When not to 3-bet

LD1977

LD1977

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I have read comments here occasionally that imply that it is not good to 3bet people who fold to a lot of 3bets if you have QQ+, since you fold out the weaker part of their range. Those who don't fold can be 3bet for value with good hands.

Is this correct? Are there and concrete guidelines of when to refrain from 3betting? Lets say against someone who folds a lot to 3bets and also cbets/barrels a lot?
 
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themosthigh

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Here is a note I wrote down with regards to 3betting AK. I guess it could apply to QQ. I don't care who my opponent is I'm 3betting and 4 betting with AA/KK all day.

Forgot where I got this but here is the quote I have written in my notes.

"you want to 3bet AK when you think hes gonna be continuing with worse (especially worse dominated shit like KQ AQ AJ KJ) ...if hes not and hes only calling with JJ+AK then obviously dont 3bet it and let all his dominated shit stay in his range, (and then because hes folding so much you can pick hands like A5s to 3bet)"
 
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jsh169

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I would say if your playing minimal tables and see an absurd fold to three bet stat. Really your going to make more if they do wake up with qq plus when you raise, then if you slow play and just flat call vs there garbage range, that most likely you will get one cbet if that out of them. I used to be more not into 3betting opponents with a high fold rate, but it never yielded anything to me, 1 more bet if I was lucky. If your multitabling quite a bit I would just go for the 3bet and move on to the next hand.
 
blueskies

blueskies

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Against people who have high fold-to-3bet percentages, I generally 3bet them liberally (not every time of course). Sooner or later they start to catch on, and that’s when I tighten up my 3bet range. I can’t remember the last time I did not 3bet QQ+. I rarely just call. I may just limp if I am early in position and I had a tight passive image and there are aggro folks behind me.
 
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tomnovember

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It strongly depends on your reading of you opponents
 
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baudib1

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If opponents fold too much to 3-bets, bluff them with a polarized range.

If opponents call 3-bets too often, 3-bet them wider for value with a merged range.
 
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afoostenrijk

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never 3bet a stone
never 3bet light a fish
never fold to 4bets of whales
;)
 
Aleksei

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I will never NOT 3bet AK, because 1) against people too tight for AK to be a value 3bet, it nevertheless makes for an extremely good bluff hand because of blockers; 2) TPTK is useless as a value hand and has bad RIOs against a massive nit anyway, so it doesn't play well postflop; and 3) in a looser game or late positions AK's equity actually significantly improves vs a flat 3bet range, because a tight range consists almost entirely of hands AK dominates.

I will also never NOT 3bet AA, because it's a relatively vulnerable nut hand and I want ranges that go up against it to have very strong high-card value and very weak speculative value.

I would probably not 3bet QQ/KK in a tight dynamic, because flatting keeps worse hands in so that you can get some value out of them postflop, assuming an overcard doesn't come off otf (in which case you're basically dead and should fold unless your villain bluffs enough that you can bluffcatch profitably -- most nits don't but some better ones bluff sometimes for balance, and with a very tight range it's very hard not to bluff too much even if you're a decent player).

I more or less apply the above principles to 4betting over 3bets, except that if I think someone's 3bet range is KK/AA I will fold anything short of AA (this is a rare exploitative situation).
 
LD1977

LD1977

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I find that nits who open very tight (basically QQ+/AK) don't fold to 3bets so AK is problematic for 3betting since they will play QQ carefully, whereas if I flat they tend to fire 1-2 barrels even against overcards.
 
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jcdagenius

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3 betting these days are too standard ....you have to do these 3 bets for a lot of reasons .....also reading opponents comes into play when you are 3 betting.....I agree mostly with ak/aa 3 bet everytime.......ill take the bad beat
 
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