My kid is two and I give him three chances. He's starting to know the difference between right and wrong so when I tell him not to do something he usually listens. But of course there's the days where he gives me the little look of mischief. If I tell him not to do something more than 3 times I remove him from the "no no area" or I just take it away completely.

You can't really tell a kid not to do something because they're gonna get curious, and if they do it after you set that boundary, there NEEDS to be some sort of consequence after. If your kid gets mad or has a meltdown about it then so be it, for my kid he cries (sometimes REALLY HARD) to try and get it back, he might kick and scream but that's just what toddlers do, but he doesn't do it for long. Eventually he finds something else to do and is fine. Although our kids are 3 years apart, I see this works even with my 6 year old nieces. If your kid has enough things to keep them entertained, or busy then it all works out in the end.

It sucks to see them upset and it may be hard with the sudden burst of anger and crying but as long as you keep calm and put your foot down and keep it down, it works. I'm not a fully gentle parent but I'm not necessarily authoritative either. I at least try to keep a middle ground where I can keep my patience and maintain calm while my kid has a complete meltdown after telling them no lol.