bet is the second bet (first raise) in
the sequence rather than the the third bet (second raise). The missing link here is
that the big blind post is counted as the first bet in the sequence. An open raise is
therefore a 2bet (the first raise in the sequence). A re-raise when facing an open
raise preflop is hence referred to as a 3bet because it is considered the third bet
(second raise) in the sequence.
What Size Should Our Flop 3bet be in Hold’em?
A flop
3bet is usually somewhere between 2 and 2.5 times the size of the flop 2bet.
Inexperienced players don’t always realise this and may sometimes make flop 3bets which
are 3 times the size of the 2bet or larger. The error might partly be caused by the
fact that a flop 2bet is usually just over 3 times the size of the initial flop
bet.
What Does My Opponent’s Range Look Like When He Calls a 3bet?
We usually know that
our opponent doesn’t have the absolute strongest holdings (like QQ+, AK) since he may
have decided to re-raise (4bet) preflop the majority of the time. He also won’t usually
have extremely weak holdings since he would have either folded preflop vs the 3bet or
not open raised in the first place. Our opponent is usually left with a range of
relatively strong broadway hands, pocket-pairs and mid to high suited connectors.
See
Also
