Be honest, do you 3bet bluff preflop

Station_Master · Feb 12, 2023

So, be honest , do you include bluffs in your 3 betting range? I see so many players only 3bet premium hands, e.g. JJ+ and AK. Some even AA and KK! I dont think this is a good strategy, but it seems so prevalent especially at the lowest stakes. It works a little bit until your opponents figure it out and then start over folding or only calling with implied odds hands.

Every time I move up stake there is a little bit more 3betting with people opening up more, though probably less than preflop range charts suggest. (Currently playing 25NL). Of course you can end up in a lot of difficult spots post flop which is perhaps why some people dont 3bet light.

So do you bluff/include lighter 3bets and if so do you choose these off certain hand types (e.g. always bluff A5s) or is it more exploitative? Please add your stake when responding. Note I am talking about stamdard online cash games 100bb deep.

Aballinamion · Feb 12, 2023

Station_Master said:
So, be honest , do you include bluffs in your 3 betting range? I see so many players only 3bet premium hands, e.g. JJ+ and AK. Some even AA and KK! I dont think this is a good strategy, but it seems so prevalent especially at the lowest stakes. It works a little bit until your opponents figure it out and then start over folding or only calling with implied odds hands.

Every time I move up stake there is a little bit more 3betting with people opening up more, though probably less than preflop range charts suggest. (Currently playing 25NL). Of course you can end up in a lot of difficult spots post flop which is perhaps why some people dont 3bet light.

So do you bluff/include lighter 3bets and if so do you choose these off certain hand types (e.g. always bluff A5s) or is it more exploitative? Please add your stake when responding. Note I am talking about stamdard online cash games 100bb deep.

Hello dear mate, nice post. You are right, at NLHE 2 and 5 it is complicated to be putting up a bunch of light 3-bets. Even so, if we are paying attention to the table and the players we can/must do some 3-bet bluffs and even 4-bets with weak hands.
At these stakes my 4-bet range will include just A5s and A4s, most of times.
And it is complicated because at NLHE 2 and 5 players are too much unbalanced: they overcall, overfold, and many times they love to be leveling their ranges out, so the golden rule for me is the common sense and quiet observation.
At NLHE 10 players are a little more smart and understand a couple of things about ranges, in this case I include more hands to my 3-bet range, but I always try to balance my light 3-bets, and for lower stakes I would never 3-bet hands like 98s for example.

gustavofuentes2 · Feb 12, 2023

Aballinamion said:
Hello dear mate, nice post. You are right, at NLHE 2 and 5 it is complicated to be putting up a bunch of light 3-bets. Even so, if we are paying attention to the table and the players we can/must do some 3-bet bluffs and even 4-bets with weak hands.
At these stakes my 4-bet range will include just A5s and A4s, most of times.
And it is complicated because at NLHE 2 and 5 players are too much unbalanced: they overcall, overfold, and many times they love to be leveling their ranges out, so the golden rule for me is the common sense and quiet observation.
At NLHE 10 players are a little more smart and understand a couple of things about ranges, in this case I include more hands to my 3-bet range, but I always try to balance my light 3-bets, and for lower stakes I would never 3-bet hands like 98s for example.

of course every now and then you must 3 bet even on a bad hand.

kostja007 · Feb 14, 2023

I am trying to play GTO preflop. So I do bluff3bets preflop. But I don't have a wide bluffingrange. Trying to bluff3bets mostly from late positions.

Igor Popadyk · Feb 15, 2023

sometimes three bets in a bluff for certain players and depending on what stack they have, in general, purely for exploit

hennessy5 · Feb 15, 2023

Gotta 3bet bluff if I know they dont have balls

fundiver199 · Feb 16, 2023

Against most players I 3-bet a balanced range including value and bluffs. However if my HUD show a very low PFR and/or a low fold to 3-bet over a significant sample, then I see no reason to 3-bet light, so it will only be for value. Especially if stacks sizes are such, that a 3-bet is not a jam.

ObbleeXY · Feb 16, 2023

Interesting question....and it has madfe me realise that although 3Bet bluffs are techniocally in my range, I do not emply them very often...usually from late position/BB...and usually when I get a lone limper.

But yeah -- I should increase the frequeny a little bit...thanks for the idea.

Kinalha · Feb 16, 2023

Station_Master said:
So, be honest , do you include bluffs in your 3 betting range? I see so many players only 3bet premium hands, e.g. JJ+ and AK. Some even AA and KK! I dont think this is a good strategy, but it seems so prevalent especially at the lowest stakes. It works a little bit until your opponents figure it out and then start over folding or only calling with implied odds hands.

Every time I move up stake there is a little bit more 3betting with people opening up more, though probably less than preflop range charts suggest. (Currently playing 25NL). Of course you can end up in a lot of difficult spots post flop which is perhaps why some people dont 3bet light.

So do you bluff/include lighter 3bets and if so do you choose these off certain hand types (e.g. always bluff A5s) or is it more exploitative? Please add your stake when responding. Note I am talking about stamdard online cash games 100bb deep.

In my opinion, these hands like A2~A5s still including in 60% 3 bet light pre. The last 40% you can mix, maybe it's a little over, but thinking in GTO for me is the best moves.
I don't play NL cash, but is more and less what i see from reg streamers and some spots in cash you can equalize to mtts, so...

Station_Master · Feb 16, 2023

Kinalha said:
In my opinion, these hands like A2~A5s still including in 60% 3 bet light pre. The last 40% you can mix, maybe it's a little over, but thinking in GTO for me is the best moves.
I don't play NL cash, but is more and less what i see from reg streamers and some spots in cash you can equalize to mtts, so...

Agree well aces are very good 3bets, though A2s is a bit weak. Depending on positions you can go much wider. BB vSB a GTo chart will say to 3bet much wider at 18% of range, e.g. T5s, 95s even 82s occasionally!

I quite like suited Kings to 3bet bluff too.

Kinalha · Feb 17, 2023

Station_Master said:
Agree well aces are very good 3bets, though A2s is a bit weak. Depending on positions you can go much wider. BB vSB a GTo chart will say to 3bet much wider at 18% of range, e.g. T5s, 95s even 82s occasionally!

I quite like suited Kings to 3bet bluff too.

I like your agressive game, but this works in NL25? I don't see people folding to much in these limits.. at least PLO z25 people don't like to fold so much

AKQ · Feb 17, 2023

I do everything with almost everything
results stray that way ,only because I play situational, and the cards become a byproduct

If you think a 3 bet bluff will work, do it
If you think KK can get more value preflop, do it

mj22 · Feb 17, 2023

ObbleeXY said:
Interesting question....and it has madfe me realise that although 3Bet bluffs are techniocally in my range, I do not emply them very often...usually from late position/BB...and usually when I get a lone limper.

But yeah -- I should increase the frequeny a little bit...thanks for the idea.

Although I know this note about you JT, but I'm thankful for the confirmation lol.
See you in the league games.

Erickaie · Feb 17, 2023

I think its a very profitable move! you are basically repping AA and all other hands in this move will think twice even AGAINTS kk!

BelFish · Feb 17, 2023

In general, I rarely 3-bet preflop, and probably never in a bluff ))

franciscomos · Feb 17, 2023

I do it only if my cards are good, don't like to much the risk with weak hands

Station_Master · Feb 18, 2023

Kinalha said:
I like your agressive game, but this works in NL25? I don't see people folding to much in these limits.. at least PLO z25 people don't like to fold so much

I am not bluffing such as the GTO charts but getting there. People are typically folding about 50% of the time, so not enough to be profitable purely as a bluff, but of course sometimes you win postflop too. Also if people see you 3bet a wider range you are more likely to get action when you have AA, KK etc. I think in PLO equities preflop are much closer so you probably are meant to call 3bets wide (though I am far from a PLO expert!)

dreamer13 · Feb 18, 2023

Every time you 3-bet in cash games, you need to know why you are 3-betting. You need to 3-bet either for value or as a bluff. Your preflop 3-betting range doesn't have to be blurry. While it's still worth making it at least partially balanced, balance comes naturally over the entire time you 3-bet for value and 3-bet for bluffs.Playing from the small blind is much more difficult than playing from the big blind, because you don't have a chance to finish the preflop action with your action. This means that if we just cold-call the SB, the big blind will be able to squeeze a wide range, which will rob us of our equity and put us in a tough spot.

Poker Orifice · Feb 18, 2023

BelFish said:
In general, I rarely 3-bet preflop, and probably never in a bluff ))

And you admit it here?!?!
... surely this post is a 3-bet bluff

makisaa · Feb 18, 2023

Generally I rarely 3bet preflop, I prefer to see the flop and have more informations. There are a few cases that I would 3bet, like if I have a big stack and a strong hand.

millar108 · Feb 18, 2023

I struggle to bluff, 3 bet is always a risky one

JappsPK · Feb 18, 2023

This post will help me manage to start to think about bluffing more with 3bet/4bet on preflop =) I just think sometimes you can get problems with that. Has to be cirurgical, very accurate. Not just throw the coins and see whats going to happen.

Aballinamion · Feb 19, 2023

JappsPK said:
This post will help me manage to start to think about bluffing more with 3bet/4bet on preflop =) I just think sometimes you can get problems with that. Has to be cirurgical, very accurate. Not just throw the coins and see whats going to happen.

Yes, playing the micro stakes is even more thrilling. Sometimes my 4-bet range at the micros is just AA and AKs as values (not even KK I dare to do it) and as long I use only these hands, when I 4-bet bluff I’d use only A5s and A4s.
I do it sometimes because players at the micros love to be leveling up and most of them won’t comprehend what I’m trying to represent and will jam all-in preflop on the top of my 4-bet.
It is complicated and hard to apply that we shouldn’t use any range charts, but create our own range charge depending on table dynamics and villain’s behavior.

choprav · Feb 19, 2023

Nah I only 3bet premium hands! In fact I am more likely to slow-play a good or premium hand!

Dailon Arroyo Blandon · Feb 19, 2023

In my personal case I rarely like to bLuff in a 3-bet... it's more only if there are more than 2 players in the hand I 3-bet with my strong hands... but yes only a player in the hand even if I have a strong hand I do not 3-bet

Be honest, do you 3bet bluff preflop

Be honest, do you 3bet bluff preflop

My 3betting range always includes a mix of value and bluffs

I rarely 3bet bluff

Never, I only 3bet premium hands

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