Hopefully this thread can spark some discussion.

Hero is on the Button, eff stacks are 100BB.

CO, a solid TAG with stats like 22/18/2.5 or 19/17/2.7 with an attempt to steal blinds 30% open raises to 4BB.

There is no history that suggests you need to start 3betting this villain light, nor any history of you having repeatedly 3bet them recently. Both blinds have high Folded to Steal % and will probably fold to the CO raise.

Which of the following hands would you 3bet, which would you flat-call, and which would you fold, and why?

a) JJ
b) 77
c) AJo
c) KQs
d) JTs
e) 87s

JJ: I 3bet 100% of the time.
77: Probably call in position 2/3, raise 1/3. Generally a read thing if I feel he's trying to steal.
AJo: might raise, definitely not folding
KQs: call
JTs: fold, this is probably my least favorite hand to play (QT or this)
87s: depends on my image at the table, probably call though.

a) JJ - 3 bet
b) 77 - call
c) AJo - fold
c) KQs - 3 bet
d) JTs - call
e) 87s - 3bet

c, d, and e can be switched up sometimes.

Thanks for the responses and keep them coming. I will give mine later, but I will say that I am more likely to call with JJ then 3bet since that goes against the trend so far. I will justify this later.

If the trend is to 3-bet JJ for value, then I'll stay with the trend. Not 3-betting JJ is SOOOOO bad especially in position.

Depends how they play postflop imo. I'm not folding any of them, JJ is always 3bet, 77 is close to always but that's about my cutoff for pairs depends on my image... the others all based on how often I think they call 3bet and how well they play OOP postflop. The worse I think they are the more I call, unless they always fold to 3bets. Also with like JTs or 87s if the blinds are really loose I'm pretty much never 3betting. I want to play raised pot OTB 4 way plz.

3 bet all of them

Would you care to elaborate, because I disagree and I still think I am right, and I would love to have someone change my mind.

a) JJ- 3-bet all day for value/get spr low
b) 77- just call for set value & to keep SPR high
c) AJo- 3-bet to get towards target SPR of 3 or 4
c) KQs- 3-bet for same reason
d) JTs-fold/call- i never 3-bet this one
e) 87s- call to keep SPR double digits

3 betting JJ in position is a must against MP and CO raisers. OOP flat calling is perfectly acceptable. All others can be flatted or 3b, but lean towards making it a 70/30 split raising and calling.

Only big difference for me and the crowd is I usually fold E...I call plenty pre flop (more than most here, i think), but i like to play 87s with someone more apt to stack off when i hit...this tag aint gonna do it. With him, if i play, i raise.
a. jj raise always
b 77 mix it up 50/50
c aj fold, easy
c kqs call I like to play this in position...and i float alot
d J10s call
e 87s fold or raise 85/15

I'm no LAG, and at 25/50 don't think there is a reason to be.

the 2 different c's messed me up.

JJ I 3bet almost everytime and the other hands I will generally call. If villain folds to a lot of 3bets like more than 67% I will 3bet all of these until I can get that % to drop. Calling OTB is much easier with the other hands as you can make your hand or bluff raise his c-bet a lot.

Sorry I messed up the alphabet. Apparently I am just learning it or something.

About JJ, I used to think it was an automatic 3bet, but then I watched a Stoxpoker video where Stox and Leatherass are discussing 3betting ranges, and Stox says (and Leatherass agrees): So I assume they understand poker better than I do, so I tried to understand why they don't 3bet JJ as a default.

The most likely situation when you're in the button and you 3bet a tag who opens from CO is that they will fold. I can't see a decent TAG calling more than about 25-30% of their CO open range, so that means, 70-75% of the time, we are only winning 5.5BB with our JJ (the 4BB raise plus the SB and BB).

I am sure I can average way more than 5.5BB a hand if I just flat call in position. JJ is way ahead of CO opening range, and we will be able win most pots by the turn without improving, picking up at least their cbet, which will be worth about as much extra value as we get when we 3bet PF and they call with a worse hand. Also, if we get 4bet by KK+ and AK, we have to fold, and we give up the chance to hit our set and stack CO, will happen often if we hit our set and they have KK+.

Obviously we will win some big reraised pots when we have JJ, but we also will often wind up being in a lot of tough positions in really large pots. I am happier playing JJ UI for 40BB than for my stack.

The question is whether we win more in the 30% of hands that villain calls with when we 3bet to make up for all the value we lose when villain folds to our 3bet. There can be a lot of value 3betting JJ, but I don’t think it is as clear-cut a decision as everyone else seems to think.

With the villain and table conditions described, I:

a) JJ - mostly call
b) 77 - mostly call
c) AJo - fold, call, 3bet, depending on stuff I'm not sure about, like my mood!
c) KQs - mostly call
d) JTs - mostly 3bet
e) 87s - mostly 3bet

There's a pattern there, 3betting the weaker hands. This is because against a solid TAG, I expect him to fold a lot of hands here, and have quite a tight call/4bet range. I don't particularly want to turn our best hands (which are good but not great hands: JJ, KQs) into semibluffs, but I love to use 87s and JTs as semibluffs. AJo is the trickiest to play imo.

If CO called looser, I would switch my actions, and am more comfortable about calling or 3betting with AJo.

Edit: Wrote this before seeing above post, I've pretty much said what he said.

I 3bet all of them until they show they are capable of 4betting light. Leak?