Calling pre-flop raises

First off, 300 hands is meaningless. I 4table 10NL RUSH pretty often and 300 hands = ~20min. of play.

You got the right idea with wanting to be IP as much as possible, as well as the preflop aggressor. I think the fault in your thought process is wanting to go out of your way to create these situations, rather than waiting for the right ones to come around (which they come around more than enough). There is nothing wrong with flatting small pp's and folding when you hit a set (at the micros). Obviously, your sample size is so small that you probably stacked someone w/ a set once, if at all. Over a large sample size it smooths out.

3 betting mid pp's and AQ is very villain and situation specific. 3betting mid pp's, at best you are going to get called by two overs and be flipping, or called by a bigger pair. If you think villain might call w/ a hand like KJ, then 3betting AQ may be profitable at times, but not always. Polarizing our 3betting range and 3betting hands like 55 is more something that we want to do when in blind stealing battles. For example: a nitty reg w/ an ATS of 47% opens for 3x on the BTN when folded to him. SB folds and we have 55 in the BB. Set mining here is worthless b/c you aren't going to get paid off since villain most likely doesn't have a hand. 3bet and take it down pf.


The fact that you're losing money w/ mid pp's is probably due to your sample size. The most important thing with them is getting rid of them quickly when you detect your beat, and extracting max value when you flop a set. Having good postflop skills and being able to hand read also helps w/ playing them against nitty regs, and you can turn a slight profit w/o flopping sets. All in all, there is no need to 3bet them IP in order to turn a profit. If you're 3betting 99 and get called, you pretty much have to fold to any action on a Q+ high flop, again, at these stakes.

Vs. an UTG open and MP caller, if players are decent, there is nothing wrong with folding AQ pre from LP.

First off, 300 hands is meaningless.

i know, i did refer to my sample size as heinously small. It's more of a speculation based on the results of a small sample. There is something to be learnt from any individual hand. If I 3bet a mid pp against a 79/24, and then against a 7/4. I don't need a sample size of 20K hands to know that there's value in the later situation and not in the first.

3betting a wider range is obviously a player specific idea, which is why i noted that ops would be better to be weak tight. this was never about always 3 betting mid pp or AQ

All in all, there is no need to 3bet them IP in order to turn a profit. If you're 3betting 99 and get called, you pretty much have to fold to any action on a Q+ high flop, again, at these stakes.

yes, but 3 betting them sometimes against the right villains may increase profit. Its essentially an extension of blind stealing. An OOP villain is going to have to fold most times unless he's noticing and adjusting to me. And beyond that he's also going to have to c/f alot of flops, while I respect that over 5 board cards, something like 99 vs AK is a near coin flip, with just the flop its a long way from even money. Even so, a lot of weak/tight types are going to have to fold hands because they will fear AA/KK if we remain strong on the flop, or even to weaker flop bets, there's a thread going on atm that says something like "missed flop cbet 40% of pot, hit flop bet pot because micro players wont adjust, they'll either call with a pair or fold if they missed"

Anyone with a decent sample care to share their 3bet frequency and range?

There is nothing wrong with flatting small pp's and folding when you hit a set

yeh.. sometimes, but i think you meant 'miss' not 'hit' lol.

Originally Posted by scott_owen

If I 3bet a mid pp against a 79/24, and then against a 7/4. I don't need a sample size of 20K hands to know that there's value in the later situation and not in the first.

3betting a wider range is obviously a player specific idea, which is why i noted that ops would be better to be weak tight. this was never about always 3 betting mid pp or AQ

your goal is to make the most +EV decisions, so why do you think 3betting mid pairs vs a weaktight (which may be +EV) is better than setmining vs a super nitty range?

Originally Posted by Imthenewfish

your goal is to make the most +EV decisions, so why do you think 3betting mid pairs vs a weaktight (which may be +EV) is better than setmining vs a super nitty range?

depends on whether the super nit will stack off every time vs the supernits fold to 3bet no?