I am trying to develop a preflop 3 betting strategy at 2-5, specifically against regs that come in for a raise with nearly their entire range. Currently against these types I 3 bet AA-JJ, AK

I have problems when they call me because if I continuation bet and get called I have put alot of money in the pot and become uncomfortable continuing further if the board has overs to my pocket pair or whiffed with AK. Here is one of my latest examples:

Bose headphones wearing reg has been coming in for a raise on almost all his opens. He has been playing very straight forward He raised to $20 utg 2 people called and I made it 90 in the hj with KK. Everyone folded. I showed the KK.

About 30 minutes later same kid opens again from ep for 20, one guy calls and on the button I make it 90 with JJ. This time he calls, and the other guy folds.

200 in the pot I have 425 left and he has me covered. Flop A 9 5 rainbow. He checks and I check. I feel its hard for me to get called by worse if I bet. Turn is a 2 completing the rainbow. He checks and I make a bet because he checked twice to me now. I bet 90 into 200 and he raises me to 240. I fold believing i am beat. Thanks for all replies.

I think you could add AQ and TT to your 3bet range if they are opening very wide;

In that hand , I feel like if you are going to check the flop then you should check the turn as well; I think he thinks that you wouldn't check back AK/AQ on this board; this is a good flop for your 3betting range so I like a flop bet here and I think the hand plays out much differently that way

Bet flop, check turn, fold to river if he bets on this board texture.

That should be your line 99999% of the time in a heads up 3! pot with position.

i think its more cbet balancing..

I bet 25% of the time with JJ, QQ, KK on an Ace high board, i check the rest.
I also check 25% of the time with my AK, AQ, AA on Ace high board, i bet the rest.

so that, they cannot always assume when I check on a 3bet pot that im scared of the overcard to my pair.

however, if i play on a random casino, i can just check fold this vs an unknown table, chances are we will not see each other again and even so, will not remember our previous hands/plays.

/

(unless you're playing super deep 300bb+)

I dont understand what I am getting called by that I am beating if i continuation bet the flop? It seems like strictly a bluff, no value.

My thinking was if I checked the flop and he checked the turn he may call with pocket pairs smaller than JJ on the turn.

Your ranges are about the same at the turn and there's still one street to go.

Sometimes vills will make a loose call on the flop because they figure you'll check back the turn and give a free river. But I'd expect to see fewer calls on the turn because they already got the free peek.

Betting JJ/TT on a A95 board makes more sense than betting KK on the same board. For one thing, he might find a fold with QQ, but also, he'll fold KQ which has decent equity against you.

We can play the "what if" game all day.

What about the hands that beat you that he will fold to a Cbet?

What about the hands that beat you that he will bet the turn with and make you fold if you dont bet the flop?

There are no set rules in most of these spots. Also, if villain is the type to always raise when they enter the pot, you should absolutely be 3 betting them wider than you are. Mostly when they raise from MP to LP.

Yes I understand no set rules, but Im thinking if i bet the flop I cant expect worse to call so it should be a check, is that thinking wrong?

3 betting and continuation betting creates such and inflated pot that I am not comfortable 3 betting with worse than the hands that I explained. Any study material wold be greatly appreciated.

Getting worse hands to call isnt the only reason to bet the flop. You should be betting JJ into a Axx flop sometimes and checking AA on a Jxx flop sometimes. Otherwise you will be very easy to read.

Guys that always come in for a raise are raising pretty wide. The later the position they are in when it folds to them, the lighter their hands will be overall.

Lets take me for example....I do limp sometimes...but I also raise pretty wide.

You cant just 3 bet me with your best premium hands or I will run you over. What do you do when a guy who raises a lot opens to $20 and you have AJ? What about KQ?

If I open to $20 from MP, I could have anything from J8s to 54s to KJ to actual premium hands. You should be 3 betting me with all kinds of hands like AJs, JTs, 88, and things like that.

Thanks Mike, I guess I could bet that flop 1/2 to 3/4 pot to try to end it there. But I think he is only continuing w an A, KK and sets, unless he is spewy or has a read on me.

what do you mean by you would run someone over if they only 3 bet you with premiums? How?

At this point im not comfortable 3 betting and creating a big pot pre w AJ, KQ,JTs and 88. It has been my experience I do not get preflop folds enough and Im putting in too much money post flop.

If you are uncomfortable 3 betting loose raisers with AJ/KQ/JTs (which most people are), then you are probably calling with them. Most people wont fold those hands to a raise and they wont 3 bet so they just call.

Lets say I have 87s and you call with AJ.

You are going to miss the flop about 70% of the time. I win most of those hands. When we both miss, I win most of the time. When I hit and you miss, I win almost always. When you hit and I miss, you get a Cbet out of me but nothing else. When the flop comes J87, I win a big pot. When the flop comes JJ8, you win a small pot.

If you call me with 88, there will be overcards most of the time and I will win most of those hands. You will almost never stack me even when you hit a set because I wont have much most of the time.

That's the short explanation of how you will get run over.

Fair enough, my calling range is very tight, I understand I am going to miss the flop 70 percent of the time. Im only calling his raise w the hands you mentioned if 1 or 2 guys already called his raise.

Would you say that you auto 3 bet w those hands vs someone who is raising w most of his opening hands? You are making alot of big pots post flop if you are right? At 2/5 60-120 bucks preflop, depending on preflop callers and another 60- 200 post flop when you cont. bet?

No, I dont auto 3 bet those hands. It depends a lot on the position they raised from, how often Ive 3 bet recently, how often Ive seen them call 3 bets and things like that.

But I just about never call a raise with hands like KQ or AJ. Ill raise them myself from any position but I dont call raises with them. I 3 bet them or fold. Calling raises sucks unless its a hand that can hit big flops that stack hands like AK or QQ.

If you're up against a solid reg, just because he calls your continuation bet doesn't mean that you're beat. Most thinking players will see your CBet for exactly what it is. It's going to be entirely (like most situations are) villain dependent. Sometimes the question isn't what you beat, but what you can make him believe you have. This only works against thinking opponents, and I can't stress that enough.

Basically if the flop checks through, and he checks the turn, and you fire a smallish bet... It looks weak af. Try to put yourself in villain's place and range yourself based only on villain's knowledge. If I were in V's place, to me you'd be repping 2nd or third pair, maybe a PP or a weak A. Then I'd start to think I could fold those out if I click back, regardless of my holding.

OP you have a fundamental leak in your three betting strategy (and I mean that in a constructive way). There's a lot of things to consider before three betting

1) who raised and where: this is the most important thing. Like in general, 3 betting JJ is good. But if loose passive 50 year old lady makes it 7 bb EP, do you still reraise JJ? You better not.
2) position: related to #1, but ranges get wider as you get closer to the button. That means more hands are ahead of the opener's range. You should want to reraise more hands against late position openers. Having a fixed set of hands discounts positional information. Ex: if a reg opens UTG (and when I say reg, I mean good player in the online sense, not "shows up everyday to play less bad than the total fish" live guy), I'm probably just flatting 99. If he opens CO, I'm 3 betting 99 all day.
3) how do they react to 3 bets: do they call a lot of 3 bets? Then be sure to pop their MP open with AJs, 88, etc. Do they fold a lot? Then only three bet the top of your range for value, and 3 bet as a bluff. Something like A3o, for example, is too weak to call, but nicely blocks AA and has decent equity against a hand as strong as KK.

Postflop, you just have to make decisions. Same as you always do. If anything, it's easier to make good decisions because ranges are more defined. If you're still not confident, default to defensive, game theoretical inspired strategies like minimum defense frequencies to ensure you aren't just being bullied on some textures or being a payoff wizard on others.

Your 3b range is not good
You’re playing ultra nit 3b range

Any decent player will rip that range to shreds up IP or OOP

You have no board coverage with that range. It’s over or or whiffed AK
The 3b caller has every other range in his 3b calling range vs you always.

For example,

Flop comes 10-2-8

What do you do with CR with your 3b range ? Vs a decent reg? Fish will pay you off that’s what they do.
Someone with a brain stem knows exactly what your holding.

Your opponent has all the sets here 1010,22,88 you can’t cause u don’t 3b them
You can’t have A10, you can’t have 108s, you can’t have J9s , etc etc

What r you hoping for ? AA v KK? Or AQ Qxx and u hold KK+? Poker ain’t that easy sir

The way you played your posted hand you just capped your range with a flop check back

That kid knew if he applies pressure you fold like a cheap chair cause you cannot have the A ...he can have any2 and apply pressure after you cap your range and it gg sir

You have a massive leak

Defining live 3 bet ranges is so hard to do, with so few hands, and no computer programs to help.

But 3 betting a wider range vs 20-35 year olds, is my standard default. Nobody folds to 3 bets anymore anyways. Everybody is solid.

I 3 bet less than optimal, because I feel my post flop edge is where I make my money. I actually have major preflop leak, PFR to wide from all positions. Which forces me to defend 3 bets in position to light.

But luckily most guys size there 3 bets poorly.

That range is more than I see from most 2/5 tables. I have watched people burn through too much money with wide 3 bet ranges, it puts wayy too much money in the pot when you have to cont bet w nothing.

Not at all, I would check flop with AA, AK, AQ, and all sets.

If nobody folds to 3 bets, why would you 3 bet a wider range? Wouldn't you want to use your post flop edge in a smaller pot that has not been inflated w a 3 bet?

If nobody folds to 3-bets, then you 3-bet a wider value range and a narrower bluff range.

Yep^^^^^

I 3bet less than my image portrays. Super value heavy vs most. Open up vs younger males because they like to call (oop) 3 bets to often. And I feel like I can realize my equity and range advantage postflop.