Lesson
Why Loose Opens Bleed Money: Building 3-Bet Ranges Off Stats
Exploiting Recreational Players · advanced · 11 min
Tyler explains how to attack a very loose, erratic opener by building wider three-bet ranges and using smaller sizing at awkward stack depths. The lesson focuses on deducing position and range from stats, distinguishing a true top-percent range from a random-frequency range, and understanding why wide opens become costly when opponents three-bet more often.
Key takeaways
- A preflop raise around 37% should immediately suggest a button-type opening frequency, so compare it to position-specific raise-first-in stats before assigning a range.
- Against loose players at awkward stack depths like 30-40 big blinds, use smaller three-bet sizing to preserve postflop SPR and reduce the cost when facing a cold four-bet.
- Do not treat an erratic player's raising stat as the top of a range chart — Tyler's exercise models a 15% THREE-BET frequency as random weight across all combos, which is why value hands like pocket fours become raises against it.
- When a player opens too many hands and must fold often to three-bets, each loose open can cost them close to a big blind on average.
- After three-betting small pairs against a loose caller, play the board texture postflop; if the hand checks down to the river, bluff many textures because this player type tends to overfold in that node.