888poker: Five Tips for Three-Betting Out of Position
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Chris Moorman is one of the best online poker players of all time. The Englishman is a former PocketFives no.1 ranked player who has won over $25 million in online and live poker. He has two WSOP gold bracelets to his name as well a first-place finish on the World Poker Tour.
Moorman previously gave some tips on three-betting in position and has now shared some wisdom in what to do when three-betting out of position. Be sure to watch the video below and read these tips as these small changes to your game may help your overall performance in the long run.
Punish Late Position Raisers
If someone is playing at your table is playing a high percentage of hands dealt to them. In optimal play, players on the button are supposed to raise with a wide variety of hands, when you re-raise them there is no way that your opponent will want to continue with all of them.
Remember hands good enough to raise might not be strong enough to call a three-bet.
Make Better Hands Fold
Suited connectors are a great candidate to three-bet out of position By re-raising late position opponents when in the blinds, you have a great chance to win the pot there.
By just calling, you may encounter running into hands that dominate you more often.
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Don't Be Predictable
Do not forget to balance your three-bets with some bluffs, this stops you from being predictable and easily read. If you are only three-betting with strong hands, players will pick up on that and you won't be able to get maximum value from your high pocket pairs.
Being unpredictable can mean some big pots will head in your direction. For example, if you three-bet with 9x10x and see a flop of 6x7x8x an opponent may decide to raise you as they may be putting on you hands such as ace-king and ace-queen.
Keep an Eye on Stack Sizes
When playing against opponents with short stacks you want to polarize your three-betting range, re-raising the flop with jack-ten suited to then face an all-in from an opponent isn't a great spot to be in. If you call, you're very likely behind. However, when playing against deeper stacks you can three-bet a much more linear range.
A polarised range means only three-betting really string hands or total bluffs. A linear range won't have any bluffs, only value hands like queen-jack suited, even if they're not very strong. These type of hands play well post flop and can make strong made hands like straights and flushes.
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Make Your Three-Bets Bigger
Playing out of position, you can find yourself in some tricky spots. By making your three-bets bigger in the blinds for example, you're making it harder for your opponents to call so you can win the pot then and there.
Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum's proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.
