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3betting Out of Position with Deep Stacks
With 100 big blind stacks 3betting out of position can be a very effective strategy when used correctly. This is because a three 3-bet followed by a flop continuation bet can threaten an opponent's full stack.
As stacks become deeper, 3betting out of position becomes much less useful against competent opponents. A flop continuation bet no longer puts a villain's whole stack at risk. We must be able to fire more double barrels and more triple barrels. We will be faced with more decisions and we will be forced to act first on every street.
On the other hand, our opponents will have the option to take the lead away from us. They can bluff raise flops, float us with air or inferior hands and can generally put us under pressure.
One of the most important things to do while developing a balanced 3betting strategy is to profile the people we are 3betting. It is essential to note how they play when deep. Some multitabling tight aggressive players will never adjust how they react to a 3bet based on stack sizes. They will play robotically and may not even notice the size of our stack when we 3bet them. Against these type of non-observant players, we should increase our 3bet bluffing frequencies as this will show instant profit.
Against better, more observant players, we should take a more cautios approach. These type of players will have an awareness of stack sizes, will be able to 4bet bluff and will bluff raise flops in 3bet pots.
Against a player who has a balanced 4betting range, we should narrow both our value range and our blufifng range. When we have a hand we want to play a flop with, it would be a big mistake to 3bet and potentially be stopped from playing the direct value of our hand. Two examples of this type of hand are a pair of tens or ace queen off suit (AQo). When an opponent can 4bet we should often just flat preflop with hands as strong as JJ, as otherwise he can force us to make some really tough decisions later on in the hand. With a hand such as pocket kings or pocket aces, we will still want to 3bet as an opponent who 4bets light can create more action thinking we are 3betting light.
A good rule of thumb is to 3bet a value range that we are happy to 5bet allin preflop. This range will get tighter as stacks get deeper. We may be happy to get a pair of queens all in preflop for 200 big blinds, but if we are 500 big blinds deep we may only be prepared to get pocket aces allin preflop.
Our 3bet bluffing range should only include hands that are not strong enough to call a raise preflop; hands that we do not mind being 4bet off and hands that are more difficult to get stacked with postflop. Examples of these hands would be 56o, J9o or 35s. With hands that are good, but not great such as pocket nines or KQs we should take a more conservative approach and just call preflop.
In general, when playing deepstacked texas holdem, we should tighten our 3betting range out of position compared to when just 100BBs deep. Against weaker or more straightforward players we should increase our bluffing range if they fold too much to 3bets or if they call too much and fold a lot to flop continuation bets. However, against better opponents we should thin both our value and our bluffing range in order to maintain a balanced, unexploitable strategy.
In the next article we will talk about 3betting in position with deep stacks.
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