V in this hand is a late 20s white male who has amassed a very healthy stack due to running hot it seems. IMO a bit call-happy preflop, has shown down some trashy calls of opens with A9o etc. Seems reasonably competent other than this though.

Blinds are $1/$3 (lowest stakes at my casino). Hero starts the hand with about $250. V covers.

V raises CO to $16. Folds to hero in the BB who has A5 and 3-bets to $46. V calls.

Flop: 653 ($93)
Hero checks, V bets $35, hero calls.

Turn: 7 ($163)
Hero checks, V bets $100, hero has around $170 behind.

Hero? Also - do we like the 3b pre? I was thinking that the open size was a bit large to just flat and play OOP (does this make sense?), and that I'd rather take the initiative and this hand seems like quite a good candidate to 3b light. Looking back maybe 100-150bb stacks would be better for this play.

Thoughts on a flop Cbet? I don't think I should really have many bets here.

I don't like the 3bet pre if he's call happy. I would rather he folds often to 3bets pre. I would just fold.

I don't know why you check/called the flop, you took the initiative pre, then handed it over to him post with little equity.

Fold the turn

if V has a bet sizing tell preflop (which you're hinting he does) and bigger open = stronger hand then it's exactly when you shouldn't be 3betting as a steal. In addition, as PlayBig2000 says: fact V likes to call preflop counts against 3betting too. Specifically it counts against a polarised three betting range which is what A5s is a part of. Against a player who calks a lot of raises preflop you 3bet a linear range. Only if opener folds a lot pre Vs 3bets and/or plays fit/fold on the flop after calling 3bets would you consider using a polarised 3bet range.

When people make these insane open sizes (5.3x) I think it is best to overfold and 3bet strong/linear value hands.

A5s is at the cusp but I prefer to have a hand like QJs tbh. I cant really explain why.

If we do choose to 3b, sizing should be bigger. I usually 4x oop but as you can see again we are faced with a problem due to his large open sizing. We get towards commitment territory when we 3b 5-6x opens.

As played flop check is good and I would for sure x/ship. Basically if we want to continue we are committed and all turns and rivers suck and we want villain to under-realize his equity if possible (if he stabbed with a hand like QJcc for example)

Sometimes I get so confused on this forum. I've consistently received feedback that my PFR open sizing (4x +1 bb per limper) is too small in low limit games (or at least the very low end of acceptable range), but now ~5x is insanely large?

Also, as a novice at 3! light (just incorporated into my game recently, and very sparingly), I thought A5s is the classic 3! light hand, and it would seem to be the perfect situation against a loose, late position opener. Add to that I keep hearing that out of the small blind, our call range should be narrow and we should be 3! or folding mostly. I guess it's not optimal that he is "call-happy" but we don't have a lot of clarity on what that means in terms of pre or post nor what hero's image may be to V.

I guess with all this I have to raise the issue of whether or not these initial posts might be a tad results-oriented. I'm curious if this were a PAHWM and action was on hero preflop, if we would not get a lot of folks advocating a 3!. Again major disclaimer that I'm really a novice at and trying to better understand 3! light.

Also as played pre, assuming we have a reasonably tight/TAG image, I think we should continue to tell the story of a big pair on the flop and bet 60% (with the plan to give up on turns w/o A or 5). By checking we invite aggression and Vs flop bet looks like a cheap stab at the pot with any kind of draw.

There are 2 schools of thought on preflop open sizing in live poker. One of them is right, one of them isn't exactly wrong.

The thread is called "why raise so much" or something, by apd.

As for 3betting A5s. When you 3b you need to know why you are doing it. It shouldn't be bc doug polk told you to.

In a normal situation A5s co vs bb can be a 3b bc we have a blocker, we have fold equity (we know co open range is wide), and bc we still have equity when called.

In live poker its a bit different. Mostly bc of the large sizings which create low sprs and bc of low fold equity.

Yes, $16 pre in my 1/3 game is average/small.

I would have led flop or check/raised, but for reasons stated, I would not have 3bet this guy pre with this hand from this position.

I think this is a really good point. I don't think I realized how shot stacked we are here with <90bbs.

As I mentioned I just started 3! light about a year ago (note I average about 4-5 hours of play per week). but have done so very sparingly (maybe 3 times) only when all the conditions were just right (large stack sizes, looser opponent who has functioning fold button. etc).

On this forum, it seems like other players are 3! light much more frequently and with success but I'm just not seeing the opportunities in my games. When I revealed in a thread over a year ago that I had never 3! light, I got some comments that I was missing out big time, but I don't know. In my games, if I never 3! light I don't think it would make a huge difference in my win-rate.