Hi all,

I've been playing with a lot of the same people and regs lately. Looking to incorporate some bluffs into my 3 bet bluff Preflop strategy. Is this normal?

Table: overall playing pretty tight. Typical 1/3 game. I have position on the maniac at the table.

H: been raising like 3 hands in a row but literally had KK AK AND KQ other than that I folded like two orbits in a row.

V: younger guy like me. Has headphones in. Limping a lot pre and only raising SOMETIMES.

OTTH: V raises UTG+2 to 12. I have A5ss on the button and 3! To 30 he instantly goes all in for like 400 dollars. I snap gold obviously. Is this somewhat standard?

I kinda realize maybe this isn't the ideal opponent to do this to Bc he was limping a lot pre and his Preflop raising range is fairly strong. He had not been 3 bet before when he raised pre however when he limped pre and someone raised he called virtually every time

i guess I could just call on the button but wanted to try something new haag

WHAT!!!!

Don't 3 bet, and snap fold. You know his opening range is snug. We're always dominated in this scenario. In general, you want to 3bet bluff people who open wide and will fold all the trash in that opening range. If the regs you're talking about are tight, then they won't fold often enough, making 3bet bluffing less appropriate.


I really recommend you get an equity calculator. Play around with ranges... run standard spots, and figure out just how low down the totem pole A5s is.

Why can't I snap fold? Lol

A5s is a premium 3b "bluff" hand (and 5bet bluff) but you should only be bluffing players you have a solid read on in terms of preflop opening range and postflop play which by the looks of it you don't have here so either folding/calling pre is preferred.

A5ss 3-bet is a super duper standard semi-bluff against a lot of opponents. Live low stakes are a little different. We don't, if ever, need a 3-bet semi-bluff range. We should 3-bet linerally(I.e only strong hands). Remember we don't need to balance our range vs people who don't know what a range is.

Dude is raising in EP, only raises sometimes at that, and has a maniac after him (which he's assuming will call his raise). Definitely not the time to light 3bet.

*If* you're considering 3betting light, wait for a lot better situation, such as when it is folded to a raisey guy in LP (where his range is often very wide). This ain't that spot.

Galso,wewon'ttellanyoneifyounever3betlighteverG

Because it gives away that your raise was a bluff. If you had a hand with real value you would have to consider if villain was bluffing or if your hand was good enough to call anyways. You don't want the regs and people you play a lot to be able to accurately tell how often you are 3 bet bluffing because it lets them know how to play back at your 3 betting range.

One hand won't give it away but you want to avoid getting into any habits that give away information. Try to keep your bluffs and your value roughly the same period of time before acting.

Good advice Quad. When I wrote "don't 3bet, and snap fold" however, I meant that I would not 3bet and I'd snap fold to the 4bet jam... at least in my head. Might Hollywood for about 10 sec for reasons you stated, but I meant to say that stacking here is absolute spew.

Do people actually agree with this?? This is the philosophy I had used, but had been told by many on this forum that even at 1/2 I should be 3! light in certain spots or I was "burning money". What is the consensus here?? Should we be 3! light much at all at 1/2 based on the games you all are playing?

I 3 bet people lite a fair amount of the time at 1/2 and 2/5. You just need to pick the right spots. 3 betting a guy who raised from EP and who doesnt raise all that much is not the right spot.

I mean you can beat 1/2 and 2/5 without ever 3 betting lite, but do you want to beat the game or crush the game?

Like a lot statements you'll find in this forum, many are quite over-the-top ("quit poker if you do this" / "burning money if you don't do this" / etc.). If you never ever 3bet light ever, you could still do just perfectly fine. Would you crush/destroy? Maybe not.

One difficulty I think a lot of players encounter is they take some of the more expert-slanted advice to heart but then don't have the expert-type tools in their bag to execute things properly. It's probably much more important to play within yourself.

GcluelessNLnoobG

3 betting light Can be very profitable.....Probably not after raising the last 4 hands or what ever though....when you do this in the spot you suggest I really feel like you should be commiting to the 5bet jam if villan makes a normal 4bet, he obviously doesn't so doesn't matter.
The problem in your scenario here in my view is your previous perceived rep at the table, which will tend thinking villans to 4bet light, hence the commitment to a 5bet jam.....
You really need to be careful with your villan selection here, and when 3!ing light in general, as some llsnl players just won't fold to 3!s.... Against the regs it's good though as they view 3!s as JJ+ aq+ pretty much always and so will fold a high % of the time....

As others have said, you can make decent money never 3!ing light, especially against ep raises, if you do feel confident, your a2-a5suited is premium 3! Light territory, but be prepared to face some tough post flop decisions, as villans did not drive to the casino to fold to some young whippersnappers 3!

IMO in most LLSNL games the equivalent of light 3 betting, in terms of frequency in comparison to tougher games, is making light iso raises against multiple limpers IP.

In general, opponents at these stakes are opening too tight to make light 3betting profitable, but at the right table I like to do it once or twice early in the session against a loose opener just so I can pull it off for value later.


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Fairly certain you don't need a light 3! range vs. an EP open 100 BB's effective at 1/2. Granted he is UTG+2 which is actually MP or 5th out of 9 positions, but point remains.

And to add to jimie, I think maybe the beginning of a session is the best time to 3 bet light, because if you are an unknown people are going to assume you are an average 1/2 player who only 3 bets the top 4 hands and give you respect.

Of course you don't need one, you can play standard abc poker and make 3-4bb/hr at most 1-2 games....that doesn't mean that a light 3! Range won't boost your hourly.... I would offer that because of the view at most 1-2 tables that a 3! = qq+ it's a really profitable place to so it, as long as you arnt going ott with it.