Your preflop aggression
3-bet and fold to 3-bet.
Full read: about 11 min
Opening a hand is the first raise. The real preflop arm-wrestle starts when someone raises over a raise. Two numbers measure that moment: your 3-bet (how often you raise over an open) and your fold to 3-bet (how often you fold your open when you get raised). These are the two stats where almost every micro-stakes player leaves money on the table, always in the same direction.
The two leaks almost the whole pool shares
When you look at micro-stakes players as a whole, two leaks come up together, every time.
The first: the pool under-3-bets. It raises too rarely over opens, often only around 4 to 7% of its hands, because it only waits for big pairs and AK. Everything else, it calls or folds.
The second: the pool over-folds to 3-bets. Its fold to 3-bet often runs around 68 to 72%, more than two opens out of three thrown away the moment it's raised.
These two leaks reinforce each other. When it finally 3-bets, it's almost always very strong, so readable. And since it over-folds, it hands you the pot before the flop far more often than it should. The winning player does the opposite on both fronts, and it's that double gap, measured number against number, that LeakLab shows you the moment you import your hands.
A 3-bet is done for a reason, never "because the hand is pretty"
There are only two good reasons to 3-bet. The first is value: you have a strong hand, you want to build a big pot right away while you're ahead, and you want to avoid a multiway flop where your pair of Aces gets run down. The second is the bluff: your hand isn't strong enough for value, but raising wins money because the other player folds too much, and a good bluffing hand keeps a blocker that helps.
The average micro-stakes player only has the first reason in mind. That's exactly why he under-3-bets, and that's where the bulk of your preflop edge lives: not in your value hands, which everyone plays the same, but in your ability to raise without the nuts too, at the right moment.
Your fold to 3-bet must never look like the pool's
If you fold 75 to 80% of your opens to a 3-bet, you get your opens stolen on a loop, and every slightly attentive opponent 3-bet bluffs you at will. A point many miss: your fold to 3-bet is computed only on the hands you opened, not on all your hands. You continue the top of your open range, you toss the bottom, and you defend more the more bluff-heavy the range that raises you is.
What's in the full course
The excerpt above lays out the principles. The full course, free, goes much further:
- The exact target ranges of the winning player for 3-bet and fold to 3-bet, and how they climb from NL2 to NL50.
- The interactive 13×13 grids for 3-bet (10 spots) and fold to 3-bet (15 spots), position by position and depending on who opened.
- The precise 3-bet sizes in position, out of position, and on squeezes.
- How to calibrate your fold to 3-bet depending on whether it's an early position, the button or a blind raising you.
- The profile-by-profile exploit plan (nit, calling station, maniac) for your 3-bet and fold-to-3-bet decisions.
- A concrete action callout at the end of every chapter.
The full course
Online reading, for logged-in members only.
Read the full course onlineFrequently asked questions
What's a good 3-bet percentage in micros?
The micro-stakes pool often runs around 4 to 7%, which is too low: a sign of overly passive play. The winning player raises noticeably more, and his target rises with the level (around 6 to 8% in low micros, up to 11 to 13% approaching NL50). The full course gives the exact brackets by stake.
Why do I get 3-bet all the time?
Because your fold to 3-bet is probably too high. If you fold more than 70% of your opens to a 3-bet, attentive opponents spot it and bluff-raise you risk-free. The fix isn't to open less, it's to better choose what you continue with against a 3-bet.
Should you 3-bet bluff in micros?
Yes, but with method. Since the pool over-folds to 3-bets, part of your raises without value are profitable. You pick hands with a blocker (an Ace or King that reduces the opponent's strong combos), not random trash, and you stay value-heavy.
What exactly is fold to 3-bet?
It's the percentage of your opens you fold when an opponent raises over them. It's computed only on the hands you opened. Too high and you get your opens stolen; too low and you continue with hands that are too weak.