[StellarWind]

[ QUOTE ]
The question is, should you be raising more 3-handed OTB than you do when it's folded to you OTB in a 6-handed game, and why?

[/ QUOTE ]
The key issue here is game selection. You shouldn't be sitting at a table without a reason and a plan.

At a 6-handed table the plan may be to viciously attack and exploit bad players sitting in the hijack and/or cutoff. The BB may be a solid player whom you respect completely or at least a little. So you give him some space and when it is folded to the button you only play cards that clearly deserve to be played.

At a 3-handed table the blinds must be bad players and the plan has to involve exploiting them. In particular the BB is on your immediate right and if you respect him then I don't know what you are doing except in egregious cases where the SB is simply awful.

So against a 3-handed table you are usually going to be pushing the envelope on the button. The primary exception is when the BB is bad because he is a maniac and the plan is to make money by letting him shovel all his chips into your bluff catchers. Knowing before you even open that you are going to be on the receiving end of three or four barrels naturally forces you to focus on hands with showdown value, especially if Villain doesn't payoff well when you make a good hand and start putting in raises.

Therefore you could say that 3-handed Button play should be looser and that is probably true in general. But the reality of 3-handed play is that "in general" rarely comes up. It's all about the blinds because there is no other reason to play and no one else to focus on. You know your opponents and you are watching them carefully and they are watching you too. Specific considerations dominate your decisions and the default play is irrelevant.