One of the biggest mistakes of my early career as a no limit hold’em player occurred when I didn’t give enough respect to the lower stakes player’s three betting ranges. I play very LAG around the blinds in full ring but the mistake that I made was in assuming that far too many players were playing like me. I would three bet with say 8h-7h when on the button against a cut-off raiser. There is nothing really wrong with that play and it fits my style. However I have position and the initiative against a likely stealer whose range cannot withstand a three bet.
Even if I get called then my position gives me a decent situation to be in. However let us look at a different situation where we are in the cut-off with a much stronger holding. We have the 8c-8d and make it 3.5bb to go. The button three bets us to 11bb. In situations like these in the past I would usually call but calling is a bad play against a solid reg. This is for the simple reason that their three betting ranges are tighter than what you think.
Four betting is also not a good play and the best play is to simply fold. Only if you are being continually three bet by a LAG or a TAG that is exploiting you can you consider not folding. Why we should consider folding is based on equity against the raisers range. Remember that when we are talking about equity then we are not just talking about hot and cold running simulation type equity like we get with a PokerStove simulation. Pot equity and fold equity combine to make a profitable combination. If we get three bet with 8-8 and call then there will be many terrible spots for us.
Even if our opponent is getting frisky with a hand like Q-10 then we are still coin flipping but with worse position. However our situation is worse than that because we don’t have the initiative. We will be forced to give up on many boards and if the flop comes Ad-9c-4s then how can we continue to a flop c-bet with two overcards? If the player is a LAG then the situation is different and while the nine doesn’t figure to have hit a three bettors range, the ace certainly has.
So with the pocket eights then we either end up folding incorrectly or paying off incorrectly. Even if we check-call the flop then our opponent can peel a card on the turn and see the river. They can hit a queen or a ten on the turn or river or even pick up a draw. In fact looking at hand distribution charts is very instructive here from a standpoint of equity. This is because over the long term then a hand like pocket eights doesn’t really fare that much better than a hand like 8d-6d but yet nobody would think twice about calling a three bet when out of position with the latter hand.
I was playing levels like NL100 and NL50 after having played for a while at $25-$50 no limit hold’em. This is not a good state of affairs to be in because the style of play required to play that much higher level is much different as is the level of sophistication required. Your opponents will be thinking on vastly different levels and will be picking your ranges to pieces if you let them. These days I prefer the far softer levels because I don’t have to work as hard to beat them.
However they do require a much lower thinking pattern and simple but solid ABC does the job. Even that got me into trouble for a while because my own interpretation of ABC some months ago was at a much more basic “each hand in a vacuum” level. These days my ABC is much more complicated and this helps me to beat these levels. However as a rule then I respect the range of a three bettor unless my image has been really LAG.
I am always very mindful of my image because I know that my image structures what my opponents will do against me. However in a vacuum then I will only play hands against a three bet in full ring that I am comfortable four betting with. This is obviously a very tiny part of my range but it also doesn’t mean that I will four bet with them either. I may open raise with K-K and then only call the three bet. This is something that I do a lot rather than fold out nearly all of my opponents three betting range by four betting. At the end of the day I do not want to be isolated in all in pots with A-A too frequently.
Carl Sampson is a professional poker player who plays online at www.888poker.com
