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
