different 3 bet sizes

[will641]

so when raising otb, i have seen all sorts of 3 bet sizes, even from regs, ranging from 3x-5x. so my question is, do the people who bet 4x + just not really want to play post flop in a 3 bet pot, or are they 3 betting a much tighter range, or what?

[Alexos]

I think 3.5-4x is the standard of most competent players? Playing OOP does suck, and you wanna make sure you're not inducing players to outplay you postflop by betting something smallish like 3x. That said, there are plenty of regs that I would 3bet to 3x just because i know they fold to 3bets a lot.

So yeah ppl bet 4x to avoid playing OOP postflop, which is fine imo.

[Robb]

Think about pot odds and implied odds. MP raises 3.5xBB, so there's 5 BB in the pot. If we raise otb 3x, we're putting in 10.5xBB. He needs 10.5 to call, and total pot is 15.5, so he's getting 3:2 pot odds. He's got to call if he's a 60-40 dog, or better. And the odds are pretty decent for a third player to get involved (say, from the blinds) if we're not careful.

So 3x is the minimum we need to 3bet to deny great pot odds to players left to act. Betting more doesn't swing the pot odds much. So, yeah, we 3bet bigger than 3x for these reasons:

1. Discourage players left to act with poor pot odds.
2. Discourage original raiser when we're oop.
3. Build a pot when we're pretty sure to get called.

#1 is more when we have position. There are certain reads on players left to act that force us to 3bet bigger. Loose passive stations will often join in big pots, for example. There may other factors, but that's what occurs to me right now.