Overplaying a 3-bet pot

[bilbo-san]

I believe Killian said in the PSA thread that we should post some more hands that we played well and try to pick apart villain's play, rather than posting lots of "ZOMG I was coolered!" hands.

This is a pretty simple hand that my girlfriend played (I'm coaching her, thus the stakes) that illustrates something I see a lot of players with nittish/taggy stats do: they adjust very poorly to villains who 3-bet a lot.

Villain here is a 15/6 fish. There's a little history. The very first time he raised OTB, we 3-bet from the SB with 33 (this was before the hud was up [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]). He min-4bet with about 110BB effective stacks left (after the min 4-bet). We called and c/f the JTQ flop.

Later in a BoB, he raised from the SB, we 3-bet with QQ, he called. The flop came 7TJ, he c/ced the flop with AJ, the turn checked through, and he c/ced the river when it blanked.

We've been 3-betting. A LOT. Not so much this player, because he's opening range is pretty tight, but everyone else for sure.

Then this hand happened.

Ultimate Bet - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.25/$0.50 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

<font color="black">Hero (SB): $77.20</font>
BB: $50
UTG: $19
MP: $72.70
CO: $64
BTN: $49.75

<font color="black">Preflop:</font> Hero is dealt K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K (6 Players)
3 folds, <font color="red">BTN raises to $1.75</font>, <font color="red">Hero raises to $5.75</font>, BB folds, BTN calls $4

<font color="black">Flop:</font> ($12) 2 6 T (2 Players)
<font color="red">Hero bets $8</font>, <font color="red">BTN raises to $36</font>, <font color="red">Hero raises to $64</font>, BTN calls all-in for $8
Uncalled bet of $20 returned to Hero

<font color="black">Turn:</font> ($100) K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 Players - 1 All-In)

<font color="black">River:</font> ($100) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $100 ($3 Rake)

BTN had A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] T (a pair of tens) and LOST (-$49.75)
Hero had K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K (three kings) and WON (+$47.25)

Some morals of the story:

1) When someone's 3-betting light, your implied odds are low. You should be folding more, 4-betting a little more and calling a lot less. ATo is definately one of those hands you should 4-bet or fold. I guess there's some merit in deciding to call with the intention of making a move on some flops, but I'd rather do that with pocket pairs, since they can flop sets.

2) It's not a good idea to bluff with TPTK in a 3-bet pot [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Villain should be aware here that when he is ahead, he is usually way ahead (if I have an unimproved Ace, or a pair &lt; T), and when he is behind he is usually way behind. Also note that his push leaves him in a very awkward turn spot if I just call, so there isn't much point in keeping his last $8 the way he did.


This example will probably seem pretty trivial to most of the regs, but I see stuff like this at the $200 tables all the time nowadays too. Online poker has changed a bit as all the tables are full of guys with VPIPs &lt; 20, but the game's still profitable as long as they keep making plays like this one...