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it's important to 3 bet and seize the initiative.

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This is such a common belief, that I'd like to discuss it further. Why, exactly, do you have to 3-bet to seize the initiative? Is there some rule that you can't bet the flop unless you 3-bet preflop?

I think people get in this mode where they either have the lead, in which case they bet the next round, or they don't have the lead, in which case they check. This causes all kinds of weird suggestions like the idea that you must 3-bet because otherwise you are forced to check-fold an ace high flop. Huh? Why don't you just bet the flop??

-Eric

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I'm neither a high-stakes player nor a limit player, but (in addition to the fact that we're often ahead) don't we 3-bet preflop here to 1) get more action on our premium hands and 2) to make sure premium hands are in our range on this specific hand.

The reason calling preflop and donking a flop isn't as successful, IMHO, is because when we 3-bet preflop, bet the flop, our opponent has to include preflop monsters in our range, which are very likely to have our opponent wrecked on most flops.