How Effective Are Light 3-BETs and 4-BETs, Really?

After already talking about the overvaluation of certain hands, I want to bring up a simpler (but still important) topic: how effective are light 3-BETs and 4-BETs, really?

In many tournaments, I’ve picked up a lot of blinds using these plays — and they’ve worked great. But sometimes, it just doesn’t go as planned. Some players refuse to fold marginal hands like A7o even facing a 3-BET, which honestly makes little sense for a hand that weak.

Now, I do understand when and why to use these plays. My real question is: how far can we really push them before they lose effectiveness? Especially when your 3-BET light is actually trying to stop someone else from stealing the blinds — that you were trying to steal first! 😂

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• How far can we rely on light 3-BETs and 4-BETs in today’s field?
• Is the field adapting to the point where these plays are losing their edge?
• When is it better to just flat or fold instead of applying pressure preflop?

Let’s discuss!

Hey! Always nice to se another Brazilian here

I think it depends on which stake you are. At low stakes and cheap MTTs 3 and 4bets does not work, specially light ones.

You can only rely on them as far as you know the players that are left to act after you. It's always going to be situational. Once the player you are targeting realizes that your 3&4 bets are light, it is time to tighten up and pick the next few carefully to punish assumptions. Always keep the game fluid, adapting and changing as necessary.

It really depends on the player, and if the player is unknown, you can take a lead from the stakes, you are playing, and how far you are from the money. If its early in a freeroll, then why would anyone fold to a 3-bet, when its literally not their money? If someone is drunk and playing for a dollar, they probably dont care much about losing either.

HUD-data are also usefull. Fold to 3-bet begin to become a reliable stat after a few houndred hands, and you also get valuable information from VPIP and PFR. If someone have stats like VPIP 28 / PFR 8 with a fold to 3-bet after raising of just 38%, then dont 3-bet them light. They are only opening 8% of hands, and since they only open strong hands, it makes complete sense, that they dont need to fold much to 3-bets.

LuzerGod said:

After already talking about the overvaluation of certain hands, I want to bring up a simpler (but still important) topic: how effective are light 3-BETs and 4-BETs, really?

In many tournaments, I’ve picked up a lot of blinds using these plays — and they’ve worked great. But sometimes, it just doesn’t go as planned. Some players refuse to fold marginal hands like A7o even facing a 3-BET, which honestly makes little sense for a hand that weak.

Now, I do understand when and why to use these plays. My real question is: how far can we really push them before they lose effectiveness? Especially when your 3-BET light is actually trying to stop someone else from stealing the blinds — that you were trying to steal first! 😂

I’d love to hear your thoughts:

• How far can we rely on light 3-BETs and 4-BETs in today’s field?
• Is the field adapting to the point where these plays are losing their edge?
• When is it better to just flat or fold instead of applying pressure preflop?

Let’s discuss!

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IIRC light 3-bets are effective just against weak-tight opponents aka rocks. They are definitely not GTO (though they appear in ICM situations), so it is better to avoid using them against opponents who you have no definitive reads on.