Help. If I show any strength in a hand everyone folds. Yeah I am old. I look old. I fold garbage hands. I can't 3-bet hands like QQ's -- everyone folds. I feel like I have to slow play every damned hand so as not to lose customers. How do I escape this conundrum. I can't get any younger. Yeah, I guess I should bet or raise with any two cards if they are always going to put me on premium hands.

Good reasoning.

Just pick a wider range to 3 bet with in position. And if they keep folding make it wider.

The problem goes away when you win a hand and have to show 64s. At least at the table you are sitting at.

Personally i would never slow play QQ by not 3-betting. The beauty of your opponents play is that if they re-raise when you have QQ they either have AA or KK. I think they would call with AK to see the flop.

As an older man, I appreciate that they think i am always strong when I 3 bet.

One last thing: In a senior tournament or when the player who opens in EP is very tight, I actually don't have much of a 3-bet range and AA isn't part of it.

Play an aggressive, balanced strategy. If your decisions are unexploitable and profitable your image does not matter.

You got it. If your big hands aren't getting action, start expanding your 3-betting range, especially in position. Take advantage of your image until they notice and adjust.

Loosen up and bluff more. Follow preflop charts. You should print making light 3bets with hands like A5s and playing aggressively postflop. And as mentioned, after you show you are getting in there with looser hands and making some bluffs, you will get called more.

I mean, if you are considering not 3betting QQ, that seems symptomatic of the problem. It sounds more like villains are correctly reading you rather than unfairly labeling you. If I see someone just flatting with QQ. when they 3bet, I am probably going to assume it is KK+. If you start piling money postflop, I am probably going to assume it is 2p+. If you play tight, cautious, and trappy, you are going to get exploited by strong players overfolding once you start pulling in money.

You have a great situation - just start 3betting lighter, bluff more. You're currently being exploited and its easy to exploit them if you make these adjustments, but the worst thing you can do is keep playing how you are and not reacting.

Don’t act your age!
As others have already said, make your range wider and don’t be afraid of 3 and 4 betting with hands that aren’t Aces or Kings.

I have several students in their 50s-60s who used to have similar issues. For the longest time I made the mistake of trying to teach them to play like me, as opposed to teaching them how to BEAT people like me by exploiting our perception of them (and utilizing that OMC image you speak of). There's a number of ways to do this, notably one of the most effective plays I've given them is an unorthodox limp/jam range.

What I noticed would often happen with a recreational player in their 50s/60s with a tight image, if they had a stack of ~30k at 500/1k for example, and they picked up a premium like AK/AQ/JJ/TT/99, they would open for 3k and either A) everyone folds and they just win the blinds and antes or B) they get called in position by a superior player who will then put them in tricky situations post flop, as it's not easy to play post flop OOP under 30bbs (especially against a tough player).

So instead of falling into this trap, thinking that this is just "the way" and you have to raise, I think this is a great situation for you to go for a limp/jam with a number of hands. You'll limp in, and the players who perceive you as tight will try to punish your limp with a 4x iso, action folds back to you, you limp/jam, they fold, and you increase your stack by ~25%+ without showdown.

Essentially the criteria you're looking for here is-

1) Hero has around 20-35bbs and a hand like AK/AQ/AJs/KQ/77/88/99/TT/JJ (honestly you can go even wider the tighter your perceived image is to the villain)
2) there are aggressive/big stacked villains in position left to act after you who will Iso raise you widely
3) there are short stacks who might iso-jam widely which we can comfortably call

Essentially we are exploiting the gap between their wide isolation range against your perceived limp, and their extremely narrow call range of your limp/jam. You really need to focus on how villains perceive your range and how you can exploit that, as opposed to doing what you think a pro would do in your shoes.


One other tip- I'd also recommend that if you are considering 3-betting or 4-betting for VALUE that you ask yourself a question, "Can I be perceived as bluffing?" if the answer is "no", I think you should NOT 3-bet (and instead either flat or jam). If the answer is "yes", go ahead and 3bet or 4bet.

This should help you avoid losing action with your big hands and also help you find the spots where flatting your monsters makes the most logical sense.

Best of luck; use that image to your benefit!

What you are experiencing is the natural outcome off having a range that is too imbalanced towards strength.

In theory, bluffs (offsets) are necessary to winning strategy. Without them, an opponent can always fold anything worse than your value threshold i.e. when hero underbluffs or bets too narrow, villain should overfold. Were you to overbluff, the correct response would be to overcall.

If you want to get paid with your value combos, you'll need to work on constructing a bluffing range pre and post and play accordingly.

As previously noted, you have an existing image which means you are not starting from zero. Thus, to generate some immediate EV, you can start opening/3betting wider and c-betting more. In the long term, you should be working on your overall ranges pre and post. Widening your value range and adding enough bluffs will result in generating EV from your strongest holdings.

Use your image to your advantage and start picking some more bluff spots. If they are showing you that much respect, you need to use it against them. That and you can start opening up your range a bit more, especially in position.

Agree with above. You don’t need to change your nit image, just use it to your advantage in other spots.

If you're only 3betting like 3% which is like QQ+, AK, people of course will pick up on it.
If you feel you need to slowplay alot, this is really detrimental as you
1. don't valuebet enough
2. don't bluff enough

If i was you, i would
1. get good opening ranges for every position and stick to them until you have reads so you can deviate
2. Get good 3betting ranges for every position. Tend to be even looser as your charts suggest.
3. Have a good flop strategy in position. For example just do a 20% pot bet with all your hands. This strategy is way better than to mix it up with bigger sizing, but still staying clueless. It's easy and effective.
4. Make huge bluffs on turn and river and balance them with huge valuebets on turn and river. I would really try to win as many pots as possible doing these huge bets.
Don't be afraid of overbetting.

You get good preflop charts at gtowiz. Just dabble around with that tool and focus on preflop first, then go to flop and if you have mastered that go to turn / river. Until then try to stick to simple, but highly aggressive strategies.

I wish I looked like an old nit haha.

Honestly, you need to 3! Wider were you’re 3! And 4! Are not all value. It’s really quite easy to find what ranges you should be 3!. Learn raise first in charts and study some 3! Ranges that include 3 bet/ folds so you make sure you are 3! Enough.

I’ve played with older guys that are world class players in mtts (in vegas). They are 3! Much more than the standard older guy. Trust me when you do this and table sees it’s, they will start calling wider. Also you shouldn’t always 3! Kk or AA when stacks are shallow to try and set up squeeze spots for other aggro villians. Most folks don’t squeeze enough in good spots.

Late in mtts, when stack avg is say 40bb. 3! Wide against a laggier open and a flat can be gold. Most of the time, flats are hands like 55-99 which will have to fold to a 3! A lot. Squeezes are crucial in mtts as they are a great way to pick up chips in spots you deem profitable when someone from say ep is opening a wide RFI range and will fold to a 3!.