We analyzed c-betting on low-card boards, high-card flops, and ace-high flops in 3-bet pots, so today we dive deeper into paired boards in 3-bet pots.
We will cover different paired flops variations in 3-bet pots using the PeakGTO solver to see the best ways to approach these board textures.
C-Betting On Paired Boards In Position – AsAh7c, QsQh6c, 7s7h2c
To start, we will dive deeper into an example where we 3-bet from the button versus a cutoff open, and he calls to see the flop.
Key assumptions:
- The hand is played 100 bb deep
- Our opponent is opening from the cutoff
- We 3-bet from the button
- Both of the blinds fold
- The CO calls and checks on the flop
Let’s firstly look at a board with a pair of aces and analyze AsAh7c.
The good news here is that our poker strategy in position is as straightforward as it gets, and we should be betting small with pretty much our entire range.
PeakGTO suggests checking just 3% of the time, and betting around one-third of the pot the rest of the time, since we have a big range advantage in this situation.
Things start to change quite drastically when we look at other high-pair boards, so let’s analyze QsQh6c to see those differences.
In this spot, we should bet with 67% of our hands and be checking around 33% of the range.
Apart from frequency differences, we should also stick to a bigger bet sizing of two-thirds of the pot on these high-pair boards. While the solver suggests mixing between small and big sizing, it clearly prefers bigger bets.
Things change once again when we analyze lowpair boards. In this instance, let’s look at 7s7h2c.
PeakGTO bets 80% of the time and checks 20% of the hands on this flop with a low pair.
Contrary to high-pair board, we are using smaller bet sizing more often than a big one. To be more exact, we are using a small one-third pot size c-bet two times more often than a two-thirds pot size bet, and mixing it between the hands.
To sum this up, we are c-betting paired boards very aggressively as a preflop 3-bettor since we usually have a significant range advantage and just need to pick the proper sizing based on the exact board texture.
Key takeaways
- We are always c-betting on a board with a pair of aces and use a small bet sizing.
- We should c-bet around 70% of our range and use big c-bets on flops with high pairs.
- We should bet around 80% of the time on low-pair boards, usually picking smaller sizing.
C-Betting On Paired Boards OOP – AsAh7c, QsQh6c, 7s7h2c
Now, let’s look at hands when we are 3-betting out of position (OOP) and analyze a scenario where our opponent opens from the button, we 3-bet from the big blind, and he calls.
Key assumptions:
- The hand is played 100 bb deep in a cash game.
- Our opponent is opening from the button.
- We 3-bet from the big blind, and the button calls.
To have a better conclusion, we will compare the same hands in all three situations and will start doing so with an AsAh7c board.
While not betting 100% of the time like in the previous example of being IP and seeing this board, we are still approaching this situation aggressively and bet 84% of the time. We only check 16%, spreading this fairly equally across our entire poker range.
In theory, you should be using big sizing a fraction of the time, but you will not go wrong by simplifying your life and sticking with a small bet in all situations.
Our c-betting frequency is quite similar on high-pair boards such as QsQh6c, where we c-bet 86% of the time and check around 14% of the range.
The difference here compared to a board with a pair of aces is that we use bigger sizing more often than a small bet. From our 86% betting range, we will stick with a small bet of 30%, and bet the rest 56% of the hands with a bigger bet of around two-thirds of the pot.
On low-pair boards, we should do more checking since these usually connect better with the caller’s range. Let’s take 7s7h2c as an example.
In this situation, we are betting around 65% of the time and checking 35% of the hands.
Our range is distributed fairly evenly between the hands and uses a mixed strategy throughout the entire range. That said, we will be checking a few ace-high and king-high hands a bit more often than others.
In this situation, a strong GTO poker strategy says you should stick to big bets in most cases when you end up betting on these paired boards.
Key takeaways
- Bet aggressively around 84% of the time on flops with a pair of aces and use small sizing.
- Use a similar strategy of betting over 80% of the time on high-pair boards, but use bigger sizing.
- Bet less often on low-pair boards but predominantly use big bet sizing.
