3 Handed Poker Strategy
Maranda
Since we now know which are the best starting hands in poker then we can apply this knowledge to our strategy. Remember, when we play a hand, we want to play with the odds in our favour, and by selectively choosing which starting hands we play we can ensure this.
So we combine the position concept with our starting hand concept, to allow us to only play a narrow starting hand selection when out of position and to play a wider range of starting hands when we are in position. Therefore the benefit of playing in position makes up for the weaker starting hands we may play.
We have chosen 46 different hands that we will play depending on the position and situation we are in. Those 46 hands have been separated into 8 groups named Group A to H. Group A are the strongest hands in poker based on the statistics and group H are the weakest hands that we are willing to play. Of course there are many more hand combinations weaker than the hands in Group H, but we are not interested in playing with these and they will be folded into the muck straight away.
When we are in position we will play a wider range of groups and out of position we will only play the stronger groups. Similarly when opponents have shown strength at the table by raising we will only play the better cards against them.
Use this as your computer desktop wallpaper. It is designed so that whilst you are playing poker, you can place your poker table window over the Poker Professor logo and all the charts will be visible around the table. Neat huh!
So from the answers to the above questions we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that Group E is not shown in that column so we are not allowed to play a Group E hand in Early position in this situation and so we would fold this hand.
So from the above we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that with a group B hand we are told to make an opening raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Raise (We will look at details of how much to raise later in the lesson).
So, we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that with a group A hand we are told to make a Re-Raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Re-Raise. (We will look at details of how much to raise later in the lesson)
So, again we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that we are not allowed to play an already RAISED pot in Mid Position with a group D hand. So we fold this hand.
So, we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Late Position. You will see that we are allowed to Call a Multi-way pot with a group H hand (multiple players playing the hand). As two people have already called and the blinds will likely also call we can call the big blind and play the hand. So we would call the big blind on this hand.
The only acceptable situation in which to limp is when at least one other player has already limped. This is called over-limping, and it can be a good play because you are getting great pot odds to join the action so you can hit something good on the flop, hopefully.
If you want to truly crush poker, you need to bluff effectively. But bluffing ineffectively is one of the fastest ways to lose your money at the table. So, how do you keep your bluffing frequency under control?
The most effective way to bluff is to let the cards you have dictate if you are going to bluff or not. This means bluffing with hands that have outs to improve to the best hand on a later street, such as straight draws, flush draws, or even just an overcard or two to the board.
This sounds very simple, but it is very hard to do in practice partly because of the way our brains are built. We are naturally curious and we naturally want to win. When we fold, we surrender our chance to win the pot and we don't get to satisfy our curiosity by finding out what our opponent has.
Calling too often and in the wrong situations is the second fastest way to lose at poker (after ineffective bluffs). Whenever you're unsure whether to call or fold versus a bet or raise, do yourself a service and fold.
Pro Tip: When you fold in one of these situations, make sure you note down the details of the hand so you can try to figure out if you made the right fold after your session. Studying and/or discussing these sorts of hands is a great way to consistently improve your skills and fill in the gaps of your poker knowledge.
When your opponent shows a lot of weakness in a heads-up pot (like if they check on the flop and the turn), you can take advantage of them with an aggressive bluffing strategy. Not only should you bet with your usual semi-bluffs, you should also bet as a pure bluff with some nothing hands, ideally ones with good blocker effects.
If you find yourself short-stacked and near the money bubble or a pay jump, only then should you start using a more survival-oriented playing style. You can learn more about this key part of tournament strategy here.
Poker should be a fun experience, regardless if you are playing as a hobby or if you are a professional player. You're going to perform best when you are happy, so it makes sense that you should only play this mentally intensive game when you feel that way.
If you feel frustration, fatigue, or anger building up, you should just quit the session right then and there. You are very likely saving yourself a bunch of money by doing so. Poker will still be there tomorrow.
Pro Tip: Before I play a session, I imagine going all-in and losing my full stack on the very first hand. If the thought of that possibility doesn't bother me, I know I'm ready to play my A-game for a long session. But if going all-in and losing one of my buy-ins on the first hand sounds unbearable, I reconsider playing.
Think about it like this: If you are the 9th best poker player in the world, you will be the best player at almost any table. But if you join a table with those 8 players that are better than you, you become the sucker.
Bottom line is that you generally need to be better than half the players at the table if you want to have a positive win-rate. And if you want to make a sick-good profit, you want to play against the worst players you can find.
If you're in a game with 2+ of these boxes checked, you're in a great position to make money. If none of these boxes are checked, get up and find a more profitable table (unless you feel like putting your poker strategy to a test).
If you play online poker, make sure you take advantage of the table statistics provided by most poker sites. Choose an online poker table with a high average pot size and a high percentage of players seeing a flop. This is a key online poker strategy new players who are still learning poker rules usually miss.
If you want to keep improving your poker skills, check out our recently updated library of poker strategy articles and quizzes. If you're a podcast listener, check out the Upswing Poker Level-Up podcast on your platform of choice.
Here is the original version of this "quick poker tips" article, which was a bit more advanced (originally published July 6th, 2018). You will notice some overlap between these tips and the ones in the updated version.
Developing a solid preflop game is by far the easiest and fastest way to improve your game. However, while developing solid preflop ranges is relatively easy to do having the discipline to stick to them is difficult.
Every professional poker player has a friend who won big money in a large tournament, then proceeded to blow their winnings in cash games or by registering tournaments at stakes way higher than their usual.
Medium-strength hands should usually be played passively, since they are rarely the winning hand in big pots. The exception is when they should be played a bit more aggressively to deny equity.
These types of hands tend to play better as bluff-catchers, as they protect the weaker hands in your range--like ace high or weak pairs. This is very helpful because your opponents will not be able to easily bluff you once you check.
But it's very important you set aside time to study. Reading poker articles, playing around with poker tools, and talking over hands with friends are a few of the many ways you can improve your game away from the table.
Applications shows that in order to bet with a balanced range (a range composed of the optimal number of value bets and bluffs) on the river, we need to bluff less on each progressive street. This is because our bluffs will have more equity on earlier streets, as well as the opportunity to bluff again on a later street.
Bet sizing aside, the choices themselves are not many: you only need to choose between checking, calling, betting, raising, or folding. But figuring out which one of these actions wins the most is seldom obvious.
This is why you should always avoid rushing when making a decision. An extra moment's thought could provide the crucial insight needed to make the right choice, and it'll help you keep emotions out of your decision making. Do this and you'll win more, and learn more while playing.
That said, it's important to avoid all unnecessary tanking. You should never, for example, take 15 seconds to fold your 9s5c preflop from under the gun. Not only will it piss off your fellow players, you will actually hurt your own win-rate by reducing the number of hands played per hour.
The problem with going it alone is that you're more prone to biases. With another 2 or 3 or 4 different poker minds around you, you can more easily find what's right about your thought processes and thus eliminate most of the bias.
But in order to get paid with them preflop, you also need to add in an appropriate amount of bluffs. Sure, 3-betting only premium hands will work at first, but your opponents will soon catch on and start folding. Bluffs add depth to your preflop strategy, and help you to build more balanced range.
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