I have immediate position on villian. He's a white fat mid twenties preppy boy of the kind you'd see from the frat house game that Worm and Mike McDermott crashed in Rounders. He's pretty loose and tilting the table - he's drinking pretty heavily as well. He's not quite a maniac but VERY laggy. He's been straddling and talking a lot of ****. Every time he folded he'd say "I folded AA/KK/SET" with a lisp ... I bet Ferris Bueller is his hero.

My rule for 3b isoing is if I think I'm ahead then I 3b. But these spots left me a little dubious of isoing so I thought I'd ask your opinion. Even if hes opening 40-75% are these spots too loose or thin for 3! isoing? Yes or no?

1) Villian opens utg - I have 55 ... 44?

2) villian opens hj - I have A6o

3) villian isos a single lp utg fish - villian otb - I have A6s in sb.

[BBB]Give the villain a range and run some stoves[/BBB]

Also remember that if you iso a lot, other players will catch on, and so you need to not only be ahead of villain's range (by a fair margin, tbh), but also to have a good enough hand to withstand the re-iso 4! that a thinking player will put in behind you. This issue clearly depends on who is behind you, and your position.

Also, even if they are not thinking much, everyone will come in with good hands, so being in early-mid position makes the iso a lot less appealing.

Summary: you still need decent hands, preferably in late position, even though villain is a nutjob.

In general, I don't like the iso 3! with very small PP, since you're 50/50 with villain a lot (not really ahead), and are dominated when you get 4! by a bigger PP.

So spot 1 kind of sucks, especially since it is EP.

Spot 2 is better if the button and blinds are tight enough that you expect them to fold most of the time. That way you are ahead of all non-A hands in villain's range, and probably get to be last to act in a HU pot. But A6 is still not that good, and I would be pretty content to lay it down in most games I play in.

Spot 3 is possibly the best one with respect to villain, except the limper is probably calling, so you are looking at a 3-way 3-bet pot with A6 in the worst position. I again consider folding, or, in a 2-chip/3-chip blind game, calling.

Hey Alan. I did when I said "40%(EP)-70%+(LP)" ... that said its a no brainier ISO 3b right even though 55 and A6o is just barely ahead? That's what Im asking essentially ... thanks.

Also wanted to add that I'm the tightest Guy at the table.and I think they respect my raises and play straight forward against.me.

What huck said.

yeah this totally depends on how the blinds/players behind you will play. as a default:

(1) i'd just fold, it's way too easy for someone to wake up with a hand behind you and you're going to be in some ****ty spots post if he 4bets.
(2) totally depends on the makeup of the blinds/players behind. if button is generally tight-ish i think 3betting is fine. the overlay from the blinds, position, and some showdown value UI are enough to bump this to a 3bet if this guy is truly maniacal.
(3) i'd call almost always here, playing A6s 3/4 ways for 2 bets and great relative position is way better than playing 2-4 ways for 3 bets and having initiative on a bunch of ****ty board textures.

Fold/fold/3bet

This is a pretty good basic rule for Btn vs CO type situations, but you have to tighten up the more players you have behind you left to act. For example, I think its a mistake iso a hand like A9o in EP even if villain is opening like 80% of hands from that position.

In your first example, I probably don't even open 55 in EP if its folded to me, so I don't really like iso-ing with it. Yes, you have more fold equity, but you still have to respect the chance someone behind you wakes up with a hand and 55 doesn't play well 3-way for 4-bets preflop.