If he calls a lot, then our range will be a big favourite and will retain a lot of equity post-flop. If he folds a lot then we are automatically very profitable without even having to play many flops. The reason for this guarantee of profit is that he has no feasible counter-strategy to such a 3-Bet range. If we take a small portion of this – say the top 15-16% of hands and 3-Bet we will make a lot of money. Our opponent’s range in this spot could easily span 50% of hands.

Let’s imagine that the BU is a proficient and aggressive regular and opens to 2.5BB.

How wide then, should we 3-Bet in the SB? It really depends on the position of the open-raiser. If there is an especially weak player still to act in the big blind, then developing some kind of flat calling strategy is certainly defensible, but otherwise, cut it out of your game. Our pot odds are worse than when in the big blind.ĭue to these pitfalls with flat-calling, we are heavily incentivised to enter the pot for a 3-bet or not at all on most tables. The Big Blind is still to act and might squeeze (3-Bet after one or more players has called a raise.) If we go three-handed to the flop we will be at a large positional disadvantage from having to act first. The small blind is a perilous position to do much flat calling from for three main reasons: Here are a few situations in which it pays to 3-Bet more aggressively than just the best stuff. Most people 3-Bet the premium hands, as they should but many, fail to add extra hands to this range.

Most newer players commit the micro-stakes mistake of entering too many pots by calling and not enough by 3-Betting. I don’t mean you specifically, but then again, this probably does apply to you specifically. In this poker strategy article we discuss why you should 3-bet more in a poker cash game.

3 bet poker meaning