Hey Guys,

I'd be interested in your opinions about cbetting frequencies in 3b pots. On what boards, against what types of villains should we use, what should be our cbet size? How should we differentiate between IP or OOP?

Some hands for discussion:


1. Villain is 16/14/2, AFQ 33%, solid nitty player with F3B 50%. Is it better to check behind unimproved?

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $37.69
CO: $28.98
Hero (BTN): $35.34
SB: $7.90
BB: $28.30
UTG: $25.70

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with A K
2 folds, CO raises to $0.85, Hero raises to $2.75, 2 folds, CO calls $1.90

Flop: ($5.85) 3 2 7 (2 players)
CO checks, [color=red]Hero ?



2. Villain is 18/12/1 AFQ 22%, F3b 67%. Notes on him: Quite passive, likes reaching SD cheaply w any piece of the board, check back w TP on scary board, call flop reraise after cb and cf turn OOP.

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $4.65
CO: $28.33
BTN: $49.99
Hero (SB): $25.30
BB: $25.76
UTG: $24.78

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with 5 5
2 folds, CO raises to $0.85, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.50, 1 fold, CO calls $1.65

Flop: ($5.25) 3 2 6 (2 players)
[color=red]Hero ?



3. Villain is 25/20/1 AFQ 35% (he plays aggro on flop only), F3B 75%, he steals a lot but without a reason, plays poorly postflop, slowplaying big PPs on wet boards. He's CR happy on the flop.

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $27.11
CO: $10.51
BTN: $25.50
SB: $32.53
Hero (BB): $26.05
UTG: $17.76

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with Q K
4 folds, SB raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.25, SB calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.50) A 7 9 (2 players)
SB checks, [color=red]Hero ?

1. Im checking back, he has plenty of PP in his range i think, which he isnt folding. You have position, see a free card and see how he reacts on turn.

2. You need to cbet, its a good flop for 55 and checking here is pretty much giving up on this hand

3. Cbet small, he should be folding anything but an ace. If he calls, ck down

You need to take gameflow in consideration with every cbet descision, how do your opponents see you, will they widen their 3bet call range vs you, have you been active in the last 20,30 hands? Etc. Then board texture is the next thing I would look at and ask yourself what you are repping by betting. Then I would look at the stats of my opponent.

With a clean image i am cbettin all 3boards, hand 1 is close.

H1 and H2 are clear cbets, pay attention to how often they c/r flop in 3b pots. H1 I'm barreling any paint on the turn. H3 I guess you can cbet smaller given reads.

The simplification that I use is to cbet more frequently the worse the opponent. Past that I think your value cbet and bluff cbet should always be the same size around 60-70% of the pot with the variation based on board texture but not hand strength. If your 3bet is smaller like in hand 3 generally your cbet should be slightly larger like 66%. Hand equity is very important like JT on board 2 or 69 on board 1 would have no equity and not worth a cbet (I'd advise not to be tempted to fire once hoping to take it down) .

Anyways I think hand 1 I like betting and checking, hand 2 betting is ok although this type of board will usually call for creative plays like I think cr/crai here is pretty good. Hand 3 i'm betting like $3 and usually going for multistreet pressure because you hold 2 blockers to any ace worth having.

The topic itself is kinda too complicated for a single post. The biggest things I learned were knowing how to look use bd equity to determine whether or not to cb and learning to check/fold complete air instead of firing once.

H1 it is close. I think I've been finding cbetting these board OOP and checking back IP works better in this spot without a read they call wide OOP. Since, I find villain to have 99-JJ, occasional QQ type hands more than AJ/KQ OOP. There not folding those to 1 bet and you can turn an overcard to their pair, fire turn and river to still get them off of it. Where the turn is an 4, barreling isn't great, firing a cbet and hope to improve on the river with a turn check doesn''t take it down as often.

H2 I cbet once and don't put any more money in the pot unimproved. To get them off AK/AQ.

H3 cbet once and be done. To get them off TT/JJ. Kind of tempted to jam occasionally if they c/r since they shouldn't be c/r AK/AQ in theory.

I tend to do the opposite of this, at least against total fish. I understand if they're bad in the weak-tight direction, but are we really cbetting more against stations who won't fold anything? A lot of these terrible players have a fold to cbet of 0. Isn't betting into them when we miss just burning money?

If they are stations and literally never fold doesn't this mean they are also calling with worse hands than say AK/AQ? Therefore you aren't neccessarily even bluffing but valuebetting.

When I raise, I don't always have AK/AQ. If I raised it up with 98s and the flop misses up both, the odds are I'm behind. Unless it's just a really good flop to cbet like K72 rainbow, I'm usually not wasting any money trying to get a fish off of bottom pair or some weak draw here. Against a player who might actually fold my strategy will be different.

H1 can go either way depending on game flow and your image, tho it's more a check texture-wise

H2 is a bet for protection against overs especially oop, you can barrel some card either for value (5 and 4) or as a bluff (J and T, I think A/K/Q are a little suspicious sinc are in his range)

H3 is a one-and-done cbet

Thanks guys for your replies. Actually I wanted to hear some general advices here, that's why i posted more hands to discuss.
I'm reading a lot of stuff to improve my 3betting skills pre- and postflop. But bump into very different approaches and advices. Generally I see that people are playing more straightforwardly in 3b pots, stacking lighter w any piece of the board or going broke w PPs.

H1: I think checking back is better here. He will call our cbet w any PP, Ax, Kx and on turn we will be in a tough spot. Or we can cbet the flop if we want to barrell on the turn as well. Is my thinking right?

H2: There are different approaches here about 3betting with 22-66 in the blinds. Some say that we should 3bet w them in the blinds, because with calling we cannot extract value with our sets against CO/BTN weaker range. Others say that we should call here. I tried the 3betting approach lately and it was not profitable for me. Found myself in borderline situations OOP and i was just burning my money.
Like this hand. With checkcalling we cannot take down the pot. I cbet and get called, what's my plan if still unimproved? Maybe I've got still the best hand, but have to checkfold on turn.

H3. I thinkg we should always bet on board like this, right?

Hand 1 check, wa/wb
Hand 2 I wouldn't 3bet, but as played I cbet flop.
Hand 3 everything but cbetting here is wrong against anyone

I'm cbetting all of these.
H1 and H3 are tricky though, but if you check you'll probably have to give up the hand on the turn if you don't improve.

In H1 some villains are willing to fold their medium pairs if you show enough strength. By checking you basically expose your hand.

In H2 the villain might checkraise you with an ace, but that's about it. Many times you get a fold. And if not, who cares, it will set you up for later.

H1, CO is never folding.

H2 depends.

H3 this is a bad 3bet, easy cbet tho.

I agree with the general consensus. I check back hand 1, unless villain knows you only 3 bet 2% of hands over a meaningful sample, which you clearly don't, since you're 3 betting 55 and KQo.

Hand 2, I bet for value and protection, fold to aggression. This seems pretty clear.

Hand 3, I bet one street for value, and then shut down. If he leads the (non-king/queen) turn, I fold; if he doesn't, I check back. If the turn is a king or queen, I might call his lead, but I definitely won't bet if checked to. I would, however, bet the river for value, because I don't think villain c/c, checks, checks with an ace in this spot and I expect a king or queen to be good.

It depends.... I think against 'tags' at the micro's its better to 3bet a more polarized range then OP. And then you should almost always cbet imo.

Obv, the higher their f3b the less you should cbet and the lower their f3b the less you should 3bet trash and widen your 3bet value range and cbet more often (with a wider range that misses more often, just like theirs).

Sorry for my bad french im tired.

Great arguments here, thanks