You can opt to play a value bet or a bluff. The key is knowing your opponent’s idiosyncrasies and leveraging them to your advantage.

When compared to other poker moves, the three bet is one of the most effective and quickest ways to gain a decisive lead in a pot. If you do play on a site that uses a HUD and you are interested in using one, we recommend PokerTracker 4 which you can try for free right here.A three bet is a great way to increase your winnings. Whether they give up easily or never give up when 3Bet, either way it tells you about the kind of range you will be up against in 3Bet pots where the Stack to Pot Ratio is low. When a player open raises a hand they signal strength. Then you might have a player who opens tight (17/16) and as a result rarely folds to 3Bets (30%), essentially meaning they continue with around the top 12% of hands.Įven if you don't play with a HUD or play live, this is a useful thing to watch out for. Likewise, if a player is 38/18 and they only fold 30% of the time, you can put them on a wide range post flop. If, for example, a player has tight stats like 17/16 and then they fold 70% of the time when they are 3Bet, you can safely put them on only the absolute strongest hands post flop. VPIP and PFR play a big role in understanding a player's Fold to 3Bet %. When a player has a Fold to 3Bet of 65% or more then they are giving up too easily preflop, you can essentially print money against them by taking down more than your fair share of uncontested pots. The strategy here is to raise them mostly for value. When a player has a Fold to 3Bet of 30% or lower it means they are calling 3Bets with bad hands. What this really is telling the opposition is that you are opening with a good balance of strong and weak hands, good enough that you can continue with more than half of them when 3Bet. The signs of a balanced strategy You don't need a HUD to use this statĪ good balanced strategy will see a Fold to 3Bet % of about 55%. When it is too high you can exploit them by taking down pots uncontested. When a player has a low Fold to 3Bet % you can exploit them by value betting them more, because they will continue too often in big pots. So if a player opens 20% of hands and has a Fold to 3Bet % of 50%, they likely are continuing against 3Bets with the top 10% of hands. It is a measure of how often an opener folds when they have been 3Bet. You can learn from HUD stats, even if you don't use tracking software and even if you are playing live.įold to 3Bet % is precisely what the name suggests. How a player reacts to 3Bets opens the door for exploitative opportunities

Whats a 3 bet in poker