3-Betting

Ok, so I changed my mind. I wrote an essay on 3-betting instead!

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So your typical LAGTAG (Tight-aggressive player with loose-aggressive tendencies in position) raises from the button. You reraise with 97s from the small blind. LAGTAG calls. Flop K84. You bet 2/3 pot and LAGTAG folds. Easy $$$$$! Or is it?

3-betting and in particular, 3-betting light, is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. It’s a concept I’ve been aware of for quite some time, but in all honesty I’ve often used it at the wrong times, against the wrong type of opponents.

See, you can play a solid safe game and just call preflop with certain hands that may be +EV. However, when you’re in the blinds facing a raise from the button, or even from the cut off - what do you really accomplish cold calling with good hands like AQ, AJs, and KQ? A lot of these hands carry reverse implied odds. You’re going to miss the flop most of the time and be forced to fold to a continuation bet. Often you’ll be folding the best hand! Even when you hit… where are you when facing a lot of pressure? Even with small pairs and suited connectors, your implied odds are very bad. Why? Because a late position raiser tends to have a very wide range. When you do hit (which won’t be very often), it’s hard to get paid off. In both cases we lack initiative. What are we going to achieve cold calling OOP with these hands? Maybe a small +EV?

So what about reraising? By 3-betting you take the initiative, you gain momentum and you force your opponent into making a hand. If you don’t win the pot right there, you’ll often take it down with a continuation bet a high percentage of the time. Against some opponents this is +EV right there - even with any two cards! As your more observant opponents realize that you’re capable of reraising light, you’ll increase the action on your big hands too.

So now we’ve established that 3-betting is definitely a good thing; what sort of hands to we want to 3-bet with and against which opponents? Well to give you an exhaustive list, here are the hands I would consider 3-betting with:

Any Pair, Any SC 67+, one gap SC’s 79+, AJ+, KQ.

Occasionally I’ll 3-bet other hands too, like KTs, Q9s, J8s, QJ, JT, T9 and more. However, the situation and opponent must be exactly right.

That’s what it’s all about… I can’t emphasize enough how important player reads are!

Does the button raiser almost never call a reraise? Will they only call with TT/AQ+? Do they call with any drawing hand/pair because they know you sometimes 3-bet light? Do they 4-bet with a wide range? Or you do they mix it up - sometimes calling/4-betting with both ends of the spectrum? Also how do they play after the flop? Are they almost always folding if they miss? Are they capable of raising the flop with air? Along with game dynamics and your own image, these questions largely decide whether it’s best to fold, call or reraise against this opponent in this particular situation with whatever hand you hold.

So as you can see, against some opponents (players with tight calling ranges), AJ might as well be 72o, as basically your 3-bet is a bluff. Their calling range crush you, but you still expect +EV as they fold too way too much preflop. They may also fold QQ, KK etc. on ace high flops, hence why AJ is in fact slight better than 72o.

Against other opponents however (players who call 3-bets with a wide range), AJ may be one of the better hands to 3-bet with, as it has showdown value. Think about opponents who are going to call you with any pair or suited connector. I’m much more likely to 3-bet these guys with AJ than I am with T8s.

In any case, always remember to mix it up. I love it when I find a really weak tight opponent who ALWAYS folds to my C-bet! I’ll hit on these guys all day long, but sooner or later though they’re going to fight back. After 3-betting these guys a few times with air, I’m much more likely to start 3-betting with only the nuts (AA, KK etc), and good drawing hands (suited connectors & small pairs, etc). This way I’ll have a good chance of stacking them when they do play back. And most will play back… eventually.

So 3-betting is definitely a must have weapon to have in your arsenal. Especially moving through the levels you’re going to need it more and more. Just remember that player reads and table image are probably more important than the cards themselves! Pick your moments and feel the game. It’s all about feel! Used correctly 3-betting can drastically increase you BB/100, but used incorrectly and you’ve found a quick way to burn your bankroll!