Submitted by Cory, this article belong to the Poker Strategy series. 3 betting in poker by Cory the lead singer in corywilkinsband.com. Poker goes through cycles and evolutions and the current state of no limit focuses a lot on pre-flop action. Whether it’s tournaments with short stacks and fast blinds, or four bet bluffing 300BBS deep in a cash game how you’re playing pre-flop, notice I said, “how,” not, “what,” is going to set up your story for the rest of the hand. Right now, I just want to talk about 3 betting. I know a lot of people watch shows like High Stakes Poker and just can’t figure out why Durrrr is 3 betting with Ten 7 off suit. There is a rhyme and reason for different 3 betting strategies and the most important factors are stack size, position and opponent. Importance of stack sizes Let’s talk first about stack size. If you’re 100BBS deep or less, your 3 betting range is going to include the top of your range, AA, KK, QQ, JJ as well as the middle of your range, hands like 88 and KQO. When you’re deeper stacked, hands in the middle of your range become great implied odds hands, so you may not want to 3 bet them as often. If you and your opponent are 200BBS deep, why 3 bet 88 pre-flop? If you’re 15BBS deep, your shipping it. Many people don’t account enough for stack sizes. The problem with 3 betting a hand like 88 when we’re 200BBS deep is what do I do when I get 4 bet? I have way more to gain and far less to lose by just calling a raise with a strong implied odds hand than I do by possibly getting 4 bet off of it or risk getting way too much money in the middle in a marginal spot. However, when I’m deep I’ll need to polarize my 3 betting range so my opponents don’t know whether I have aces or not. I’ve found that good hands to do this with are hands that I can throw away easily when I’m 4 bet, I can easily continuation bet and fold to a raise on the flop if I need to and when I do go to showdown I help my image be a little more crazy by showing that I 3 bet with jack 8. Why 3 betting will make your decisions easier on later streets Your next factor is position. You’ll need a slightly different range based on your position. I tend to three bet hands like AK, AQ, TT and 99 more often out of position than I do in position. The two main factors I’ll need going to the flop are position and initiative. Since I can’t have position, I’ll take the initiative and be the last aggressor pre-flop. Also, sometimes my opponent will fold and I’ll take down the hand without any post-flop decisions. By taking the lead with a 3 bet, […]
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