Poker training sites are a great way of following the trends in modern day poker.
The top players in the business, those that devote their lives to the art form, can recite the evolution of the game from beginning to the modern day. One of the ever-changing faces of the game involves light raising.
When poker-training sites first started to teach people about the importance of developing reads based on hand ranges, a light went on inside many heads. Smart players and smart coaches alike started to understand that the closer you were to the button, the more likely you were to be holding garbage.
This is when light three-betting from the blinds was introduced. Theory dictated that, although it was a good move to call with medium to strong hands so you could play post flop against your opponent’s wide range, you still had the problem of playing the pot out of position.
By three-betting light, you could get your opponent to fold his trash, and thus take down the pot pre flop. So, three-betting from the blinds increased, and the training sites went back to work.
If players were three betting light from the blinds, then a great counter would be to four-bet light from position.
This increased intensity between players results in leveling wars, where hyper-aggressive players start to three and four bet with impunity. In the modern game, if you get involved in these types of situations, you really need to incorporate a light five-bet range into your range.
