Worst Mistakes to Make in a 3 Bet Pot

7 years ago
Worst Mistakes in a 3 Bet Pot
12:09
13 Sep

The increased popularity of light 3bets was the first telltale sign that poker is moving away from the casual and immensely profitable reality of PartyPoker circa 2006 into a highly competitive and tough state that we all know and love now. Light 3betting is now an integral part of almost every poker variant at almost every stake and correct play in that kind of spots is absolutely essential for every poker player. Here are some of the most common mistakes poker players tend to make in 3bet pots.


Fit of Fold

The most common sin that players tend to make in 3bet pots is giving up way too easily on the flop. Just because 3betting ranges are narrower than ranges for open raise it doesn't mean that they will automatically hit every single board. If an aggressive opponent is 3beting you from the big blind and you called with 88 in position giving up to one barrel on a J75 board is most likely too weak.

By the same token, just because you missed with AhJh on a Qh6d4d board doesn't mean that you should just shut down and give up your backdoor equity plus your fold equity. Remember that just because the stack to pot ratio in 3bet pots is lower and the ranges stronger than in single raised pots you still have enough space to play good old fashioned post flop poker and the approach that's too timid will cause you to bleed money left right and center.



Pot Management

Speaking of the stack to pot ratio, another major mistake players tend to make in 3bet pots is failing to manage the pot properly. While low stack to pot ratio makes it easier to get the maximum amount of value from strong hands it also makes multi-street bluffs much more tricky. I've seen countless examples of people failing to perform a successful triple barrel bluff in a 3bet pot, because even though they picked a good spot they sized their flop bet incorrectly and weren't able to put enough pressure on the opponent when the river card came.

Here's a very simple example. Let's say you decided to 3bet preflop with AhJh against a somewhat loose-passive opponent who doesn't really go to the showdown that often. You make it 10bb preflop with 100bb effective stacks. The flop comes Qh6d4d, there's 20bb in the pot with 90bb behind in your stack. You decided to make a healthy cbet of 15bb. The turn comes Kh, you have 75bb left with 50bb in the pot. Since Kh is basically a nut backdoor card for your turn practically plays itself and you go for another healthy bet of 35bb into a 50bb spot. The river comes 2c. You know that villain is very loose and even though he likes to float a lot he often gives up before the showdown.

While Qx is certainly a healthy part of his range with rare Kx combos sprinkled in it might be a great spot for a third barrel given villain's tendencies. Unfortunately, you only have 40bb left in your stack with 120bb in the pot and you can't really put enough pressure on your opponent. You decided to bet anyway and your opponent called with 8s8d, which he'd probably release if you could bet more than one-third of the pot. In this particular situation betting around 10-11bb on the flop would put you in a much better spot to make a play on the river. That's why it's so important to think in advance how your betsizing will affect the pot on future streets.


Holdem Approach to PLO Pots

Holdem players who decide to make a transition to the much more complicated and volatile game that's pot limit Omaha often underestimate how different those two games are especially as it pertains to the reality of 3bet pots. With four cards and pot limit structure, it's impossible to put enough pressure on your opponent's to just make them fold over and over again by 3betting preflop.

Good players can get away with defending almost 100% of their raising range in position vs. 3bets and still call a good amount of hands out of position. This would obviously result in a win rate suicide in hold'em and that's why no-limit players making the transition to Omaha often end up folding way too often vs. 3bet and 3bet way too often with marginal hands. They also tend to overvalue bad AAXX type hands (like AA28ss, AAJ8r, AAJ5ss etc.) and they have trouble giving up their aces on unfavorable boards.



How Light is Light?

As we already mentioned, light 3bets became immensely popular at some point in poker history. We've all heard the phrase 'light 3bet' over and over again in educational videos, poker streams, strategy discussions etc. This phrase got so ingrained in our collective poker consciousness that we sometimes fail to stop and think what it really means. Players often assume that everyone is 3betting light no matter the context. In reality, while it's not uncommon to find an aggressive 3bettors in micro stakes cash games or local live tournaments, many people still have trouble going above their 5-7% comfort zone. Because of that one of the worst mistakes a player can make is to adjust to something that isn't really there.

If you start 4betting or calling with a wide range against someone who only ever 3bets premiums like TT+ and AQ+ you're making him a giant favor. Same goes for trying to get into an epic re-raise leveling war against a nitty reg who's raising only 10% of hands from UTG. Looking for light 3bet demons where you'll only find a garden variety nitty regular is perhaps the biggest mistake you can ever make when it comes to 3bet pots.


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Mateusz has been writing about poker for the better part of the last decade. He's deeply interested in many poker related subjects like psychology, game theory, fitness, nutritional science etc.Read more

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