Hi,

I was at a FT yesterday where the guy on my left would 3B me very often. I'd like to know the best way to deal with this. I currently don't have fixed preflop ranges so it might not be possible to create a minimum defense frequency. Anyway, here's every hand the guy 3B me:



This was his 1st 3B against me so I gave him credit. It's also a stronger raise than usual.



That was the very next hand. He showed an Ace after I folded.



Weird all-in by him.



Even knowing he was 3Betting-light, I still didn't want to call this with 40BB. There would be post-flop play and it's hard to continue without hitting a set.







A9 was probably a call vs. this guy.

He ended the tournament with 47% VP, 42% PFR, 31% 3B, SBvBTN 3B 63%.

How should I have played these hands against this guy? Do I need to create an opening range and start defending a certain percentage of my range?

Certainly 3 handed you can throw in some limps vs an aggressive player like that. It's hard because of ICM implications but if his 3 betting is through the roof you could definitely think about jamming at least the 77 hand, maybe the 66. The A9 hand you shud prob just go with, you are the shortest in chips. Open a tighter range, you can't be playing KJ or 78 suited if you know you are going to fold to a 3 bet. 78 suited prob plays ok sometimes a flat to the 3 bet.

Love the post.

A lot of these are folds just by looking at the stacks, and it also makes sense as to why they are playing like this. Once it's clear that they are big stacking, I think we have to tighten up and size up.

Your AJo isn't that weird of an all in by them, they've got more than 2x second place, which is you at the time, and they are just fading monsters with that jam. I don't know what percentage you'd be calling off there, but I know it's very small. Enormous ICM pressure.

Your 66 is even more ICM pressure against you looking at other 3 stacks.

A9o is a 4-bet shove for me all day. Haven't shown them a 4-bet if these are all the times they 3-bet you, ace blocker, 3 of 3 in stacks, they're at 63% 3bet SB vs BTN.

I don't remember thinking about limping in the button but it might have made things easier for me. Might try that next time this happens.

It was weird considering he wasn't going AI in the other times he 3B me. This was the only time he shoved.

With A9o, I wouldn't call his 3B but I did want to 4B-shove. Unfortunately, I went with the fold. Players like this are rare so I'm not that used to facing them.

Do you think I need to create a fixed opening range and defensive range to play against this type of player? At high stakes, is that also necessary or not really?

Option A) Tighten up, find some hands to call IP like broadways

Option B) 4bet light him into submission with good equity hands that you can't call. This requires risk tolerance and some skill I guess.

Your image is probably good enough to get away with something soon even with option A. I think A9o was your best chance.

+1


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Yeah I guess it's odd in that context. I just assumed they were mixing shoves at the table outside of 3 betting you.


A fixed opening range is probably pretty necessary. It makes the minimum defense frequency quantifiable (hard to continue with 60% of a range you don't know) and makes adjusting a lot less guesswork. But if you know generally what you open with and understand dynamics of widening or tightening ranges, you probably don't have to memorize charts. Is there a reason you haven't created fixed opening ranges?

I will never know anything about high stakes.

Well, before playing MTT's, I was a cash games player. I used a preflop range from PokerInABox until I memorized it and didn't need it anymore. From then on, I made adjustments based on how the table was going and kept doing the same thing when I turned to MTT's. If I were to create a range for MTT's, I would have to make one for varying stack sizes. I have access to Raise Your Edge's course so I could use bencb's ranges.

So that's the reason why I don't have fixed ranges.

Yeah that sounds like having fixed opening ranges. In case you're not, you should be using a different range for tournaments vs cash games. I'm guessing bencb's ranges will help you a lot more than I can.