3 bet poker is when a player raises after another player has already made a raise. The idea behind a 3-bet is to try and get other players out of hand by putting in a raising bet that may scare them away from betting or lead them to fold their hand if they have been caught bluffing.
This article will explore how you should construct your 3-betting ranges and look at some different scenarios where you can use them as part of your strategy. We will also explore what type of hands someone should apply the 3-bet with and what other factors could impact if you choose to do so or not.
Note:Β An important thing to consider before reading this article is knowing about the preflop tight/loose ranges you play with on poker sites. If you already know about this, then continue down the article; if not, we recommend before continuing to read this article.
Types of 3-betting poker ranges
Before looking at some examples of the different types of 3 bet calling range, you should understand what a three-bet represents. It’s important to note that when someone makes a raise in poker. They are mostly doing it either because they have something or trying to play mind games with other players at the table. While there may be an element of these things happening in most situations. There is also one thing that many players do not consider when making their move. And this is that the player could be representing a very strong hand.
For example, let’s imagine we are in a No-Limit Hold’em poker game, and you have raised preflop to $5. Another player has called your raise. So now we both have $10 invested in the initial bet size of $5 each. The Flop comes out as Ace-Queen Three making an overset for you and others at the table.
You choose to continue betting because you think you have the best hand here. Still, your opponent makes a raise putting their remaining $10 into play, also meaning that you now need to put another $15 into play if you want to continue playing, which gives them 15% of how much money is in the pot for that round. That is when you have to think about whether or not it’s worth continuing playing at this point. Especially if your opponent has made their 3-bet, is known to play tight preflop, and could very well have a strong hand.
3 bet poker tips
Suppose they are playing close to the same way every time during the game. In that case, you can be sure that your opponent only makes 3 bets like these when they hold a decent hand. And rarely will anyone switch up their strategy and bluff at this stage of the game. Meaning it’s better to fold than risk losing more money because we don’t want our chips all-in with anything but air behind them.
On the other side of that scenario, let’s imagine instead that you were to call that player’s bet. And then the turn comes out, making four of a kind for you. Now knowing how your opponent plays, they could very well fold at this stage of the game instead because they don’t want to risk losing more money after seeing such a big hand come out on the board, which makes it better for you if they did decide to fold than if decided to push forward and continue betting against you.
The nature of a 3 bet poker
That is just one example of many we can look at when we consider what poker 3 bet meaning. But even if we didn’t use examples, this is still something you should try and understand when playing any poker with other players online or in real life with friends. A 3-bet doesn’t always mean that your opponent is trying to play mind games; it could mean they are representing a strong hand. So you should always look at how they have played in the past when making decisions regarding 3-betting.
An important concept to remember about the 3-betting poker strategy is that most players who decide to use this move will do so with very tight ranges that include hands they think are good bets based on what they see on the board and where their opponents have put their chips into play. If you choose not to 3-bet with a certain type of hands, then you will avoid being exploited. Still, if done incorrectly, some players will find themselves losing additional money because they don’t adequately protect themselves against other people figuring out how/what they are doing.
3 bet poker strategy
You can use the betting poker strategy in many different situations. Still, suppose you want to make the most out of it. In that case, you will need to understand what someone is representing when they decide to use this play on the turn or on the river, which means that you should pay attention to what your opponent has put into play before making any decisions regarding how/whether you should 3-bet them on the next round. So, now that we know what 3-betting is all about let’s go ahead and take a look at some common examples for this play so we can better understand how it works within its environment.
How 3-bet in poker works
Now that we’ve taken a closer look at using the 3-betting poker strategy to our advantage. We can move on to the next subject and explain:
- what a 3-bet poker is;
- how it works within poker;
- why people choose to use it.
That is a concept that you should take the time to learn about because even if there isn’t any specific rule which forbids you from doing this play at any given stage of the game. It’s still something that will allow you to make more money by capitalizing on small advantages and exploiting your opponents better than anyone else would be able to do.
3-betting involves making a bet during later betting rounds depending on where the action stands currently about your current position around the table. In most games, this means that if you are sitting either first or last, depending on the rules of the game in question. There will be two rounds of betting left and so you can make a 3-bet with this specific objective in mind. You’ll want to think about what your opponent has done so far and what they’ve put into play when deciding whether or not you want to engage in an action like this. Still, again, it’s something that isn’t no rules prohibit, which makes it all the more important that we learn how to do this effectively if we’re going to play poker online at all.
3-betting examples
There is no real ‘correct’ way to go about doing 3-betting just as long as your opponent doesn’t decide to call your bet. Instead, it would help if you looked for ways to exploit exploitable players and who you think might call a bet when they shouldn’t. That can be done in many different ways so let’s go ahead and take a look at some of the most common examples we can think of for this play:
Example 1:
You want to 3-bet. Your opponent calls then reraises their 3-bet to try and win just one more chip from you. Since they’re putting themselves into such a high-risk state without having much reason to do so after simply calling your initial raise, it could be beneficial for you to make an extra move by 4-betting them instead. This way, if people were going to fold, they would have done it right away. But since they’ve decided to keep playing with you, it’s safe to assume that they think they can call one more bet, which means you’re likely to be in the best possible position when the next turn arrives.
Example 2:
You 3-bet, your opponent calls, this is followed by the river card, and then he folds his hand. That is an example of someone who folded too early after seeing what happened on the board. Still, since you already had a rough idea about how he was going to play in relation to what was happening in front of him. It means that you got an advantage out of this situation even though he made a move that led towards winning poker money. You know now that raising preflop isn’t something that will make any sense against certain opponents at all times because not only are they extremely difficult to read. But they’re also not afraid of putting themselves in situations where they have very little room for making wrong decisions.
Example 3:
You have made a series of consecutive raises preflop. Your opponent has called you on all rounds so far and then decides to 3-bet after the Flop. Even though there is no real reason for him to put himself in this position again after calling your raise early on during this round of betting. It means that you can easily take advantage of his mistakes by double or even triple barreling to get his money in when he isn’t being careful enough with how he’s playing against you.
This last example shows us that even if someone tries their best to exploit our style of play, we can use this to our advantage by being even more aggressive when the time comes for us to raise. The real key here is that you have to have a general idea about how opponents will try and exploit you when they get the chance for you to stop them from doing so.
Conclusion
3-betting is where you make a bet in response to opponents calling one or more bets before yours in later betting rounds. It’s done with specific objectives in mind. I.e., either taking down the pot right away or keeping opponents from calling your bluff when they shouldn’t be calling at all. There’s no ‘correct way of performing 3bets since opponents don’t have any rules that tell them how they’re supposed to respond to this bet. But we can try and come up with a few different ways of going about doing it.
Suppose you’ve ever played poker online before. In that case, you already know what a three bet poker is even if you haven’t used the word ‘3-betting’ out loud before because players use this play at nearly every possible scenario where there’s been any betting involved. Many types of 3 bet range could be used for 3-bets. I.e., loose, tight, aggressive, or passive ones. But again, these aren’t meant to be copied verbatim since it means that our opponent will have a much easier time when trying to have an edge on us once the game begins.