Three-bet (3-bet)

A three-bet is the second raise in a betting round — a re-raise. The name confuses almost everyone at first, because the count includes the opening bet, not just the raises.

Three-bets are made for value with premium hands and as bluffs with hands that have good blockers and playability, such as A-5 suited. The mix depends on position: from the blinds a 'polarised' 3-bet range is common, in position a more 'linear' one. Sizing is usually about three times the open in position and closer to four times out of position.

Why it is called a three-bet

Betting actions are counted cumulatively from the first wager in the round. Pre-flop, the big blind is the first bet, so the first raise is the second bet — a two-bet, though nobody calls it that — and the re-raise over the top of it is the third: the three-bet. A raise over that is a four-bet, then a five-bet, and so on.

Post-flop the same count restarts. The first bet made on the flop is the one-bet, a raise is the two-bet, and the re-raise is the three-bet. This is why the same word describes what looks like a different number of raises depending on the street — the open counts pre-flop because the blind is a forced bet, and there is no forced bet after the flop.

The two reasons to three-bet

A three-bet is either for value or as a semi-bluff, and the distinction governs everything about how to construct the range.

A value three-bet is made with a hand that wants more money in the pot against the hands that will call: the premium pairs and strong broadways. A light or bluff three-bet is made with a hand that benefits most when the opener folds, and which retains playability when called — suited connectors and suited aces are the usual choices, because when they do see a flop they make hands that can win a large pot.

A range made only of premiums is trivially readable: an observant opponent simply folds everything that cannot beat them. Mixing in hands that play well post-flop is what keeps the value hands paid.

Position changes everything

The same hand is a clear three-bet in one seat and a clear call in another. Three-betting in position gives the raiser the last word on every subsequent street; three-betting out of position means playing a large pot without that advantage, and it bloats the pot in exactly the spot where it is hardest to realise equity. The blinds in particular face this constantly: a hand strong enough to continue against an opener is not automatically strong enough to re-raise from out of position.

Sizing

Pre-flop three-bets are usually sized as a multiple of the original raise, larger when out of position than in, because the out-of-position raiser needs to charge more to compensate for the positional disadvantage and wants to see fewer flops. The precise multiples differ by game, stack depth and how the table is playing; what matters is that the sizing is consistent across the whole three-betting range, so it reveals nothing about which part of it is being held.

Facing one

Against a three-bet, the opener chooses between folding, calling and four-betting. The honest question is what the three-bettor's range looks like: against a player who only ever re-raises premiums, folding most hands is correct. Against one who re-raises frequently, calling with a wider range and four-betting as a bluff both become profitable.