Strategy with Kristy Podcast: Blair Hinkle Discusses Calling Three-Bets Out of Position

Kristy Arnett Editor

Sep 10, 2012 Last updated Apr 05, 2013

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Blair Hinkle first made headlines when he won a $2,000 no-limit hold'em event at the 2008 World Series of Poker just two weeks after his older brother, Grant Hinkle, won gold in a $1,500 no-limit hold'em event. He continued cashing in major tournaments live and online, and in February 2011, he won more than $1.16 million in the Full Tilt Online Poker Series Main Event, after a three-way chop. He has since been anxiously awaiting his hefty payout but continues playing in tournaments in the U.S.

Blair comes on the Strategy with Kristy Podcast and discusses a particularly troublesome situation that occurs in tournaments — calling three-bets out of position. Here is a snippet from the interview:

There are a lot of things that go into it, but for the most part, when I'm going to be flatting a three-bet out of position (rather than four-betting and trying to take the aggressor out of their zone), I usually like to have a stronger hand such as ace-queen or ace-jack suited, or a hand that dominates my opponents hands a lot of them time like king-queen. Sometimes I'll even flat with ace-king as a trap. If not those hands, I'd like to have a suited connector that flops really well.

Now this is usually against an aggressive player. I don't like to do it with hands that are going to get me into trouble like a king-ten or a king-nine or ten-seven suited. So, for the most part, I'm going to assume that the three-bettor is an aggressive player, so I want to have a hand that's going to dominate them a lot of the time when I flop a pair or a hand I can flop a big draw with and go all in.

Now, I'll call these hands out of position in early or mid stages of the tournament. Usually, post flop, I'll be looking to hit something, but on boards such as ace-rag-rag, I might put in a check raise to put some pressure on my opponent, if that makes sense.