Thx for the good reply AKQJ10

What kind of hands will you raise from the BTN with in a 3-handed game? From the SB? Say both opponents are loose. I'm assuming you can loosen up a little more in 3-handed than folded to you on the BTN in a ring game since the good cards aren't distributed to the blinds as much?

I was in this situation in a live game, I was trying to stick with raising good high-only, good low hands, and a lot of iffy 2-way hands figuring that if I'm heads up I want maximum scooping potential even if both sides aren't that strong. I guess I'm really not sure how far to take this- I was raising any QQ+, any A2, most A3s, any 4 broadway hands, suited aces with something else going for them, hands like AK45, etc...it still seemed like I was folding an awful lot though.

specifically as the aggressor:
any suited ace
any 2 wheel cards with some suits
any 4 low cards
high hands, even bad ones
premium hands obv
even middle cards because there are no multiway pots and you need nothing near nuts to scoop

honestly you're better off asking what's the few hands you should not play

you should play very loose and aggressive and very sensitive to position

when you are the caller, you should play tighter than above (never calling with bad high hands or middle cards), and not give away any info about what hand you have pre.

How bad of high hands can we play? Like I said I was playing QQxx but I thought that something like JJ37 was too weak since our high and low hands are both so bad. I'm assuming any bbbx is playable?

Also, I'm assuming we have to tighten up folded to on the SB since we're OOP right

well i would just avoid 3 big 1 small as a rule, even HU, even KK or QQ, it's such a bad hand. and stuff like 2 pair like 9944 is just too bad. either you can make a low or your other two cards help your highest two somehow. and you want to avoid rainbow hands a lot.

but a pair and 2 cards up to 87 with your top card suited, probably worth it. obviously the lower the two cards the better. if you are not sure, look at the suits, and generally if the top card isn't suited, avoid. it does make a lot of difference.

what is key to understand is that when very shorthanded you are not playing based on the value of your hand, but on the value of your position and winning the pot without showdown, and also you are looking for features which can help you scoop or get half the pot if you face resistance.

you do not need premium hands to win or scoop, even for both high and low at the same time because a lot of the time the other guy won't even have as good a hand as your crappy hand, he won't even have two low cards in his hand and even when he does, sometimes he counterfeits, and even more, most of the time he cannot call to draw to a low with 2 low cards which are so terrible that he is not ever sure he has a good enough low.

as a caller he will need/SHOULD need features in his hand which help his hand for high as well if he has 2 bad low cards.

when you are playing at such great speed you are almost every hand abusing the gap concept, they need a better hand with which to call than with which to raise.

and if the other guy is calling very light all the time, you don't need to adjust starting hands, simply what you are value betting postflop, including taking free cards on draws you would bet against someone who folds too much, and value betting your made hands much wider, such as not even needing a low to bet high hands on low boards (see: guy who calls down with high only queens/kings on 5 low card board lol)

this is good stuff...I am just learning the game playing the smallest stakes and some ss SNGs...

how deep do you need to be to work this sort of strat effectively? in NLO8 are you thinking minraise? 3x? or would that depend on game conditions?

the games Im playing def would qualify as loose/passive too - very little raising or folding preflop.

also I understand that fr the btn you can widen your opening range as you will always have position. But what about when you're in the SB with a btn fold? raise the stronger hands (suited Aces, A-2, A-3, 3 wheel cards or 4highs) and complete the rest? atc? 3-bet calling range?

none of this applies to nl or pl, that's a whole different ball game