Playing 3-bet OOP (SB) vs Loose Defender 100BB

In a previous article, we looked at flop c-bet strategies vs a loose defender when you're in position at 100BB. In this article, we'll look at a similar situation where you're out-of-position.

Once again, we used 49 representative flops picked by PioSolver.

The idea in this spot is someone in middle position raises to around $60, you make a big 3-bet to $300, and get called, making a pot of around $600. On the flop we can check, bet 25% pot, 75% pot, or overbet.

In this case, we're assuming our opponent calls the c-bet a bit too wide, as many live players are prone to do. This should also give us some of idea of how to play several squeeze spots where someone who limped gets too curious to take a flop with a weaker range.

Piosolver settings

Here is the simulation settings.

The ranges

Our out-of-position range is a 9% strong linear 3-bet. This is a typical small blind 3bet vs a middle position opener but is also a reasonable approximation of a typical squeeze range against a bunch of limpers or overcallers.

Our in-position range is a wide calling range, including a mix of sometimes calling with offsuit broadways and pure calling all small pairs and suited connectors.

The results

Take a look at the following table to see the solved frequencies for the 75% pot, 25% pot , and checking.

The 150% pot sized bet is almost never used except on two of the boards. Ks Qs 2d overbets 19% of the time and Kc Td 8s and Ks Ts 9d overbet around 10% of the time. None of these boards suffer much from removing the overbet option, so we can simplify our strategy. Those rows won't add up to 100% since the overbet column is removed.

It'd be interesting to see how much EV is lost by simplifying certain boards to a single bet size. Let me know if you'd be interested in a post on that topic.

Note you can click on a column header to sort by that column

Flop Cards	OOP Equity	IP Equity	Bet 375 Freq	Bet 375 EV	Bet 125 Freq	Bet 125 EV	Check Freq	Check EV
9s 3s 2d	62.37	37.63	99.99	356.6	0.01	295.68	0	271.03
9s 6s 2d	60.96	39.04	100	347.54	0	217.29	0	136.13
Ks Qs 2d	66.59	33.41	72	391.8	8.61	350.8	0	241.18
7c 3d 2s	63.05	36.95	82.98	366.68	17.02	327.06	0	177.81
Ac 4d 2s	67.97	32.03	0	nan	99.99	339.35	0.01	284.18
Qc 4d 2s	59.93	40.07	27.14	347.97	72.86	313.93	0	472.55
Tc 5d 2s	62.72	37.28	99.98	384.88	0.01	418.56	0	nan
Ad 5s 2s	67.02	32.98	0	nan	91.67	333.82	0	302.73
Js 8d 2s	57.67	42.33	74.28	326.51	24.67	295.48	1.05	183.92
Ks 6s 3d	67.21	32.79	45.43	391.72	54.57	363.25	0	288.54
9s 8s 3d	58.3	41.7	99.95	319.93	0	150.8	0.05	98.44
As Ks 3d	69.8	30.2	58.52	417.05	41.48	359.06	0	178.67
3s 3d 2c	65.58	34.42	86.87	406.77	13.13	365.72	0	464.6
6s 4s 3s	59.51	40.49	0	187.04	100	295.06	0	83.3
9d 5s 3s	61.58	38.42	100	343.86	0	229.33	0	139.81
Qc 7d 3s	58.7	41.3	38.38	330.12	61.62	302.11	0	744.49
Qs 8s 3s	56.82	43.18	7.42	327.6	92.57	293.72	0.01	206.52
Ac 9d 3s	67.53	32.47	0	nan	100	351.25	0	275.98
5s 4s 4d	64.09	35.91	98.05	369.73	1.95	324.71	0	197.36
Jc 5d 4s	59.98	40.02	79.5	338.73	20.49	320.81	0.01	110.2
Tc 6d 4s	60.12	39.88	100	366.49	0	349.7	0	259.94
8d 7s 4s	57.47	42.52	69.07	292.58	30.92	249.34	0.01	282.75
Kc 8d 4s	66.99	33.01	27.29	399.49	69.94	378.27	0	nan
Kd Js 4s	67.03	32.97	83.24	394.37	15.83	364.38	0.02	335.22
As Qs 5d	67.45	32.55	62.7	376.32	37.3	361.32	0	295.72
8c 6d 5s	58.48	41.52	61.98	304.25	38.02	270.38	0	150.29
Tc 7d 5s	60.73	39.27	100	369.01	0	330.88	0	207.98
9s 7s 5s	58.31	41.69	48.74	297.15	51.26	294.17	0	512.18
As Js 6d	67.98	32.02	44.54	376.01	55.46	359.21	0	nan
As 6s 6d	68.63	31.37	0	nan	100	353.02	0	nan
Qc 7d 6s	56.78	43.22	39.17	311	49.26	280.97	11.57	215.45
Tc 7d 6s	57.15	42.85	99.71	304.78	0.02	219.87	0.27	183.6
7s 7d 6s	62.5	37.5	100	348.4	0	281.97	0	289.43
Kc 9d 7s	66.09	33.91	63.82	379.24	36.17	357.2	0	188.19
As Jd 7s	66.86	33.14	45.7	367.89	54.3	348	0	363.96
Js 8s 8d	59.3	40.71	58.71	324.23	41.29	317.75	0.01	107.4
Qc 9d 8s	53.42	46.58	0	250.88	61.17	265.72	38.83	184.63
As Td 8s	66.36	33.64	46.83	368.23	53.17	340.48	0	295.99
Kc Td 8s	66.77	33.23	88.7	399.01	0	392.79	0	255.12
Qs Ts 8s	57.28	42.72	6.7	315.24	92.62	293.87	0.68	158.46
Ks Ts 9d	64.52	35.48	18.14	341.09	81.79	321.97	0	192.73
Qc Td 9s	59.45	40.55	0	nan	100	304.05	0	nan
As Ad 7s	70.29	29.71	0	nan	97.04	358.49	2.96	339.42
Js Jd 9s	59.1	40.9	19.66	280.69	80.33	277.51	0.01	179.2
Ks Kd 7s	68.78	31.22	0	nan	100	377.82	0	291.43
Qs Qd Jc	61.79	38.21	0.04	308.36	99.96	315.64	0	229.53
Qc Jd Ts	71.63	28.37	99.22	432.19	0.77	411.69	0	328.6
Ad Js Ts	70.38	29.62	5.24	367.4	94.76	357	0	227.36
Ks Ts Td	67.96	32.04	0	316.22	100	369.36	0	286.86
	62.57	37.43	54.87	355.1	43.4	325.33	0.98	200.72

Bet sizings

Takeaways

We very rarely check. Since our preflop range is so much stronger than our opponents, we continue to most flops with a c-bet, often using the 75% sizing

The only board we very frequently check is Q98r . Our opponent has JT and we never do, so is uncapped on this board while the best hand we can have is top set.

When 3-betting in-position, the small bet sizing was usually preferred over the big bet sizing. When out-of-position, plenty of boards want to strictly use the big sizing.

When To Bet Big

If we sort the above table by "Bet 375 Freq", we should see some clear patterns emerge. The big bet sizing is strictly used on very dynamic boards such as 962ss, T64r, and 776ss. These are all boards where our opponent has a lot of straight and flush draws, but not too many made hands.

The one glaring exception is QJTr, which is a board where we have the nuts (AK) but our opponent never does, and our opponent has lots of strong hands to call us with. But on average, we see more big bets on boards with low cards than high cards.

Remember, even though our opponent has more low cards than us, he still has a lot of overcards on these 8 and 9 high boards as well, meaning that they are very dynamic and our own high card hands benefit from folds. We still have range advantage holding more overpairs, so the big bets leverage that to deny equity on these dynamic boards.

When To Bet Small

Sorting again by "Bet 125 Freq", we see a few different patterns emerge. Ace high boards are a classic spot to bet small, as our top pair needs little protection, and we have a major equity advantage.

The other boards with frequent small betting our boards where our opponent has potentially already made a nutted hand, such as monotone boards. Once again, we also need to tread carefully on boards where a J, T, or 9 has a strong trips or a straight draw such as KTTss, as these are boards where our opponent's loose call gives them more offsuit boardways containing these cards. These boards will be bet small to push range advantage but tread carefully against made nuts.

Conclusion

With our strong range advantage, we rarely check flop.
Unlike in-position where a small bet was often the best size, out-of-position will vary more by board texture
Bet big on dynamic boards where our opponent has many draws to strong hands but not many made hands
While small cards may seem bad for our high-card heavy range, these are often the dynamic boards we bet biggest on - our opponent has lot of overcards too
We bet small often on A high boards where we need little protection and our opponent can't call as much
We bet small when our opponent may have already made a nutted hand, such as on monotone boards

Adjusting to 50BB and 200BB

You can read how the strategy changes at 200B in this post and 50BB in this post (50BB changes are quite significant). Both of these articles require a pro membership, which will support the site and ensure more content is created and improvements to the trainer are made.

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