A Pro's Journey: 3-BET and 4-BET Light

July 1, 2015

Poker img As the game develops and we analyze our opponents, we may find certain situations where we should use 3-bet and 4-bet light.

3-Bet: Let's talk about the best situations to apply a light 3-bet

-Opponent opens many hands and folds a lot to 3-bets

-Opponent doesn't fold much to 3-bet but folds a lot to CBET flop: In this situation I will be 3-betting already thinking about taking the pot by Cbetting flop

-Money bubble or FT: If we have a good stack at this time we can pressure 3 more by betting

Worst situations to 3-bet light:

-Call station opponent: that recreational player who calls ANYTHING pre-flop and post-flop

-Opponent makes many 4-bets

-Opponent hardly folds to 3-bets or Cbets

A few years ago, 3-betting light was a very +EV play, it worked a lot and players didn't really know how to act against it. However, as the game evolved, many people started to apply it and defend themselves better against it. Nowadays, it's normal to see 4-bets light and 5-bets light.

The current trend in the game has been to stay tighter when applying a 3-bet, choosing the spots that have the best chance of working.

4-Bet: Let's talk about the best situations to apply a light 4-bet

-3-beta opponent quite a lot: Obvious hehe

-The opponent is a good player and you know that the 3-bet light spot is good: Don't be afraid, apply the 4-bet

-Button x Small blind: A very common situation is for the button to open and the small blind to 3-bet. If you see a trend in this, you can apply the 4-bet

A relatively important thing when 3-Betting or 4-Betting light is to have some blocker in your hand, as this reduces the chance of your opponent having some hand combinations.

For example:

We received a 3-bet from a range that looked something like this:

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