We already talked about c-betting on Ace-High boards in single raised pots, so today we will concentrate on covering strategy for 3-bet pots.

We will examine different board textures on connected and dry boards to identify strategy differences after 3-betting preflop and summarize key takeaways for each section.

C-Betting On Ace-High Boards In Position – As7h2c

To start, we will dive deeper into an example of 3-betting from the button versus a cutoff open.

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 firstly look at a dry board of As7h2c to see our strategy in this situation.

We have a significant range advantage in this spot, so we will be betting very aggressively and picking a small sizing of one-fourth the pot in all cases.

To be more precise, we will c-bet with almost 82% of our range and check with 18% of our hands.

The only hands we are checking here at a higher freecuancy are top set, our weakest Ax hands like A4s and A6s, strong pocket pairs that do not need much production like KK and QQ, and then mix in some check-backs with weaker hands.

When our stacks drop to 20bb, we do not have a 3-betting range in this situation, so we either call or move all-in if we decide to play the hand.

In this situation, we call with the strongest hands like AA, KK, and some speculative holdings, and re-shove almost all other pocket pairs with our strongest Ax, and some of the broadways with good blockers.

Key takeaways

• C-bet very aggressively on dry boards with over 80% of hands
• Always pick a small bet sizing of one-fourth the pot when continuing
• Do not 3-bet with 20bb or less preflop and either fold, call, or move all-in

C-Betting On Ace-Card Boards OOP – As7h2c

Now, let’s look at the same hand, but when we are playing it OOP. In this case, we face an open from the BTN and decide to 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 As7h2c to see how we should adjust here.

Our 3-betting range here really hits the flop well, so the PeakGTO solver suggests c-betting 99% of the time in this situation and once again sticking to a small c-bet size of one-fourth of the pot.

In many cases, the button will miss completely since their calling range is full of broadways and connectors that will have a hard time continuing even against a small bet.

When the stacks drop to 20bb, we will move all-in with a big part of the hands we want to raise against an open. 

This includes all pocket pairs up to TT, most of our offsuit Ax hands, and a few suited combinations. 

That being said, we still have a 3-bet range here and will do so with less than 7% of the hands while calling all other playable holdings. 

After 3-betting, we will fire a c-bet around 66% of the time and stick to a small size in most situations.

Key takeaways

• C-bet your entire range on these dry board textures OOP
• Pick a small bet sizing of one-fourth the pot when c-betting
• When stacks drop to 20bb, shove most offsuit Ax hands and pocket pairs
• After 3-betting with a polarized range with 20bb, pick a small c-bet after the flop