1) KJo does not necessarily need to be ahead of his stealing range to make a call +EV, especially given pot odds and if we have a skill advantage.

2) Flopping a pair or an OESD is like 40%. There's also the chance he whiffs on a good board for our range (e.g. 79Qhh) and we can lead the turn to fold out his better A high/low pp. Playing fit or fold at any stake level is generally bad.

Rage, if we 3-bet all combos of AQ/AK/some KQs that gives us a ton of combos of strong TP hands in our range. The low kicker suited variations only have 4 combos each so it's not that much of a concern.

I like to defend AJ/KQ/KJ against BTN opens (sometimes 3-bet but generally flat).

It does make sense what you are saying. But if a loose stealer initially folds too much to a 3-bet, just 3-bet a ton of bluffs and the top of your range only. Call all your medium strength hands. And if he way overadjusts by calling too much pre vs your 3-bet, switch to a linear range like AJo+, KJo+, 99+, and own him for calling too wide vs 3-bets. Does that make sense?

Yeah, I suppose there's no harm in just going fully polarised 3bet initially until we see how/whether btn defends his steals. If V is going to attempt to make exploitative adjustments it makes sense for us to anticipate those adjustments with our own counter exploits rather than immediately attempt a psueduo-GTO static defence.

1) fold to V raises till we see he is stealing wide.
2) 3bet wide polarized range and flat narrower value range until V starts defending his steals and/or stealing less frequently.
3) 3bet tighter depolarized/merged range 99+ AJo+ KJo+ flat the suited versions and other good suited hands and 88-22.
4) cycle between 2 and 3 as necessary.
5) settle into a psuedo -GTO defend/steal equilibrium when V stops trying for different exploits and settles on his own optimal stealing strategy against us.

I can't prove it, but I'm very dubious that pot odds of 1bb and a skill advantage can overcome being at a range disadvantage and being OOP. Maybe if V is a complete whale but even then unlikely. In my mind, a lot of what people consider a skill advantage is playing more pots in position with a range advantage.

^ if you don't have a specific exploit in mind based on a reliable read then you don't have a meaningful skill advantage.

Wow, lots of new replies since my posts. I haven't read most of them, but how does this following strategy look in the BB in response to a 3BB open on the button given the following conditions:

SB folds, button is opening 33% of hands, effective stacks are deep (100BBs+), we don't believe we are at a skill disadvantage against button though we don't see any huge obvious leaks in his game.

3-bet with 132 combos or ~10% of hands

AA-JJ, AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, A2s-A5s, 34s-67s, 35s-108s, J8s, 107s, K8s-K7s, Q8s.

Flat with 238 combos or ~18% of hands

22-1010, AJs, AJo, A10s, A10o, KQs, KQo, KJs, KJo, QJs, QJo, J10s, J10o, A9s-A6s, A9o-A7o, 109s-87s, K10s, K10o, Q10s, J9s.

If this range looks fine, then KJo is definitely good enough to call. K10o would be the weakest off suit king to call with.

I also pokerstoved my range against a 33% open range, and we have 50.5% equity vs the button 49.5% equity.

How is KJo at a range disadvantage vs BTN open? Vs 33% open we have 50% equity, any higher we are a slight favorite. Imo after playing 300k+ hands online, playing OOP isn't that bad anymore. If you fold KJo vs a BTN steal, that's really nitty. We are getting better than 2-1 on a call, so we only need less than 30% equity to defend. Of course we don't get to realize all our equity, but that's not the whole point.

If you aren't defending KJo, what are you defending? 1010+/A10o+?

I'm not disagreeing with this. I was disagreeing with you saying that we didn't need a range advantage to call OOP because of pot odds and skill advantage.

If you are saying we need to have a range advantage to call OOP, then you're pretty much folding 80-90% of your range vs a BTN steal. I'm defending pretty wide vs a BTN steal in the BB. I'll admit I was hesitant and a little nitty first starting out, but after getting used to playing OOP I defend a lot wider.

That sounds about a right. I'd defend somewhere between the top 10-20% of hands to a button steal in an unopened pot, unless I had some reason to want to play pots w the button. KJo is right in the middle of that, which is why it's marginal and generating discussion. Of course, I'd say most sessions I play I don't face a situation where it folds to BTN, he raises and I'm in the blinds w a marginal hand since so few hands get folded to BTN

I'd call out of fear of having my hand accidentally flipped up if I folded and never getting action again.

Seriously though it's a call unless button is capable of applying a ton of pressure without a hand. And in my experience most decent regs don't fall under this category.