How do YOU respond to active 3-bettors?

[Acevader]

[ QUOTE ]
If someone is constantly 3-betting me in position, I'll just find another table. Sometimes I'll play back at them, but getting 3-bet when I'm out of position sucks and it increases my variance.

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I've often done this but these days it just seems like full-tilt if full of 3-bet machines and since they usually play a minimum of 4 tables there is nearly always someone that is 3-bet happy at the majority of tables. Also, since these players usually know what they are doing they tend to look for the same tables that I do - ones with fish.

[Hamburglar]

your table selection stinks, i played fulltilt $100nl for months w/ your stats (postflop more aggro than you) and i rarely get this problem.

[Acevader]

What time of day though Hamburglar? For example, I'll start playing in about 1 hours time as its 1300 in the afternoon in the UK. However, its US day-time so most of the fishes are at work. I have been getting up at UK 630 to play for a while and its definitely better then as I'm playing people that are up late in the US. It's not really practical for me to work my hours to take in the US 1900-midnight shift.

[Unknown Soldier]

type "that's not very nice [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]"

[Hamburglar]

[ QUOTE ]
What time of day though Hamburglar? For example, I'll start playing in about 1 hours time as its 1300 in the afternoon in the UK. However, its US day-time so most of the fishes are at work. I have been getting up at UK 630 to play for a while and its definitely better then as I'm playing people that are up late in the US. It's not really practical for me to work my hours to take in the US 1900-midnight shift.

[/ QUOTE ]

i just finished a 4 hr shift 1 1/2 hr ago.

[Acevader]

That time of day is defo quieter for 3-betting in general than the 3-4h period we are about to enter.

Unknown Soldier you can do better than that. I know you know how to adapt to this and how not to be a weak push over. Just tell me [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Pretty pleeeeeeeeeeease!

[Hamburglar]

from what i've seen, i'm usually the most aggro 3better from the blinds at $100nl. the thing is, i don't do it to random people. it's mostly the 23+vpip who tries to run me over. most tend to give up while once in a while you get a station that just don't get it, that's when i give up. flop floating 3bettors at $100nl is suicide in my opinion but if you can make it work, then people like me will leave you alone.

[Suigin406]

i'm not sure what to say, obv abusive 3betters are annoying...i know ur conscious of it and try to put urself in position to deal with it, but still...

if it gets that bad and u don't feel comfortable playing 3bet pots with marginal holdings (AJ, etc), u may honestly want to consider moving to another table, i know u said they're all over the place, but a good 3bettor will crush ur winrate...

like it was said, i like being IP on these people and let the decision be made on a hand by hand basis postflop

[Unknown Soldier]

lol, i dont think i can add much more to jams post really, except that. It was semi-serious. I honestly do type that when someone 3b me if i can be bothered, seems to slow em down a bit.

When someone is getting the better of you think about how they are doing it. Put yourself in their shoes and think what you could do to get the better of them. In this case think what you would hate someone doing if you 3b light, and do that.

[Michaelson]

Regarding table selection, you'll definitely almost always find aggro 3-bettors on your tables at FTP (at least at 200NL+), but the trick is not to have them on your left. I practice much less table selection than I should and rarely change tables, but if there's a competent 3 bettor to my left giving me grief I'll just pick up without a good reason not to.

More generally, you need to have a varied and balanced strategy for playing different types of flops and opponents, and don't get caught feeling you have to c-bet every flop (it sounds like a big part of your problem could be getting floated and raised by opponents who have taken note that you c-bet too much). Sometimes you'll 3-bet OOP then c/f the flop. Sometimes you'll 3-bet OOP and crai on the flop (think about how using both of those lines regularly can keep your opponent guessing). So it's not just a case of just c-betting and giving up, you want to c-bet sometimes, c/f sometimes, c/r sometimes and even c/c sometimes. This keeps your play unpredictable, and if you keep track of how people respond to your unpredictability, you can start to use that against them.

So if I'm OOP w/ AKs, 3-bet, get called, and miss on the flop, depending on my opponent and the texture of the flop I'll mix c-bet more often than not, but I'll also CRAI quite a bit w/ hopefully 6 outs (though usually if I check it's to fold to a bet). If it's checked through, great, I get a free card, but I also get a chance to maybe make a delayed c-bet if I feel it's appropriate.

With a good draw my standard is to CRAI, but I also frequently CRAI with made hands to keep my opponent guessing.

Quite apart from letting you win pots you're not entitled to, having a lot of different postflop lines at your disposal also makes it much easier to get the money in the middle when you flop good. Remember that in RR pots, typically you only need two streets of bet/call to get all in, and that gives you a lot of manouverability.

In addition, you want to have really good reads on people, beyond the big 3 stats that we all use so often here. For 3-bettors, when you get to showdown against them, take a note of what they 3-bet you with (or called your 3-bet with), as well as how they played postflop. On your hud, display numbers like flop AF, c-bet %, fold to c-bet % and raise c-bet %. When you draw up profiles of players it becomes much easier to decide how to play after the flop comes down.

There's a lot more to it, obviously, but those are my thoughts in a nutshell. In short, like so many spots in poker, it's not about whether the chips go into the middle, but abouth how they go in.