2 replies to this topic

[trystero]

I know that one's 3-betting range should depend upon his read of the other player, and whether he is playing full ring of 6-max, but I heard an interesting theoretical point the other day:

When we 3-bet preflop we effectively reduce the number of streets in the hand (with standard stacks online and big bets, we're probably getting it all in on the turn or close to it), thus diminishing the importance of postflop play. This appears to be disadvantageous when we're in position than when we are not - so we should want to 3-bet preflop more liberally from out of position to reduce our opponent's positional advantage. Now this runs counter to what I've always believed, that we should play larger pots when we are in position. I guess you could conclude that it's handy to 3-bet all over the place, from the button just as much from the blinds.

Thoughts?

[simo_8ball]

Thoughts?

By 3-betting in position, we are using our positional advantage in large pots. By not generally 3-betting OOP we only have a positional disadvantage in smaller pots.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[TheKingOfAces]

I know that one's 3-betting range should depend upon his read of the other player, and whether he is playing full ring of 6-max, but I heard an interesting theoretical point the other day:

When we 3-bet preflop we effectively reduce the number of streets in the hand (with standard stacks online and big bets, we're probably getting it all in on the turn or close to it), thus diminishing the importance of postflop play. This appears to be disadvantageous when we're in position than when we are not - so we should want to 3-bet preflop more liberally from out of position to reduce our opponent's positional advantage. Now this runs counter to what I've always believed, that we should play larger pots when we are in position. I guess you could conclude that it's handy to 3-bet all over the place, from the button just as much from the blinds.

Thoughts?

With position, you can generally gain more information about your opponent's hand, allowing you to build the pot as your equity increases with each street. When out of position, you don't have this same informational advantage, so you don't mind building the pot when you have the edge, even though it may not be as large as it would be on later streets. For instance, if a loose and aggressive player raises his button, it wouldn't be a bad play to repop him with something like AQ from the big blind. If you flop top pair, you won't have as much money left behind to make getting it all-in a mistake.

Let's say the effective stacks are 100bb and the raise is 3.5xbb. If you just call, you could flop top pair and still have 96.5bb left with a ~7bb pot. If you reraise the size of the pot, you'll have 89bb left, and if the LAG calls the pot will be ~22bb. In the first scenario, some big bets from the LAG could make me lose confidence in my hand. In the second, the LAG better have me beat, because there's a good chance I'm getting all of my money in the middle.