Heads-Up on Flop, 3 Bet pre-flop, OOP

Imagine the following pre-flop action:

Hero raises, Villian 3-bets, Hero calls.


According to the advanced pre-flop strategy we have a hand with less than 50% equity against Villain.

Depending on the blinds, the pot is 6-7.5 SB.

The action on the flop is almost always so:

Flop
Hero checks, Villian bets, Hero ???


Now we don't really have a strong hand. We often have 2 overcards, often a small pocket pair on an ugly board. If we have Q J and the board is T 7 3 , we will call a bet on the flop because of the pot size. The fact that we should call with weak hands on the flop is dependent on the pot was 3-bet pre-flop.

This often leads to the following correct flop line:

Flop
Hero checks, Villian bets, Hero calls


In consequence, on the turn the following occurs:

Turn
Hero checks, Villian bets, Hero folds


Since on the turn our odds with a weak hand are clearly worse.

So far so good. Now we come to the interesting part of the article:

Since we must play check/call flop, check/fold turn unimproved with many many weak hands, we can play some very good semi-bluf draws with strong hands by playing check/call flop, check/raise turn.

This is good for two reasons:
i) We balance the check/call flop, check turn line
ii) Since the opposition bets more often because of the pot size than in a raised pot, this line works very often with strong hands.

This means that with heads-up hands OOP that were 3-bet pre-flop, we soften the rule c/r flop with good hands and strong draws and instead play c/c flop, c/r turn.


A few examples:

Case 1:

Party Poker 100.00/200.00 Hold'em

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q ,J .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , 4 , 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 7 (2 players)
BB bets, Hero folds.

Commentary: The most common case, here take note: make no moves!


Case 2:

Party Poker 100.00/200.00 Hold'em

Preflop: Hero is SB with J ,T .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , 4 , 6 (2 players)
Hero checks,BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks,BB bets, Hero raises.

Commentary: as discussed in the article, c/c flop, c/r turn with strong hands

Case 3:
Party Poker 100.00/200.00 Hold'em

Preflop: Hero is SB with J ,T .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , 4 , 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Commentary: of course, there is not auto check-raise on the turn


Case 4:

Party Poker 100.00/200.00 Hold'em

Preflop: Hero is SB with A ,2 .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , A , 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Commentary: Wa/Wb bluff induction


Case 5

Party Poker 100.00/200.00 Hold'em

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6 ,7 .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , Q , 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero raises.

Commentary: c/r bluff on the turn with strong draws



Variations

Case 6:

Party Poker 100.00/200.00 Hold'em

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4 ,4 .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , 4 , 6 (2 players)
Hero checks,BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets.

Commentary: Value play with monsters

Case 6:

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q ,J .
Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) T , 4 , 6 (2 players)
Hero checks,BB bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.25 BB) A (2 players)
Hero bets.

Commentary: donkbet bluff with the scarecard vs. WSD < 35, TAGs only! Why not c/r bluff? 1. too expensive 2. Such a TAG as we could bluff out will often check-behind