Thinking about a fairly broad concept (mods, please feel free to lock if not appropriate):

Say I'm on the button at a 9-handed table and it folds to me. At a normal table, I'm raising a fairly wide portion of my range -- call it 25-30%.

If your standard LLSNL villain 3-bets me, without any specific reads, I'm probably:

- 4-betting a very small amount of the time
- Folding some
- Calling some

And under the 'calling some' category, a large majority is probably is best characterized as "I need to hit the board or pick up a read that he's weak to continue in the hand."

I'm wondering if that type of line is exploitable to light 3-betting and c-betting, and, if that's the case, if I should try to add that trick to my arsenal.

Example hand:

Standard 2/5 NL, $500 effective.

Folds to hero on button with QT, hero makes it $20. SB folds, BB makes it $50. Hero calls.

Flop ($102): Anything other than Q-high, t-high, OESD, two pair, trips, two or more spades. Villain bets, hero folds.

Maybe I just play in an exploitable fashion but I see this at tables sometimes and wonder if it's not worth adding as a tool against the right villain. Does anyone think so, and if so, what do we look for in categorizing such a villain?

Open way wider from the button. Open to less. You're also not continuing wide enough on the flop.

Im confused... So you are calling a 3 bet but then folding if you dont hit the items listed in that category if he cbets correct?

Also this is a pretty dynamic question.. I dont think ur really gonna get a good answer tht you can implement..

In general, calling and then playing fit-or-fold is not a good strategy.

All these questions depend on villain's range. Is he 3betting light, or is it JJ+/AK?

If we are calling with this hand, I think we must use the board (not our hand) sometimes to make our hand profitable. Everything you listed is nice because we hit something, but that won't happen alot of the time, and when we hit a Q or T that's really not a great thing anyway.

If the villain only 3-bets high poket pairs, this means he can't have a flush on the flop. So against these villains it would be good to raise on monotone flops. If he snap calls he probably has AA/KK with the suit and we can barrel him off it if that suit doesn't come.

Also we should be raising 678 and similar boards with QT. Really scary for overs and we have a gutshot.

We also need to raise or float A high boards when they cbet weak.

I'd also call down any two flush board where we have some equity (like a T) and bluff the flush when it comes. Against villains who bet too large this won't be profitable though, just like drawing to the real flush isn't profitable there, which is why we need some backup equity.

This is only against villains who have a fold button and only when at least 150bb deep of course. If villains don't have a fold button we might call to flop gin and stack but I think we might need to be 200bb deep for that strategy if we are calling 6 more bb into a 14bb pot. I'd prefer 30x with such a weak hand (but maybe that's still thin?) and that comes out to 166bb ($830) behind.

OP here. Sorry to have posted what appears to be a confusing post.

My question can best be cliff'd as follows:

1. I find myself playing fit or fold -- and folding a lot -- when an unknown villain 3-bets most of my raising range, so.
2. (The question): This -- 3-betting fairly light and small- seems like an effective strategy for villains. I am wondering if it's something to add to my arsenal. Basically, find someone who's likely to play fit-or-fold to a 3-bet, 3-bet a bit light (and maybe small) when that person raises, and try to exploit it.

Again, if this is too general (or specific), my apologies. I don't light 3-bet much but am thinking it might be something to try to add to my game.

Hahahaha good luck with this.

YOU should fold to the 3bets clearly. you only flop two pairs+ 5% of the time with SCs. if it's the other way around, then yes you can sometimes 3bet light to get initiative and steal pot post flop against fit or folders. but this is soooo read dependent. its very easy to spew in these cases so you need to know your villain very well. they have to raise a wide range pre flop, call your 3bet wide, and play very fit or fold post flop. most villains wouldnt fit those requirements.