bobbyi
05-11-2005, 08:55 PM
Overall, I thought this article was excellent. However, I have a small nitpick with this claim:
[ QUOTE ]
Conventional wisdom is to 3-bet, and automatically bet the flop. I suggest that the correctness of this depends on your opponent. If your opponent is unpredictable, this is the right play.
But if you call, then check the flop, there are many people who will automatically bet, no matter what they have, and no matter what flopped. Against one of these players, it is superior to flat call the preflop raise. When the flop arrives, you check to your opponent, who will dutifully bet. You now raise.
This puts just as much money in the pot as the conventional play. So why is it better?
[/ QUOTE ]
It is not true that on average both plays put in the same amount of money. There is an assumption being made here that is not stated. William is assuming that the raiser will never four-bet if we three-bet preflop. However, especially in a blind steal scenario, this assumption is not always true, so we do get more money in on average by reraising with the intention of leading the flop. Of course, in the particular case that the raiser just calls our three-bet, then it is true that we get in the same amount, but that is the worst case.
[ QUOTE ]
Conventional wisdom is to 3-bet, and automatically bet the flop. I suggest that the correctness of this depends on your opponent. If your opponent is unpredictable, this is the right play.
But if you call, then check the flop, there are many people who will automatically bet, no matter what they have, and no matter what flopped. Against one of these players, it is superior to flat call the preflop raise. When the flop arrives, you check to your opponent, who will dutifully bet. You now raise.
This puts just as much money in the pot as the conventional play. So why is it better?
[/ QUOTE ]
It is not true that on average both plays put in the same amount of money. There is an assumption being made here that is not stated. William is assuming that the raiser will never four-bet if we three-bet preflop. However, especially in a blind steal scenario, this assumption is not always true, so we do get more money in on average by reraising with the intention of leading the flop. Of course, in the particular case that the raiser just calls our three-bet, then it is true that we get in the same amount, but that is the worst case.