developing a good checking frequency as the preflop 3b oop
Posted by riverboatking
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riverboatking
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High Stakes
developing a good checking frequency as the preflop 3b oop
one thing i've noticed about my game (being the hyper aggro lagtard that i am) is that i seem to c-bet with a really high frequency when OOP with the initiative. i've always defended this due to the fact that i have a very wide/well balanced 3bet range so there aren't many board textures that i can't credibly have a hand in a 3bet pot.
however the more i think about it the more i think i would benefit by being able to check more flops in these spots and be able to c/c, c/r n c/f optimally.
thought this might make for an interesting discussion wrt the ideal types of situations to not c-bet as the preflop raiser (moreso in 3bet pots when oop but also to some extent in single raised pots oop).
i'll post some of my own thoughts later (tho tbh i don't have a very well defined strategy for this) but i'm really interested to hear some different opinions.
cheers.
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This is an excellent question, and one that could be discussed in great detail.
I'm in the middle of a tournament and gotta get some sleep, but I hope some people post their thoughts for me to check out and respond to in a day or two.
My short answer: Against good opponents, you should definitely do a fair amount of checking in this spot.
It's important to know your own 3bet range. Even if you 3bet all your run downs and most of your 1 gappers, and some double suited junk, you're still going to be fairly high card heavy.
If you 3bet vs a button open and the flop is 732r, 822ss, J64r... well, it's just very hard for you to nail these boards.
I'll leave it at that for now (and I'm not trying to be vague and mysterious... I don't have this figured out yet)
On heavier boards, I typically c-bet a much higher % with basically all parts of my range. This is mainly because most opponent are fearful of getting check/raised, therefore checking is unlikely to induce a bet from their air.. Additionally our range has more big cards in it, so we should get more outright folds on these boards in general.
On lighter boards, I look for as many reasons to check/raise as possible. This is because as Phil mentioned, it's difficult for our 3b'ing range to connect with these boards, so against thinking players, of course we'll have to surrender from time to time... And as such I want to protect my checking range. Additionally, it's good to have your opponent fearing the check/raise because it allows you to delay c-bet effectively. For example, say I have AsKdJs4h and three-bet a BTN open. On a 6d7dQc board I will often check/give up, but if my opponent knows I have a lot of draws in my check/raising range, I can credibly stab on static turns (any board pair or flush completing card), and take down the pot.. And typically, the sizing on these textures doesn't need to be very big in order to get a fold, so this is a very profitable line to take.
On other board textures, such as A high static flops, while I think most players default to betting these boards with a very high frequency, I like a mixture of both. Although obviously not all A high boards are created equal; on the drier A high flops I think checking with air can be a good option because it looks more believable than betting against thinking opponents. I think checking with a wide range is good against thinking opponents too. While I'll always bet these boards with air against passive players, I think it's a good line to take against thinking players because it looks more credible than a bet. Say I three-bet a BTN open with T876ds and get called. On A99r board a lot of good aggressive players will fight back against a c-bet by either floating or bluff-raising (more-so floating from my experience), but once you check it can really throw them off.
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