Entries from January 2008 ↓

In today’s aggressive online games it is important to have a well-adjusted 3-betting poker strategy.

For some veteran players this will be a bit of a review, for others learning the ins-and-outs of re-raised pots this may be very important info.

Why Do We Want To 3Bet?

Re-raising regularly has many benefits. The simplest is that it makes you look crazier / more aggressive, which will in turn let you win bigger pots with your “premium” hands - AA, KK, and to a lesser extent AK, QQ.

Additionally, we put ourselves in spots to win medium-to-large sized pots without having to show down a hand, since many opponents are timid in re-raised pots for fear of being stacked.

These two may seem contradictory - it is important to pay attention to how your opponents are reacting to your re-raises, if anyone is steaming or complaining in chat, etc.

Some nitty players will let you steal pot after pot and never fight back. Others will let you take one or two, then they will “blow up” with some low-quality hand because they feel they need to “make a stand.”

So, lets get down to the nuts and bolts.

For the purposes of this article we will focus on 100bb effective stack sizes.

What Poker Hands Are Best To Re-Raise?

In general, there are two types of “wider” re-raising ranges:

• “Nuts-Or-Nothing”
• “No Bluffs”

“Nuts-Or-Nothing” describes a range where you 3bet premiums (AK, KK, AA, sometimes QQ) and also some pure bluffs, like 76s, JTo, etc.

“No Bluffs” describes a range where you 3bet the top X% of your hand range for value - limit players will recognize this as a “normal” type of reraising range for LHE.

An example is: KJs+ AJs+ KQo, AQo+, 99+.
There are no pure bluffs here, but we have used a wider-than-normal range.

How Do I Choose What To 3bet?

This depends on a few things:

• Your opponent’s raising and calling range preflop
• Your opponent’s postflop tendencies

Preflop:

If your opponent is raising a wide range, and folds outright a large % of the time, reraising a nuts-or-nothing range can be very effective.

If your opponent is raising a wide range, and calls the reraise a large % of the time, we must look at how he plays postflop to determine the best counter-strategy.

Postflop:

If your opponent calls a wide range of hands preflop, and plays very stubbornly with any piece of the board - either a fish or a bad-aggressive LAG - then reraising a “No Bluffs” range is usually best.

Be willing to get it in with TPGK+ with this range, against this type of player.

If your opponent calls a wide range of hands pf, and then gives up unless he hits the flop hard, a “Nuts-Or-Nothing” range can be very effective. Continuation bet flops liberally, but shut down if you get called - he’s finally found a hand.

These are two extremes, and while there are many variations on these two general player types, hopefully this will give you a good idea about what to start thinking about when re-raising.

Hey guys, sorry for the long delay between posts. I came down with a sinus infection and have been under the weather for about a week, though I am finally starting to feel better.

I’m getting into HU play, donking around at 2/4 and seeing how the game is. I really enjoy it, there’s lots of mind-games and great opportunities for profit.

The first thing that strikes me is how swingy the game is compared to 6max. I’ll swing up or down 5-6 BIs pretty consistently, whereas at 6max a 5BI downswing is a once-or-twice a week type thing.

It’s alot of fun, and it will help you develop your hand-reading if you focus and 1-2 table. I’ll be talking about HU a bit over the coming weeks, along with all the usual goodies, so keep an eye out!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

I had a great Christmas, and enjoyed taking a break from poker to spend time with family and friends.

I’m ready to get back to the tables, though.

Playing In The Blinds: Comparison

In Limit, it is difficult to over-defend your big blind. Against a single raise we are typically getting 4:1 (or better) to see a flop.

If we fold, we lose .5BBs immediately. So, making the call only needs to result in us losing .49BBs or less and we have a profitable hand.

No Limit is very different, however. A typical raise is 3 times the big blind, so we are getting 3:1 on our money instead.

However, postflop is where the problem comes in. Most of the times we will miss, and against an aggressive opponent it will be difficult to show-down medium-strength hands cheaply.

Because of the huge disadvantage of being out of position in NL, we are forced to fold many hands that we would otherwise want to play.

Note that when the SB raises and we are in the BB we can call all these hands, things like Axs and JTo that play poorly OOP play well in position.

OOP we typically want hands that flop well, and can hold up to some heat. Pairs 66+, AJs+, AQo+, KQ is a decent range for calling heads-up OOP.

Against a passive / bad player we can call more hands, since he will give us cheap cards and pay off well. Hands like A9s-ATs, ATo+, KJs, PPs 22-55, and some stronger SCs like JTs become playable.

Fighting Back

There will be aggressive players at your tables who try to steal the blinds too often. How do we fight back?

The answer: Preflop Reraises.

Someone who is opening 30-40% of the time from the button very rarely has a strong hand. They don’t mind being called, however, since they have the advantage of position after the flop.

Reraising a range of JJ+, AQo+, and occasionally some “creative” stuff like JTs, 65o, etc, will make him think twice about stealing your blind.

Be Confident

It’s easy to over-defend your blinds in NL, since we put so much at risk both preflop and postflop, that it is usually correct to just fold when OOP.

However, making sure to fight back against aggressive players with liberal preflop reraises, coupled with tight starting standards, will make you a tough blind to steal.