Since we already covered c-betting on dry low-card boards in 3-bet pots, now we will dive deeper into the strategy for connected low-card board textures.
We will examine IP and OOP strategy after 3-betting preflop and summarize key takeaways for each section.
C-Betting On Low-Card Boards In Position – 8h7h5d
Key assumptions:
- The hand is played 40 bb deep with 12.5% ante
- Our opponent opens from the cutoff
- We 3-bet from the button
- CO calls to see the flop and checks to us
Let’s start by looking at an example on a connected board of 8h7h5d.
In this spot, we are c-betting 57% of our range and checking back 43% of the hands.
Checking and betting is distributed throughout the entire range, with a few exceptions of overpairs and top pair hands that always bet.
As for sizing, we are using a 25% pot size bet with 45% of our hands and sticking to a larger sizing with 12% of our holdings.
When the stacks drop to 20, we no longer have a 3-betting range, and we either reshove all-in when facing an open, call, or fold.
Our range becomes polarized, so we call with the strongest poker hands and the bottom part of our range, and move all-in with everything in between. In this scenario, we are shoving all pocket pairs up to QQ, some broadways, and Ax combinations.
Key takeaways
- C-bet around 57% of hands on connected boards in position
- Use smaller sizing with 45% of the hands and larger bets 12% of the time
- Mostly shove, call, or fold preflop when stacks move down to 20bb
C-Betting On Connected Low-Card Boards OOP – 8h7h5d
Let’s look at the same hand when we are sitting out of position. In this case, we face an open from the BTN and we 3-bet from the BB.
Key assumptions:
- The hand is played 40bb deep with 12.5% ante
- Our opponent is opening from the button
- We 3-bet from the big blind
- The button calls
Let’s look at 8h7h5d to see how we should adjust here after 3-betting.
In this case, PeakGTO prefers to continue much more aggressively and fires a bet 84% of the time.
There is also a big difference in bet sizing, since we now use small and large bets almost equally. Here is the distribution:
- 25% of the pot with 43% of the hands
- 66% of the pot with 18% of our holdings
- 100% of the pot with 23% of the hands
As for checking, we use poker hands like some Broadway combinations, ace-highs, and sets to balance things out.
When the stacks get down to 20bb, our strategy changes significantly.
In this spot, we will be calling with 65% of the hands preflop, moving all-in with 14% holdings, and 3-betting just with 6.5% of the range.
When we do 3-bet, we will c-bet 43% of the time on 8h7h5d.
In this specific case, GTO strategy mostly goes all-in when betting, but will mix some smaller bets throughout our range.
We also check many of our Ax combinations together with overpairs like AA and KK that do not need much protection, along with complete air hands.
Key takeaways
- C-bet 84% of the time on this connected low-card board when out of position
- Mix between small and large bets almost equally when c-betting
- When stacks drop to 20bb, we mostly call or move all-in preflop, leaving a small 3-bet range of around 7%
- If you 3-bet with 20bb stacks, mostly move all-in when c-betting
