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The three-bet is one of the most powerful moves in the game of poker.
It sends out a message - an aggressive message, and one that is important if you want to place your influence over the game.
However, when you start to learn how to three-bet, you come up against an interesting problem. How do you manage those medium-strong ranges of hands like AQ, AJs, 99-JJ?
These types of hands put you in a quandary; they are too strong to fold in three-bet pots, but too weak to play for stacks. With this in mind, let us take a closer look at that old favourite, ace-queen.
Imagine that you are in an aggressive game, and have been having a few battles with a competent player in the small blind. The action folds around to you on the button, and you make your standard raise.
The big blind three-bets (once again), and the big blind folds. You have ace-queen and that interesting dynamic emerges. You know that in the button versus big blind dynamic, and given your previous history, that ace-queen is too strong a hand to fold.
You also know that if you four-bet, he is never going to five-bet with worse, and your action will fold out all of the hands you beat.
With this in mind, your best play is to just call and shove over his c-bet on the majority of flops. You are looking for a nice dry board, so your range looks strong, and you can fold out ace-king.
If you get called, then you still have plenty of equity.
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