My latest poker strategy article, “What Are the Best Hands to Three-Bet?”, is now appearing in the February 2017 edition of Two Plus Two Magazine. If you know anything about me, you know that that’s not a question I’m going to answer in just a few words! In fact, I’ve already got a follow-up article planned. But here’s a taste of what to expect from this one:
When you three-bet, you’re gearing up to play a big pot, so you ought to come strapped. That doesn’t have to mean Aces, but it should mean a hand with a reasonable chance of winning the pot if you go to the flop. In most cases, the stronger your hand, the higher the Expected Value (EV) of your three-bet will be.
It does not follow from this that you should therefore three-bet a strictly linear range, starting from Aces and working your way down. The complication is that many hands that will have a high EV when they three-bet will also have a high EV when they call. Your job is to decide, when you have a reasonably good hand, whether it will play better as a three-bet or a call in this particular situation.
How do you decide when to three-bet? Was this article helpful to you?
Great article – though for me somewhat upstaged by Carlos’ “Don’t Study Poker in an Ivory Tower Only to Play in the Gutter” as I play a similar level on euro sites.
Paraphrasing from J. Cole
“Long live the idols. May they never be your rivals. Andrew was like Jesus. Nate wrote the bible.”