In the 1000max BI 2/5NL games I play, I tend to play pretty lag. I open a ton of pots when most other players are just limp/calling pre. I have to deal with the occasional limp reraising, which is a pain, but it's pretty much always AA or KK so no big deal to fold. And the nitty old guy who 3bets always has AA or KK, and I can just fold...

Usually getting 3bet is not a problem for my style, but occasionally there will be someone to my left who will persistently try to iso-3bet me IP. It seems ridiculous to me really. There are always plenty of fish at the table, and I'm a rather consistent winner, so even if my range looks pretty weak, their 3bets just aren't going to turn a huge profit. They still get position on me by just flatting, and they have the added benefit of playing beefed up pots with the fish that are going to tag along with their 40-50% 2bet calling range.

Anyway, just wondering what I should do to counter these people? My last session, I was playing about 400-500BBs deep, and the guy immediately to my left had about 300-400BBs and was consistently 3betting me. I was 3bet once when I had KK. I just flatted and check-raised the flop. He folded. I had JQs and flatted after the button also cold called the raise; button ended up winning the hand on a big semibluff. Another time I had 22. I 4bet and he folded... The last hand I had AKo. I raised to 45, he made it 125. I was a bit confused about how to proceed. Do I just call and play fit or fold otf? What types of lines do you take against someone like this?

I know getting a seat change is an option, but there's not always a good seat open...

easiest way is to change seats lol.

if theyre doing this tho they probably arent very good or they would recognize playing against fish is better than playing big pots with a good player. so i like opening our 4bet range when its heads up as big pots make bad aggro players make mistakes and most likely uncomfortable so theyll probably stop after they have to fold a few times.

With AK vs a wide 3 bet range I would def 4 bet. To counter those guys I would start by 4 betting lighter w/ the bottom of my range and flatting with the top of my range until they start to adjust.

fold or 4 bet your trash hands. (SCs)
call with your value range thats way under-repped, and play post flop.
If he is iso-ing with a marginal range (AJ/KQ/77 type hands) against you, then you are'nt getting action if you 4 bet, and are turning your hand into a bluff if and when you are ahead.

in the AK hand this deep, i would prefer a call, even though being OOP sucks. the deeper you are, the more 3 and 4 betting go down in value, and overly bloating the pot serves you less in general. Also, you lose action from the hands you dominate. (AQ/AJ/KQ). you might as well be 4 betting ATC because i cant see getting it in this deep and AK being good ever, even if you hit.
if you elect to 4 bet AK here, i wouldnt be looking to play fit or fold post flop, and am continuing on a lot of flops. (JT5, ect...), so i would want to feel comfortable doing that with this Villian. another problem with 4 betting this is that with your likely image its prolly hard to rep AA/KK..., which is what your doing by 4 betting PF.
at this level ppl love to put you on AK, and end up being right sometimes by default.
(wait til you have AA/KK to rep AK, lol)

Flatting and playing fit or fold post flop is going to make his plays massively +ev against you. Best thing to do is to change seats of course so you have position on him but if you really want to play back just put him on a range of hands and play accordingly. Sounds like he's a solid player so where you're raising from and where he's 3! from will likely change his range. If you ever get to see what range he's 3! with i.e. if its a polarized range with trash and nuts or dominated hands like AJ KQ ect then you can sometimes flat OOP and check raise him on flop that are likely to have missed his range. Game flow and image will change his range if he is 3! you with a polarized range so if he just 3! you a couple hands earlier chances are he actually has a good hand when he does it again right after. Also try to pay attention to see if he ever just flats and see what he's flatting with.

You should reraise to 325.

Orr you should call and check raise flop. Passive mode, which is what this forum prescribes for all problems is usually the worst line.

Not 4 betting AK vs a wide 3 bettor is a mistake I think. Yeah it's true you might fold out hands that you dominate. But unless you plan to CR a lot of flops or call down w/ Ace high on a lot of boards I think you are just inducing him to put in action often with the worst hand that you can't handle since AK doesn't flop well. Better to keep the initiative.

You aren't going to like the standard solution. It's to a) tighten up your opening range b) 4 bet a polarized range.

If you open really wide and he keeps 3 betting you, there is nothing you can do if you don't tighten up.

That's why changing seats is best - the solution forces you to play closer to TAG then LAG. That's probably what he is trying to accomplish, and because he has position he can do it, or force you to make massive errors playing oop in 3 bet pots.

^Great post

Regarding the AK hand, details are thin, but I think 4-betting as a standard there is pretty bad. Sure, if you've decided to battle the guy preflop and you've been 4-betting light then it makes sense. But why would you want to battle the aggro guy with the jesus seat on you when it's 300-400BB deep? With AK I'd much prefer to take it under-repped into smallish pot with deep stacks behind, than over-repped into a pot that's around half of effective stacks. Too many spots where you find a way to stack off because "maybe my pair outs are good..."

AK will still be a profitable call OOP, and when it comes to building pots I'd rather focus my attention on the value spots at the table.

As an aside, I always felt like it was a bit scummy switching seats to get a positional advantage. It's potentially insulting to casual players switched on enough to understand what you're doing, and if every reg did it against each other it would lead to musical chairs. I'll move out of seats 1,3,7,10 at first opportunity because I bang my knees in those every time, and I'll move away from annoying company or the guy with halitosis, but otherwise the seat that I choose first is mine for the rest of the session.

Agreed

When deep I like occassionaly flatting pre floating flop and cr turn. This should slow him down some. But mostly you need to tighten open range up.

3-400bb deep?
ya, with 100bb it's a lot easier to play that way.

Even deep. The difference deep is 1) you can profitably flat some hands like 55-88 2) he can no longer 5-bet ship on you as a bluff. So say he 3-bets Axs over wide opens (I do). Say you adjust by 4-betting light a fair amount and he catches on to your frequency being too high. 100bbs deep he can 5-bet ship with decent (30%+) equity when called by JJ+, AK. 300bbs he has it tougher. If he 5-bets now you can ship. If he flats he is doing it with a mostly RIO hand in a now bloated pot with SPR lower than he would want.

Again, the best adjustments imo are: change seats >> tighten up + 4-bet a polarized range >> tighten up > not tighten up and 4-bet a polarized range > not adjusting at all.

I was in this exact situation yesterday so i was thinking about this already. I ended up moving. You really have to be honest with yourself about your postflop playing ability compared to his. Unless you are significantly better you are going to be a big dog playing heads up oop every time with stacks this deep. Would you ever play anyone in a heads up match if you spotted them the button every time?

With 100bbs playing much tighter and more aggressively is going to work out well for you, but in that case he isnt going to 3bet you very often. The reason he is 3betting you is because you are deep enough that he can give up a bunch of equity preflop because he's going to be able to outplay you post most of the time no matter how good you are.

So your two options are to tighten up, make less money in the game and still be facing a lot of tough decisions when he 3bets you or move seat/table. The first option is fine if you are looking to be in a lot of interesting spots and improve your game, the second is better if you are trying to make money.

I think moving to his immediate left is bad form two, i would probably move about 3-6 seats to his left

I agree with this. An additional thing is to makes sure you are playing positionally aware. Your raises should be skewed heavily to when you OTB or playing in the CO. The advantage is that if someone wants to persistently 3bet you, they're going to do it oop a lot of the time.

Cut back on your raise sizes when faced with someone who is continually 3betting you. The 3bettor is going to price the fish out of the hand anyway. This allows you to be able to fold a bit more of the weaker portion of your range.

if the "good" player has no idea how to adjust then hes making money by doing this
if the "good" player is deep and the fish arent he can make more money off of the "good" player putting him to tough decisions deep stacked oop

its a pita when you get 3 bet a lot
why let someone stay in their comfort zone if you dont have to?
it sound like op is butt hurt that the player with position isnt letting the op control the table (hint: he has no reason to)

Lol, Waylander, moving six seats to his left = moving to your right and leaving him in position!

What this a level?

Dont be lag. TAG it up, for sure. F*** bluffing. Just play tighter and value-bet the hell out of the fish. Just make a believable move here and there....in correct spots.

Being 300-400 BBs deep I would want to be to his immediate left and have a massive advantage, unless the fish at the table are at least 200 BBs deep, then it might be more profitable to have better position on them. At least in position you have the option of playing back against villain or waiting to play against fish in pots, both of which should be profitable.

Thanks all. Some very helpful comments here.

With my AK hand, I ended up flatting then I check folded a 9 high flop to his $175 bet into a $250 pot. At the time, I felt his range was probably a bit stronger than the previous times he had 3bet me. After I 4bet him before, I verbally told him to stop 3betting me. And he did seem to stop for a while. This was his biggest 3bet (my opening size varies a lot, and usually he was 3betting like 25->75). So given these facts and my assumption that his range was probably a bit stronger than before, I just decided not to fight for the pot once I whiffed.

I considered checkraising. But I think checkraising by default is super spewy, and I wasn't trying to run a multistreet $1700 bluff.

I'm wondering what you guys think about calling flop and donking turn (regardless of what peels), and possibly river too (depending on turn/river cards and on his reaction to my turn donk)? This is a line I've seen some other people use successfully, both with big hands and as bluffs, but I rarely do this.

Just depends if you have any information on how he plays against donk bets. Donk betting would turn it into more of a psychological hand. Honestly if I am in a pot with a good thinking aggressive villain and they usually check to me oop but then donk all of a sudden alarm bells would be going off in my head. Or the other way around if he usually donks then checks all of a sudden his donks are probably weak with the checks being strong. Bottom line though donking turns it into a psychological game so if you think you can put villain on the correct level of thinking and out level villain for each time you do or don't donk bet then yes donk betting could be profitable against that villain.

Move seats or you have to adjust either by folding or 4 betting,

And it IS good for him to do this, otherwise you wouldnt be posting it here. he has got you reacting to him, which is the very condition that I try o create with any other very good player at the table.

Happens to me alot by young asian douche reg who wants to outplay me all the time.

Anyway, if they're terrible postflop in 3b pots, flatting is not terrible (contentious, but i basically soul-crush this dude with ATC oop), though 4-betting polarised works. Also, tighten up your opening range

Okay, dynamic is as described in OP, we've been opening a lot and getting 3-bet often by a decent lag with immediate position. We 4-bet once and he folded. Now we 4-bet AK pf to $350. Do we want a call? Are we happy getting stacks in?

What's our line if villain flats and the flop comes T52r with $700 in the pot and $1150 behind? Just check/fold?