[Pokey]

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But this:

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Don't take a middle-of-the-road line; it's likely to backfire on you. Badly.

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I don't understand at all. Backfire how? If I get stacked I get stacked. If I lose this hand, I'm getting stacked -- that's all there is to it.


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True, but what you do with a modest three-bet is set yourself up for a worst-case scenario: if you're ahead, you WON'T get paid, but if you're behind, you WILL get stacked. You give away a great deal of information without making villain pay for it. By letting him know where he stands, he can play much more effectively against you with hands like a stray 8: you tell him he's behind and you also let him know he's getting your stack if he hits. He can play fit-or-fold on the river. If you just push, he's calling anyways, and you get ALL the money out of trips, rather than just part of it. Also, pushing the turn punishes combo draws severely, whereas a minraise lets them escape with much of their stack intact on most rivers.

Get all the money in on the turn while he's still got potential; you'll get more money out of the losing hands that way. Don't give drawing hands a chance to escape on the river, especially if YOU can't escape no matter what happens.