3-Bettor Postflop Strategy

Making a preflop 3-bet is a hallmark of aggressive poker strategy. Especially since bet sizes increase exponentially as we get into the later streets, we want to try to get the pot as big as we can as fast as we can when we have a premium hand. At the same time, it’s always good to try to force tight players to fold when they do open raises.

But what happens when they call? How do you play the flop and beyond in a 3-bet pot? Of course, it’s going to depend on a lot of things: your position at the table, stack sizes, opponent player types, your ranges, etc.

These are our top tips.

Keep Up The Aggression

Most of the time we want to keep firing off bets post-flop, either to build a pot to win later or to try to snatch it away. When you have lots of premium-made hands and draws, it’s fine to bet with your entire range.

This is especially true if you’re out of position. You don’t want to check and then face a big bet, especially if you don’t have much equity. This will put you in a bad situation where you could have to fold out a hand that you could have otherwise won.

Start by asking yourself a few key questions. Do my best hands do well against my opponents’ best hands? Can I get it all in? And do I want to? If the answer is yes to all of these, then you can bet with impunity.

Bet Sizing

On boards with aces or disconnected boards, we almost always want to use a big bet sizing, at least half pot. Since you 3-bet, your range will have more nut hands and good draws, but at the same time it’s possible that your opponent caught something and will call.

For instance, if you 3-bet AK, it’s certainly possible that your opponent opened with a weaker ace. If the board brings an ace, then you have them dominated, and they will probably call.

On paired boards or monotone boards, on the other hand, it’s better to bet small. You’ll have more nut flushes in your range, so your opponents probably won’t want to call a big bet. Try to extract as much value as you can, either by trapping them along and slowly building the pot or by giving them an offer they can’t refuse. Either way, the chips will end up in your stack.