In no-limit hold’em poker, if two tight players get it all-in pre-flop, they usually each have a very strong hand like a big pair or Ace-King. Aggressive players have picked up on a side-effect of this, that the average tight-aggressive player will fold a large portion of the time if re-raised pre-flop. To take advantage, these players will put in the first re-raise (also known as a three-bet) pre-flop with a wide range of holdings, hoping that the average tight-aggressive players will fold too often to their semi-bluff and that it will be profitable. This so-called “light” three-betting is rampant in today’s online poker games, and even in some live games. Here we’re going to look at the four best ways to adjust to aggressive pre-flop three-betting in no-limit hold’em poker. Beside all these techniques you can also visit Situs Judi Bola Online to learn more about betting opportunities. You can easily use these pre-flop techniques to improve your betting game.
Adjustment 1: Lower your raise size. Most people like to raise to four or five times the big blind. This gives your opponent a much larger reward the times you fold to their three-bet. When you’re facing someone who three-bets a lot, you should drop to a raise of about three times the big blind instead. This doesn’t change much pre-flop, but drastically changes the pre-flop portion for your opponent.
Adjustment 2: Open fold with the worst 10-20% of your normal raising range. The idea here is that you’re going to be folding most of the time to a three-bet, so you can lower the percentage of the time you fold while minimizing the post-flop effect of your changed range by dropping the bottom portion of your raising range. This means your opponent’s three-bet bluffs will work less often, and therefore be less profitable.
Adjustment 3: Four-bet bluff more often. In no-limit hold’em poker, when your opponent is bluffing a large portion of the time, one way to adjust is to occasionally re-bluff. Here you’re going to want to put in the second re-raise with a wider range than normal. When doing this, be careful that you don’t make your bet size so large that you are committed to the pot the times your opponent makes a five-bet.
Adjustment 4: Call three-bets in position more often. If your opponent is three-betting a lot out of position and the stacks are deep enough, you can start calling profitably with a wider range of hands. Your positional advantage will compensate for any occasional disadvantage in cards, and you’ll often be able to pick up medium-sized pots when your opponent misses the flop with his bluffing hands.
What you need to keep in mind is that no-limit hold’em is a very popular form of poker right now, so the play involved is going to evolve much faster than other less-played games like seven card stud. To maintain your advantage in a game that is advancing this quickly, you have to evolve your own strategies as well.