3-Bets vs. weaker speculative hands.

J

jrodders

Rising Star
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 23, 2015
Total posts
21
Chips
0
Say you're in the Hijack position with a small pp or small suited connectors. The action folds to you and you come in for a standard raise, and get 3-bet by the cutoff or button? Or by one of the blinds?

I realize table dynamics, player histories, reads, etc., etc. have to come into play, but from a "default stategy" point of view, how do you play them? Are they auto-folds? When would you call? Would you ever push? And, more importantly, why?

What about middle pairs or middle suited connectors?
 
JonnyW87

JonnyW87

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Total posts
122
Chips
0
I usually don't like to call 3-bets OOP at all, 4-bet or fold.

100bb deep with a hand like one of those you mentioned I am folding majority of the time.

Like you said there are a lot of factors that come into play when deciding what to do in certain situations.

For instance if you and villain are both 200bb deep and you open raise from the button and a nit with a low 3-bet% 3-bets you, you can be pretty certain he has a strong value hand and can narrow his range down to something like AA-JJ, AK or something.

I personally would consider calling with suited connectors and small-medium pocket pairs only if you think villain is the type to get sticky with an over pair and will pay you off if you hit your set, straight or flush.

But in general as I said 100bb deep you open raise something like 66, 77, 87s, 98s etc and get 3-bet even if villain has high 3-bet percentage I am usually folding.

There are much better hands to bet 4-bet bluffing with, you want hands that have blockers for a start and ones that can pick up some decent equity on the flop. Say A2s-A5s are good 4-bet bluff hands as you have the Ace blocker to begin with, you have suited cards than can make the nut flush and you can also make straights with these hands.

To be honest there really is no default strategy as you will always have to take into account villains stack size, your stack size, previous hands, if you are using a HUD villains 3-bet% and also your fold to 3-bet% etc, etc.

But as a good rule of thumb try and not call 3-bets OOP 100bb deep.
 
TimovieMan

TimovieMan

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Jan 16, 2016
Total posts
2,264
Chips
0
^ What JonnyW87 said.

Calling 3-bets OOP was one of my biggest leaks. It greatly reduced my variance once I stopped doing that.
Also, at the micros you shouldn't worry about raise/folding a lot vs the same guys - they're not 3-betting you lighter because you fold a lot, they're just not paying attention at that level.

Check out John A's free "Polished Poker" book (link's in John's signature - check the Polished Poker thread in this subforum), it has an entire chapter on 3-betting (and calling/folding to 3-bets) as well as an entire chapter on 4-bet bluffing.
 
vita087

vita087

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jan 9, 2016
Total posts
120
Chips
0
depends on the villain can be a lot of hands mostly cash, varies much in the way of the player ... if tilt, if aggressive, table position.
 
John A

John A

Poker Zion Coach
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Total posts
6,492
Awards
3
Chips
37
^ What JonnyW87 said.

Calling 3-bets OOP was one of my biggest leaks. It greatly reduced my variance once I stopped doing that.
Also, at the micros you shouldn't worry about raise/folding a lot vs the same guys - they're not 3-betting you lighter because you fold a lot, they're just not paying attention at that level.

Check out John A's free "Polished Poker" book (link's in John's signature - check the Polished Poker thread in this subforum), it has an entire chapter on 3-betting (and calling/folding to 3-bets) as well as an entire chapter on 4-bet bluffing.

Yeah, I wrote a lot about this in Polished poker. It's free so you can check it out. I use a lot of poker stats, and observation from coaching for a long time to write about these topics. Joining the study group is a smart move too. It will help keep you motivated and we have some occasional jems in there to learn from. :)
 
JonnyW87

JonnyW87

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Sep 9, 2015
Total posts
122
Chips
0
Yeah, I wrote a lot about this in Polished poker. It's free so you can check it out. I use a lot of poker stats, and observation from coaching for a long time to write about these topics. Joining the study group is a smart move too. It will help keep you motivated and we have some occasional jems in there to learn from. :)

Is there anything you have to do be a member of your study group as I browse through there now and then and you give out some really good advice.

So please let me know id there is anything I have to do to become a member, thanks mate :)
 
luiaguila

luiaguila

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Total posts
332
Chips
0
I do not think you should always pay with speculative hands and depends on your position
 
JayBonez

JayBonez

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 20, 2016
Total posts
57
Chips
0
3 Bets

I am not one to call an already called hand, especially out of postion, but the other day I went on tilt after not realizeing what I knew. See I knew the two other callers were players probably sharing cards, and the second caller pushed agressivly showing certain signs of unconfidence, as he didnt want any callers. I made a bad decision not calling. Playing your hands for what they are; has become one of the most important strategys in my book. Forgeting what others are doing is key. Dont let others aggresion deter you, and call if others are trying to push there weight around.

:jd4:
 
Starting Hands - Poker Hand Nicknames Rankings - Poker Hands
Top