Online Poker Strategy - How to Crush an Opponent Who Calls Too Many 3 Bets
Online poker has gone 3 bet mad lately, and what I am finding is a lot of loose players will start to call a lot of your 3bets when they are in position. So how do you play against these type of players when they will not fold to a continuation bet on the flop.
Firstly, you need some form of poker tracking software with a heads up display which will inform you of their stats in 3 bet pots. This is probably not as important if you are playing less than 4 tables as you should be able to spot their tendencies through simple observations and note taking. However once you go over 4 tables I definitely recommend using Holdem Manager to help you spot the habitually 3 bet callers. It's also good to track your own 3 bet stats as you may be 3 betting a bit too frequently and therefore giving your opponent ample reason to start playing back at you either through flat calling or 4 betting light.
So if you have notes or stats on your opponent that he is calling 3 bets light and rarely folding to any aggression on the following streets, this simple means you must tighten your 3 betting range to value hands only. Check out his 4 bet stats. If his 4 bet stats are 2% or lower we can safely say that when he only calls he is doing so with hands like AQ, AJ, maybe ATss and 22-JJ, 87ss+. He will 4 bet QQ+, AK the majority of times which accounts for the 2% 4 bet range.
Therefore if we can narrow his calling range to this we can start to 3 bet value hands from KJ+,JJ+ up as when he calls we will nearly always be ahead of his range. If he is calling with pocket pairs, we will at least have 2 overcards when we 3 bet Broadway cards and when we do hit top pair we can safely get it all in as we are more than likely going to have our opponent dominated.
Also keep an eye out for bet sizing tells. One of my regulars has a pretty bad bet sizing tell. He only raises preflop to 2 big blinds with small pocket pairs and suited connectors and raises 3.5 big blinds with big Broadway cards when he plays from the Cut off or the Button. He folds to all 3bets when I 3 bet his bigger pre - flop raise but he 4 bet shoves AKss, KK+. He always calls when I 3 bet his smaller preflop raise and will min - reraise when he connects with the flop, and when he connects he connects hard as its either a set, a flopped straight or an open ended straight & flush draw. This is a great tell to have on an opponent and I urge all of you to keep track of weird bet sizing as people get into a habit and you can take advantage of it.
However getting back to the original issue, of a player who will also not fold to post flop aggression. You have to determine your perceived strength caused by the flop texture before you decide your plan for post flop when you actually miss the flop. If the flop comes dry with one high card, then you must at least double barrel. There is no point just continuation bet the flop then check fold the turn as that is how he wants you to play and he will exploit this until the cows come home. If the flop is low and wet then sometimes it is in your best interest to just check the flop and hope for a cheap showdown and fold to his steal. By doing this every once in a while, it will also add a lot more weight to your continuation bets in later encounters.
The main piece of advice to take from this article is to plan your hand before you play it based on your opponents tendencies. The more you do this the more natural it will become and before you know it you will be swiftly moving up the stakes in the online poker world.
Online poker has gone 3 bet mad lately, and what I am finding is a lot of loose players will start to call a lot of your 3bets when they are in position. So how do you play against these type of players when they will not fold to a continuation bet on the flop.
Firstly, you need some form of poker tracking software with a heads up display which will inform you of their stats in 3 bet pots. This is probably not as important if you are playing less than 4 tables as you should be able to spot their tendencies through simple observations and note taking. However once you go over 4 tables I definitely recommend using Holdem Manager to help you spot the habitually 3 bet callers. It's also good to track your own 3 bet stats as you may be 3 betting a bit too frequently and therefore giving your opponent ample reason to start playing back at you either through flat calling or 4 betting light.
So if you have notes or stats on your opponent that he is calling 3 bets light and rarely folding to any aggression on the following streets, this simple means you must tighten your 3 betting range to value hands only. Check out his 4 bet stats. If his 4 bet stats are 2% or lower we can safely say that when he only calls he is doing so with hands like AQ, AJ, maybe ATss and 22-JJ, 87ss+. He will 4 bet QQ+, AK the majority of times which accounts for the 2% 4 bet range.
Therefore if we can narrow his calling range to this we can start to 3 bet value hands from KJ+,JJ+ up as when he calls we will nearly always be ahead of his range. If he is calling with pocket pairs, we will at least have 2 overcards when we 3 bet Broadway cards and when we do hit top pair we can safely get it all in as we are more than likely going to have our opponent dominated.
Also keep an eye out for bet sizing tells. One of my regulars has a pretty bad bet sizing tell. He only raises preflop to 2 big blinds with small pocket pairs and suited connectors and raises 3.5 big blinds with big Broadway cards when he plays from the Cut off or the Button. He folds to all 3bets when I 3 bet his bigger pre - flop raise but he 4 bet shoves AKss, KK+. He always calls when I 3 bet his smaller preflop raise and will min - reraise when he connects with the flop, and when he connects he connects hard as its either a set, a flopped straight or an open ended straight & flush draw. This is a great tell to have on an opponent and I urge all of you to keep track of weird bet sizing as people get into a habit and you can take advantage of it.
However getting back to the original issue, of a player who will also not fold to post flop aggression. You have to determine your perceived strength caused by the flop texture before you decide your plan for post flop when you actually miss the flop. If the flop comes dry with one high card, then you must at least double barrel. There is no point just continuation bet the flop then check fold the turn as that is how he wants you to play and he will exploit this until the cows come home. If the flop is low and wet then sometimes it is in your best interest to just check the flop and hope for a cheap showdown and fold to his steal. By doing this every once in a while, it will also add a lot more weight to your continuation bets in later encounters.
The main piece of advice to take from this article is to plan your hand before you play it based on your opponents tendencies. The more you do this the more natural it will become and before you know it you will be swiftly moving up the stakes in the online poker world.
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