A guide to three-betting

The game of no-limit Hold’em has changed immeasurably in the past few years, and nowhere is this more apparent than pre-flop aggression. A few years ago a re-raise pre-flop meant Aces, Kings, Queens or Ace-King. In fact, players who made re-raises with anything else were seen as maniacs who would quickly go broke. Old-school no-limit players were taught that hands like Jacks and Tens couldn’t stand a re-raise pre-flop and aggressive moves were saved for post-flop play. Now if you watch good players, re-raising before the flop is commonplace, and to survive in the modern game you’ll need to master the skill, so let’s look at how.

What is a three-bet?

Simply put, three-betting is re-raising an opponent before the flop. You’re literally putting in the third bet after an initial raiser (the second bet) has raised the big blind (the first bet).

Now you know what it is, it’s vital you know how much to three-bet. If the stacks are deep – i.e. early in a tournament or in a cash game – you should usually raise something close to what’s in the pot or a little over three times the initial raise. So in a $0.50/$1 cash game if the first raise is to $3.50, the three-bet raise should be around $12.

When the stacks are shallow, often in a tournament, the three-bet size may be significantly greater. This is usually the case when the three-bettor is able to reasonably move in. So if, for example, you had 15 big blinds left in your stack, a normal re-raise might be to nine or 10 big blinds, but being as this would leave you pot-committed anyway, the natural three-bet is to move all-in.

It’s also worth noting that when making a three-bet out of position – let’s say you’re re-raising from the blinds versus a late position raiser – it’s advisable to make your three-bet a little bigger than the size of the pot, to cut down on the implied odds your opponent could get from calling your raise and playing the rest of the hand in position.

Why three-bet?

It’s important to understand the different reasons and advantages of making a re-raise pre-flop. Perhaps the key reason to three-bet pre-flop, as opposed to flat-calling, goes to the heart of no-limit Hold’em. Playing this way puts your opponent to a decision and keeps the pressure on them. Not only that, it gives you the lead and initiative in the hand. Should your opponent call your re-raise you have the initiative on the flop. And in Hold’em the flop often misses both players so the player with the lead will very often take down the pot. Also, being re-raised is difficult to play against, is emotionally frustrating and can lead to players making mistakes, so you want to be the one doing it.

A lot of the three-bets you’ll make will be for value. Simply put, you believe your hand is better than the range your opponent is opening with. Let’s say a player raises from middle position and you have Q-Q on the button. Your hand is way ahead of the different range of hands your opponent would play so you re-raise as a value bet. The later position the player opens the pot from, the wider their range of hands is going to be, as they see an opportunity to put pressure on the blinds. As a direct result, the range of hands you can re-raise for value with increases accordingly.

Remember, though, that player type and betting frequency is also important. If a tight player raises from under the gun and you have 8-8 in middle position, you’re probably behind his range, so you can’t re-raise for value. But if you have 8-8 on the button against an aggressive player opening from the cut-off, you know he’ll do this with a huge range, so you can re-raise as a value bet.

In addition to three-betting for value, you can also three-bet without a strong hand, both as a semi-bluff and as a pure bluff. Given the right situation you can re-raise pre-flop with hands that have potential to improve but are probably behind initially.

For example, you have a hand like 9-10 suited and a reasonably aggressive player open-raises from mid position. You could fold this hand, flat-call with it and try to make a hand, or re-raise with your suited connectors and put pressure on your opponent. Of the three options this is probably the best move as you stand a very good chance of making your opponent fold better hands (such as K-Q, A-10), and even if he decides to call you can continue to fire on the flop representing a big hand, which makes his life very difficult. Of course, with hands like suited connectors, you could also flop a monster and potentially crack the better hand he decided to just call with before the flop. In short, this three-bet is a very strong play that can make your opponent’s life hell!

Airball

It’s also possible to make a three-bet as a complete move. It’s hard for this to be a total bluff, as in Hold’em even the worst pre-flop hands have some kind of value against any holding your opponent has. However, I’m referring to re-raising with hands that you may not even usually play because you think you can represent a big hand and put pressure on your opponent. So, for example, let’s say your image at the table is good and you haven’t shown down too many poor hands or bluffs. In this situation, especially against opponents who are playing a lot of hands, you can re-raise with complete trash just to try and win the pot immediately. Whether you continue the bluff on the flop if called depends on your opponent, their tendencies and the board texture.

The three-bet as a bluff can be particularly powerful in tournaments, for a couple of reasons. First, you can make all-in overbets, which can make your opponents’ decisions tougher and more significant. Second, in tourneys players will be stealing a lot more in a bid for survival; this means they’re open-raising with more hands that will be forced to fold to a re-raise. Try experimenting with re-raises pre-flop – it’s an important weapon in your tournament arsenal.

Position, position, position

Re-raising pre-flop is incredibly powerful in position because life is so tough for your opponents after the flop if they call. Out of position it has a slightly higher risk factor, because if your opponents call your re-raise they have a positional advantage for the rest of your hand. However, it’s important to make re-raises from the blinds pre- flop because your opponents will be attacking the blinds with such a wide range of hands that you can pick up a lot of chips by re-raising them both for value and as a bluff.

When contemplating a re-raise from the blinds you must consider whether your opponent is most likely to fold, or re-raise you right back. Also, if your raise is called you need to be very careful post-flop. It’s possible your opponent has called you with a big hand to trap you, or that they’re planning to make a move on the flop whether they hit or not.

A lot of the time average opponents will put you on two big cards and play accordingly, so on low flops you may have to give up if you don’t have a hand. But it’s also possible to mix up your play by check-raising on the flop if you think your villain is trying to take the pot away from you without a big hand.

Combating three-betting

Finally, a brief word on playing against a three-bet. It should be apparent that probably the worst strategy is to call a three-bet out of position to ‘see a flop’. The player re-raising you should love this. You’ve just put money in the pot with a medium strength hand that is unlikely to improve on the flop and he has the initiative. It’s usually better to either give up when re-raised or fire back with a re-reraise. In fact, it’s not surprising that with so much three- betting in the game, the four-bet is now becoming increasingly common.

Like three-betting you can four-bet for value – with J-J for example, when you know your opponent re-raises a lot and your Jacks are probably good – or as a bluff when you think the re-raiser is either bluffing or has a better hand he will fold to the bet.

As ever these choices depend on how wide the three-bettor’s range is, his position and any previous knowledge you have of him. It’s also possible to flat-call a three-bet and see a flop if you’re in position. Say you have a hand like 9-8s and raise from the button. The small blind three-bets you. You flat-call, not because you plan on hitting the flop – because most of the time you won’t – but because you could hit it hard or take the pot away if the board looks bad for your opponent, or they show weakness.

Having said that, re-raising pre-flop remains a very strong tactic that is hard to combat because it asks the initial raiser to make a difficult decision with their hand. Consistent three-betting puts huge pressure on opponents and has become a trait of the big winners in Hold’em – add it to your game today.