Cardrunners - 3betting with shallow stack depth in MTTs by Matthew Janda

Cardrunners - 3betting with shallow stack depth in MTTs by Matthew Janda (35bb and lower)



As stack sizes get smaller, how should the big blind calling range change?
- It should get wider. It is easier to realize your equity as you can't face large bets. 

Should we emphasize robust or non-robust equity when calling an open in the BB?
- Non-robust. We can't win enough money with straights and flushes to play robust hands with shallow stacks.

Small 3bets with very shallow stack depth don't make sense.
- we're usually dealing with wide ranges (eg. CO vs BB), and every hand has a lot of equity prflop.
- we don't deny equity well with small 3bets and our opponent can jam over our 3bet and we almost always have to call. So we might as well jam instead.

You're better off not giving villain an option to shove over your 3bet when you're shallow, you might as well shove because you're going to have to call his shove most of the time anyway. If you're ever 3betting so much of your stack that you always have to call to a jam, you might as well shove instead.

• You don't want to give him the option to call because of the amazing odds you're giving him.

So how big do stacks need to be before we stop just jamming when we 3bet? (How deep do we need to be to make small 3bets instead of jamming)
- around 20bb. However tournament pros go lower than that even.

For example, for 18bb:
If we 3bet to 5bb and we get jammed on, it'll be 13bb to win 23.5bb (18+5+0.5), we'll only need 35% equity, which is very easy to have.

Basically with 18bb, once you 3bet you can't really fold as you'll only need 35% equity to call profitably.

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Example: 

We have 25bb effective and the button min-raises. What 3bet sizing should we use in the BB?
- All the options seem bad. A small 3bet sizing gives the button a good price and still forces us to call often against his jam. He'll have position and good odds to call. If we 3bet to 5bb, we'll be risking 20bb to win 30.5bb on the opponent's jam and we'll need 39.6% equity to call.

However, 3betting all in seems a bit excessive as we're risking 24bb to win 3.5bb.

- Maybe we should based this decision on our hand.

We should 3bet small with hands that are fine with having the 3bet called - KK and such. With KK we don't want the opponent to fold and we just don't want him to flop an ace. (we're not afraid of letting him see a flop)

Also maybe we should 3bet small with hands that are OK with folding to the jam. Eg. KJo. However even KJo is a really good hand vs a btn open.

So hands that we 3bet big should be hands that hate having the 3bet called and hate facing a 4bet. Eg. don't 3bet small with AXs, AQ, 55, etc. because if villain jams, we still have to call - so why give him the option? Why would we be 3betting small to begin with?



Don't 3bet small with hands that aren't going to fold to a jam. If you're going to 3bet small and call a jam, you might as well just jam. 

We should 3bet small with hands that can see a flop, ie. KK. With KK, we don't want villain to fold preflop. And hands that we can fold to a jam - eg. KJo.

(ended 14:00)