Pre-flop is where this hand can be fixed imo. Should I be 3-betting, even with a hand with perfect multi-way playability, if there are active 3-bettors ahead? Am I still flatting some of the time here?
Preflop: Hero is CO with T J
UTG raises to $0.15, MP calls $0.15, Hero calls $0.15, BTN folds, SB raises to $0.55, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.40
Flop: ($1.45) 5 2 6 (2 players)
SB bets $0.55, Hero raises to $1.25, SB raises to $3.97, Hero folds
Spoiler:
Results: $3.95 pot ($0.16 rake)
Final Board: 5 2 6
SB mucked and won $3.79 ($1.99 net)
Hero mucked T J and lost (-$1.80 net)
Hand 2
No reads on Villain, first hand with them. Two nits in the blinds so I'm not worried about getting 3bet. AQs is definitely good enough to 3bet here some of the time, but probably better with AQo.
Villain potting every street seems kind of fishy. We block AK/KQ. Potting the flop doesn't make too much sense with TT. Maybe he's got KK? KTs? 98?
Results: $2.27 pot ($0.09 rake)
Final Board: 8 9 Q J 5
MP mucked and won $2.18 ($1.08 net)
Hero mucked Q A and lost (-$1.10 net)
Hand 3
Mainly concerned about checking the turn here. In a 3-way pot, is this always a check when a third heart rolls off and we have no hearts? Are we still checking this turn heads-up?
Results: $2.94 pot ($0.12 rake)
Final Board: J 3 7 2 K
BB mucked and lost (-$0.44 net)
Hero showed K K and won $2.82 ($1.58 net)
BTN mucked K A and lost (-$1.24 net)
Hand 1: I'm not gonna answer that for you. I want you to think a bit for yourself. What is the reasoning behind the 3bet? What will that accomplish? After looking at your answers, do you think you should 3bet, or not?
1. In theory at least, you should hardly ever be overcalling on the button, because you'll need to beat at least 2 players to break even if you see a flop (and not many hands do that often enough), and you're vulnerable to squeezes and overcalls, as your flatting range is so capped. You can probably flat TT/99/88, but just about anything else should be 3-bet (TT+, AJs+, balanced with maybe 76s/65s) or folded. FWIW, I fold AQo in that spot.
All that said, if you have a skill edge on the table and don't expect to get squeezed or overcalled, it might just be about +EV to flat AQo, KQs, QJs, JTs, 77 etc.
When you get squeezed, fold everything except the top of your flatting range. The squeezer will have QQ+/AK so often that even JJ/TT are in trouble, let alone JTs.
2. AQs seems fairly standard. There are a lot of hands that beat you on that runout, and you have better hands (2pr, sets, maybe TT or KTs for the straight) to call/raise with.
3. Yes, checking the turn is a good idea. It's still 3-way and your hand is far from the nuts. You don't want to play for stacks with one pair multiway and OOP.