PokerStars - $2.28+$0.22|10/20 Ante 3 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 1,497 (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
Hero (BTN): 1,564
SB: 1,477 (VPIP: 24.07, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 13.33, Hands: 54)
BB: 1,497 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
UTG: 1,497 (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 30)
UTG+1: 1,497 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
MP: 1,497 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
MP+1: 1,497 (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
MP+2: 1,477 (VPIP: 27.78, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 18)

9 players post ante of 3, SB posts SB 10, BB posts BB 20

Pre Flop: (pot: 57) Hero has J A

fold, fold, fold, fold, MP+2 calls 20, fold, Hero raises to 80, fold, BB raises to 140, MP+2 calls 120, Hero ???

Interesting spot im never shoving as i just dont think aj is strong enought at this depth when there has been some muli way interest. The small 3 bet may polarise his hands. Fishy players just raise like this as they just dont consider bet sizing but he could be min raising to induce. I would call and see a flop the trouble with this is we still havent defined our hand and unless we hit 2 pair there isnt many flop that we will wont to stack off on. Also AJo is super awkward in this spot at this depth as we are way at the top of our button isoing range, what i may consider doing is 4 betting but the sizing would have to be big enougth to apply fold equity but not commit us to the hand ... im not sure say a raise to 400 ish. Yep we are flirting with a normal commitment threshold but i think in this spot its worth it as 4 betting apllies FE and i think we can comftable fold to a shove as we are already dealing with a range we think may be polarized so when shoved on we are going to be dominated so so often we can safely right of this chip investement after getting such action after we have repped our hand so strongly. WE also still have 50bb's

The problem with this hand is when we are flatted but at least we are going to be in position and I assume against a weak player. (with the extra stregth we have shown villain can safely shove for value now with say AA KK as there is now plenty in our range to get value from)

One thing is how often do you see small 3 bets like this in 2.5 and what do they usually mean in that player pool. I hardly ever see them at $8 or $15 maybe sometimes in the 3.5R. The thing is for regs to use them to induce they has to also be fish doing them with weak/ marginal hands. If these fish arent present then 3 bets will almost always be larger?

This is all just my thinking and could very well be fundementally flawed. I didnt play $2.5 for very long at all because some rediculous positive variance meant my roll exploded and at the time i took this to mean i was crushing the 180 format so moved up buy ins straight away but now i understand what a heater i was on.