What is 3-Betting?

First off, a 3Bet or triple barrel is your last shot at taking down a pot with a weak hand. It is your river bet after your pre flop, flop and turn bets were all called.

Why you need to learn how to triple barrel

Triple barreling has become an increasingly important tool in online poker as the games have gotten more and more aggressive. The ability to successfully pull off a triple barrel comes with much experience and a strong understanding of the game. The most vital part of a triple barrel is the hand reading skills required. If you are attempting to triple barrel but can’t put your opponent on a very tight range of hands you might as well burn your money.

Picking good spots to 3 Bet

So when is a good time to triple barrel and when is a bad time. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t know what types of hands you are trying to force out you should not be attempting a triple barrel. Example:

• Say you are playing .50/1.
• You are dealt 8s 9s and it folds around to you in the SB.
• You raise to $3.50 and the BB calls.
• The flop comes Qc Kc 4d.

• The first step is to fire a c-bet as there are plenty of hands the BB will fold on this flop.
• You bet out $5.50 into the $7.00 pot, he calls.
• The pot is now $18 and the turn is 7s. You bet $14 and he again calls.
• The pot is now $46 and the river brings a harmless 6s. What do you do?

This is a spot where you can make a triple barrel cost effective. What hands is he likely folding here? If he called the turn he is unlikely to fold the river with a random K or two pair combination as his hand was not hurt.

He is, however, extremely likely to fold a hand like Td Jd or Ac Jc. The flop was very draw heavy and all of the draws missed. This allows you the opportunity to push out all of those hands that he was calling down with in hopes of hitting his draw.

Proper bet sizing when you Three Bet

The pot was $46 as the river was dealt. Since the only hands you are going to usually squeeze a fold out of are draws, you do not need to be overly aggressive with your best sizes to get him to lay his hand down. A bet of $26 should suffice in this spot. It looks like you are betting for value but it is strong enough that he will not come over the top with his missed draw.

In contrast to how this hand played out, if the river were the Ac or 9c, this would be a terrible spot to triple barrel. The only hands you fold out are Ks or random two pair combinations, but more important than this is the fact that it will require a large bet. You will need to bet $38 or so to force a fold. Many times you will be beat and your opponent will shove his remaining stack or you will get called down. Add in the amount of times where the villain reads your line as bluffy and calls you down with JK and you are really stuck.

The key elements required for a Three Betting

It all comes down to the ability to put another player on a certain range of hands. You certainly do not need to know a players exact hand to make a triple barrel effective, but you absolutely need to have a very good idea.