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14/01/2012 PKR Under pressure: playing inflated pots

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Under pressure: playing inflated

pots
Playing in three-bet pots can be great, but only if your postflop play is up to
scratch

By Ross Jarvis on Monday 21 Mar 2011 14:30

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Dealing the flop

You ve got to make sure you re thinking and playing correctly in three-
bet pots if you want to hang on to your bankroll

In today s mid-stakes cash games many players are well versed in aggressive
preflop play. Three-bets, four-bets and all-in shoves are fairly common.
However, major leaks start to appear once a three-bet is called and you re
faced with the eerie prospect of having to play in a bloated pot.

Are you one of those people who three-bets A-K with no idea what to do when
it misses the flop? It s time to stop being scared. It s not rocket science – all
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14/01/2012 PKR Under pressure: playing inflated pots

you need to do is put your opponents on accurate ranges and have the heart
and determination to exploit that range to the full, with or without a hand.

To c-bet or not to c-bet?

A good player s three-betting range should be polarised, with huge hands like
Q-Q through A-A at the top and playable hands such as A-3s and 7-8s thrown
in to stop your play from becoming predictable. When you make a three-bet
you should always know whether you are doing it for value (and would hence
go all-in versus a four-bet) or doing it as a bluff (and would fold against the
same four-bet). Some opponents will play quite straightforward, choosing to
four-bet or fold their entire range rather than call, especially if they are out of
position.

However, as players get more confident playing postflop – or if you re up

against a calling station – more and more are choosing just to call three-bets,
albeit with a fairly transparent range. A typical competent $1/$2 player s three-
bet calling range will often look like A-Qs, A-Js, K-Qs, 9-9, T-T, J-J and the
occasional slow-played monster or suited connector. This range can be
widened or narrowed depending on whether the villain is especially tight, loose
or if there is a lot of history between the two of you.

When ou flop a monster

Say you three-bet out of position with K-K and the flop is K-7-3. A lot of people
would check here but it s a clear mistake. Not only does checking look
suspicious, but by betting you will almost certainly get called on at least one
street by all pocket pairs and often floated by hands with zero equity such as
A-Q.

Granted, much of the time your opponent won t have much and will just fold to
a c-bet, but that shouldn t stop you. As long as your opponent believes you are
capable of running a big bluff (and if you are playing a suitably aggressive
style they should do), the best line of action with your big hands is usually to let
your opponents make the big errors.

When ou miss the flop

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14/01/2012 PKR Under pressure: playing inflated pots

When you have missed the flop completely, the decision to c-bet or not is a
little less clear. A helpful guideline though would be always to bet dry Ace and
King-high flops whatever your holding. Opponents just give three-bettors far
too much credit for having a hand here and will rarely attempt to bluff you off
these boards. There are times when the best play is simply to give up though.
One such occasion is if you three-bet with A-K out of position and the flop is J-
9-8 or similar. These boards completely hit your opponent s calling range and
a c-bet will often be met with a reraise or call. By betting, the only hands you
possibly fold out are ones like A-Q which you dominate anyway and would
probably be happy to reach showdown.

Before we talk about the turn and river, it s important to briefly mention bet-
sizing in three-bet pots. Whereas in a single-raised pot you d generally be c-
betting around two-thirds of the pot, you can get away with much smaller c-
bets in three-bet pots. Half the pot or even slightly less will suffice. Due to the
preflop three-bet, the stack-to-pot ratio for both players is greatly diminished,
meaning even a small c-bet will still allow you to get it in if you want to come
the river.

The rn and ri er
By this point the range of hands your opponent could have is generally very
narrow, as is your range in his eyes. Say you have A-K on a K-7-5-T board and
your c-bet was called on the flop. Unlike in a single-raised pot you should
never, ever fold if you bet the turn and your opponent shoves all-in on you. Not
only will the pot odds be much greater, but the range of hands that beat you is
much smaller due to it being three-bet. You re only really afraid of T-T and A-
A, whereas in a single-raised pot your opponent could have all manner of two-
pair or set combos that beat you.

Deciding whether to fire a second barrel when bluffing can be difficult. It all
comes down to your read on how strong the villain s hand is, plus the nature of
the turn card. King turn cards, for instance, are great to barrel, as an opponent
can easily just put you on an A-K that got there and fold out some mid-strength
hands.

Another spot to amp up the aggression is when you turn some decent equity,
such as a backdoor flush draw on the flop that hits a fourth suit card on the
turn. Given the choice between taking a free card and betting your draw, the
aggressive action is usually the best. By this point, the pot will be so large that

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14/01/2012 PKR Under pressure: playing inflated pots

you only have to find folds a small percentage of the time to make it a
profitable play. Even if you get shoved on you ll just about be getting the
correct odds to call, and every sucker can get lucky once in a while...

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Sha e

Commen
I think these points are key to increasing the skill set of a more inexperianced
player. If you are defined within that category please read IT ALL !

Comment by kezhead444 - 06/09/11 (Report)

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