3-betting in No Limit Hold Em
Part 2 – Typical 3-betting situations
3-betting from the blinds versus a steal
Be late for a raise
One of the most common times to raise in Hold Em is in late position; this can be done with a wider range of hands as since there are fewer players left to act, the chances of someone having a genuinely strong hand are a lot less than someone in early position.
Positioned for a raise
Also the late position player has a big advantage, i.e. they have position over the blinds so by raising preflop they put the blinds under pressure and make it uncomfortable for the blinds to call preflop. Some players however take this advantage to extremes and try to steal the blinds at virtually every opportunity.
Let’s see what your hand is really made of
In such cases, an aware player playing in the blinds, knowing full well that the stealer can not possibly have a good hand like they represent is going to play back at them on occasion in the form of 3-betting. The 3-bettor might not even always have even a good hand when they do this, they just realize that there’s a good chance that the raiser hasn’t a good enough hand to call their re-raise.
Oh no you don’t
In fact in a very aggressive game this can be a prime time for the development of a pre-flopping bluffing war situation where players are 3-betting and 4-betting with air as neither player believes the others re-raise. However there is nothing stopping one of them from actually having the monster they represent, so even in these aggressive games don’t let your ego take over, discretely folding is usually the safest option when your hand on its own merits is not good enough to warrant calling a 3 or 4-bet.
3-betting from the button
Stole your button?
When the game gets aggressive and the button is constantly seeing his ‘button stolen’, he has effectively two choices, either to wait patiently for a genuinely strong enough hand to 3-bet or seeing as once again his opponents can not possibly have the strength of hands that they are representing all the time to start to 3-betting light.
Don’t be dictated to
The problem with the former approach is that the other players are often aware that the button is playing his normal tight solid game and will have an easy decision, i.e. folding all but the very best of hands, so it doesn’t actively discourage their ability to dictate the game. If the button loosens up somewhat and starts 3-betting them with a wider range of hands, then it makes life more difficult for them and they won’t be quiet so sure about their decision making process.
Can the raiser’s hand stand any heat?
The big advantage of 3-betting from the button is that the player will have position for the rest of the hand if the blinds fold, which is normally the case. If the original raiser appears to be raising light, say 20% or more of their hands, chances are good that most of their hands won't play well in a re-raised pot, especially seeing as they are out of position.
Coming right back at yeah
When a player is constantly raising with hands that are on their own merit are not strong enough to warrant raising with then other players notice this and will start "playing back" at them in the form of a 3-bet. The blinds and the button as explored above are the prime positions for this playing back.
3-betting to isolate
If a poor player has raised or is perhaps is playing too aggressively, perhaps they are on tilt, a player with position on him may 3-bet to isolate him in the hand. By 3-betting this vulnerable player, a player makes it expensive for other players, thereby discouraging them from entering hand with all but the very bets of hands.
In Part 3 of 3-betting in No Limit Hold Em we will take a look at the special case of the squeeze play.
