Early in PokerStars ($215) Sunday Warm-Up. Only a few hands on villain.

PokerStars - 30/60 Ante 6 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG+1: 40.67 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 66.67, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 3)
MP: 335.92 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
MP+1: 164.9 BB (VPIP: 37.50, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
CO: 151.3 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 40.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
BTN: 131.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
Hero (SB): 155.6 BB
BB: 163.7 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 66.67, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 3)
UTG: 165.95 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)

8 players post ante of 0 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has 7 A

fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to 2.3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 6 BB, fold, CO calls 3.7 BB

Flop: (13.8 BB, 2 players) 7 5 3
Hero?

I have started playing more aggressively from the small blind, hence this 3-bet against late position. But that meant the above situation is quite new to me.
So I'm wondering what your plan would be on this flop (and beyond)? I thought villain would have mostly overcards here...

Ok first of all your 3b is way too small. Should be over 7bbs when OOP. I’d even go as high as 8-8.5bbs. 7.5 minimum IMO but I think that’s too small.

I’d be looking to cbet this flop and then check/call future streets. 40-50% of pot is plenty. Our hand is not very strong in a 3b pot.

Whether you call V if he bets both turn and river after you check is obviously dependent on his bluff frequency. He’s probably not getting too OOL with his overpairs here since he should be capped at 88-JJ and should be happy getting to showdown at some point.

Imagine 3 betting the sb light at 30/60 no ante while also not having a plan for flop.

If you are going to 3-bet light you better be ready to put out a c-bet too.

Anyway, what he said:

Yeah 3bet to a size where he's able to fold with dignity.

I can't get my head round 3-betting greater than 3.5x and creating a large pot when I'm OOP. I know that's the prevailing school of thought on here nowadays and I see reasons for it, but I prefer to do 3-bets when I'm IP. And anyway I find villains to be quite inelastic when they're calling 3-bets IP.
Thanks for the sensible answers though. Sounds like a good plan for postflop. Results in case anyone's interested...

Flop: (13.8 BB, 2 players) 7 5 3
Hero bets 9.2 BB, CO calls 9.2 BB

Turn: (32.2 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero bets 16.1 BB, CO raises to 37.35 BB, fold,

Imagine a forum where people feel the need to troll in every thread. Oh wait...

good for you

Not sure If I should say a lot or not, I`m afraid to overrep...

Readless calling > 3betting >>> 3betting to size you chosen.
A hand which doesn`t flop great, you are super deep vs unknown guys in sunday MTT, why bloating pot OOP especially when he lays a comfotable price opening to 2.3x this deep?
I mean 3betting is also valid but I just can`t see any great arguments to make it superior to calling in this spot.

And what you`ve done - 3bet to small sizing under your new aggressive approach means you have some misconception about aggression or put too much faith into it.


but what`s new here? use your new aggro approach out of SB - cbet. ))
Srsly doesn`t look a tough flop spot though.

You have TPTK w/ nut BD super deep on low texture which doesn`t hit neither ranges hard, its strong enough to b/c and you need protection thus you should be inclined to put some chips into the pot.

Sometimes you can c/c to protect your range, guess even c/r in some specific cases.

then don`t fckn 3bet at all = easy game.
you still failed to 3bet to 3.5x tho ducy?

true but just to some point. Calling ranges differs when you make it 2.6x compared to 4.5x 3bets when you`re 150bb deep.
And if you think they`re inelastic why on fckn earth would you need new aggro strat out of SB - just go nuts w/ top5% = easy game.


Ott you got what you were looking for - crappy OOP spot in bloated pot.
If your new aggro approach includes playing SC(G)s same way then its safe to fold (still exploitable but w/e) otherwise its gonna be a painful fold

Get him ellie.

Great sizing post flop OP. Really shows you have a solid poker understanding.

Nah, intention was to make more of a funny post rather than abusive.

Seems like if OP can put ego aside then he can really learn something from this thread and improve his game - otherwise it’s only going to knock his confidence and have the opposite effect.

Wait- your attempt to troll here is pretty bad here.
the blind levels and whether it’s pre ante or not are low on the totem pole of issues with this hand.
But seems like you are lacking an understanding about how sb 3b ranges work in spots like this (sb v lp open) do some homework and come back with a better troll post pls

Urchin- most good players are 3b 4x -5.3x oop vs lp opens. Going to let you do your own thinking about why. But your pf sizing is really really bad
Anyway. Flop is fine and good- betting turn for this size seems...ambitious? Fold vs turn raise is good I think, maybe exploitable but that’s ok.

I knew the real Ellie was still in there somewhere

But yea pretty much that..

Generally id look to start developing and exploiting reads before formulating a 3b strategy. This hand is usually ok to go ahead and flat pre.

Aggressive from the sb is interesting but its still the 2nd worse seat on the table.. we need like 36% to defend vs single mr if bb is always folding so that would suggest we still need to play fairly solid from this seat.

I'm not really a tourney player, but isn't it reasonable to never flat a CO open and only 3-bet or fold?

Is the ante the reason why some of you have developed a calling range in this spot?

For what it is worth, I am 3-betting this hand in this spot all day. The fact that we are deeper makes me want to 3-bet it even more.

Also don't see much reason to flat this hand with what could be shaping up to be an active BB. A mediocre CO will play damn near clairvoyantly on Axx vs this hand if we flat.

In fact it's difficult to find a more efficient light hand to 3bet here. He has snap folds with hands that have OP crushed.

I only 3b/fold the SB vs an LP open unless I’m in an exploitable situation (super passive BB, fit or fold opener, oversized open by a super tight player, or a combination of similar things).

And I’m also gonna 3b this spot most of the time with A7s vs anyone with a standard LP wide opening range that can also find a fold (3b sizing again becoming important here). I’ll fold against a serial limper that opens late or vs an aggressive postflop player that has a 0% raise/fold preflop because the optimal result here obviously is for your 3b to elicit a fold and we pick up 4-5BBs and move on to the next hand.

Antes are exactly the reason why it can make sense to flat
Stack depth isn’t all that big of a concern here. We’re never continuing vs a 4b so actually with shallower stacks this play gets better bc we can stack off easy and + ev on ahi/7hi boards and with our flopped fds

Call or 3bet are both certainly fine pre, I wouldn't necessarily do 100% of either vs. randoms. As lolposting2016 astutely noted we want to probably 3bet this hand more as stacks get shallower. If we are 3-betting as noted we want to bet a size that makes it less attractive for villain to just flat with a huge percentage of their open range. 3.5-4x is reasonable, I've seen strats where players 3-bet these spots bigger which does mean we 3-bet less but seems reasonable when super deep.

As played I'm not sure what the issue is. We should probably c-betting flop with the vast majority of our range, especially on a board like this where folding out any defend combos the villain has here is a good thing. Turn seems somewhat close but I don't hate betting, there are certainly some 5x/66/7x in villains range that might continue and keeping draws from seeing a free card is fine.

Soooo.. To all you guys who love to cbet here; what does your checking range look like?

Highest frequency check on this board I’m pretty sure is aa which mixes likes 40/50% checks
That being said you don’t really need much of a checking range Bc your range is doing very well here so optimal strategy will have you betting like prob 80/90% for the 1/3 size
A7 wants to play this strategy to deny equity to random overcards and for value now vs draws etc