So here I'm in a spot where I decided it was profitable to be 3betting this opponent light, which I'm not so certain is the case after this hand. Opponent is pretty much unknown, but he never limped pre, and his raise suggests he knows something at this level.

Irregardless, after he called my 3bet I put him on a fairly strong range. I would not be expecting him to always be 4betting w/ KK+ so as not to scare me out of the pot. I would say he's probably about TT+ AQ+ here. I would be incredibly surprised if he showed up with any SC's or low and medium pp's.

Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 903178
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $6.05
CO: $6.37
BTN: $6.97
SB: $8.91
Hero (BB): $5.00

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with 8 6
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.15, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.45, BTN calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.92) J 9 T (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.25, Hero raises to $0.80, BTN calls $0.55

Turn: ($2.52) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BTN folds

After flopping the OESD, I felt a check raise bluff over his small bet could represent any number of hands, including overpairs, FD, made straights etc... and he would fold often.

I'm not quite sure what to think of his call, probably overpairs, gut shots, and maybe FDs. I'm not sure a draw like that would call when I show that much aggression.

I was ready to give it up here, but then the flush card hit, and I barreled it, he folded. Obv this is spew if I put him on the FD.


So alternatives plz? I'm not confident in this play. Feedback on my thoughts would be incredible too.

now what?

stop 3 betting light at 5nl
stop 3 betting light with no clue as to why you are doing it
stop 3 betting so small oop
stop 3 betting with complete garbage
stop taking awful lines postflop
stop bluffing on boards that smash their range

Haha, thanks. I needed that.
I've been getting destroyed in the blinds and decided to try adding 3betting light to remedy this but obviously failed at the attempt.

just fold all ur crap from the blinds. u shud be making money from the ******s anyway

+gazillion

3betting light is ok against the right opponent (not the typical opponent at 5nl, definitely not against an unknown, but against a 5nl reg it could be ok), but you certainly don't need to do it at these limits to be a solid winner (5ptbb+/100).

8-6 is a terrible hand to 3 bet light with. It might as well be 2-7 because almost always you are going to have to bluff someone off their hand if you get called (which will also be a high % at these stakes) if you want to win. Against an unknown this is very silly at 5nl where you have tons of passive fish that will call you down with bottom pair/ace high.

Been there, got the t-shirt. As much as you'd like to fight back against position raising, it's still a popular thing for a very good reason... IT WORKS.

Stop trying to get fancy... there's NO need to be making those types of plays at 5nl. From the sounds of it you should be looking for fat value to start with 3betting and that's about it. Round out the rest of your game before you get into 3betting... especially OOP.

In a hypothetical situation, were I to 3bet a TAG reg light, what would be a range that would have solid equity versus their continuation range? My inclination would be something that's not dominated like middle suited connectors, maybe low to mid pocket pairs. Am I correct?

dont 3bet small pps at 5nl, ur value comes from people paying you off
IF you really want to 3bet bluff more, do it with hands like Axs that have decent equity when called

I'm not really considering doing it any more at 5nl, I was just curious how that would work out as far as equity is concerned.

My intuition tells me that Axs would be dangerous because of it being dominated, and the only value you could get would be from flushes. I feel these would be difficult to play postflop; If I hit the A, I would be concerned about better aces, whereas if I hit the flop with good draws/sets from SC's or pp's, it would be much easier to know when I'm beat or when I'm ahead.

Am I off base with these ideas? Does it depend so much more on my opponent that this discussion is too general?

This

you do realise u dont wanna play postflop when u 3bet bluff? you just want him to fold. Axs is good for that bc it reduces the combos of hands he'll continue with, meaning he will fold more often when u 3bet Ax than when u 3bet 86.
as for domination, dont 3bet bluff at all if you are worried about being dominated or dont know what to do when u hit something

I see. I knew we didn't want to continue but inevitably sometimes he will. But yeah, I can see where having blockers would be more beneficial. Thanks