Wherever there is a value bet, there is a bluff and so we shall use hands that are slightly too weak to call as 4-bet bluffs. We need to 4-bet our very best hands for value, building a large pot while our equity advantage is very high. Similarly, we cannot fold too much, or we make a bluff too profitable an idea for Villain. If we did, Villain would be able to make far too much money with his strong hands. After all, a balanced strategy dictates that we should not always defend. There are some hands that we shall fold to the 3-bet. Of course, being in position will help us flat more comfortably, and if out of position we might have to tighten the recommended flatting ranges slightly and look to open a tighter range in the first place wherever we are likely to get bombarded with 3-bets by an in position opponent. We shall be defining how our opening range from the position in question handles this 3-bet. This 3-bet is of a healthy size – around three times a 3BB open or a little larger if our open happened to be smaller than this. Assume that we have made an open raise from the relevant position and that it has folded round to the big blind, who has elected to 3-bet. The recommended strategies to follow are for use in the same model situation. Colour coding shall be our friend as we learn when and how to defend our opening ranges. We must learn which groups of hands we should fold, call and raise with after we have opened and faced that dreaded re-raise. Our purpose here is to define our opening ranges from the five positions on the 6-max table where it is possible to raise as the first player into the pot, but we shall not be stopping there. What is far more confusing is the struggle that follows when those opening ranges are attacked, namely by the obnoxious 3-bet – a raise so disruptive that it often prevents us from seeing the flop. The aspiring player is usually very familiar with the types of hands that should be open-raised from each position on the 6-max table.

Open 3 betting in poker