Defending against the CO post/openraise

[Harv72b]

I had this hand happen to me earlier tonight, which got me to thinking. CO is a complete unknown who had just bought in for the standard 25 BBs. SB is a solid 2+2'er, and the BB is a borderline LAG who has seen me show down some winners and appears to be picking his fights now.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is Button with X, X. CO posts a blind of $3.
<font color="#666666">5 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">CO (poster) raises</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero 3-bets</font>...

I think that most of us agree that it's a good play to raise with any 2 if you're the CO in this situation. So my question to you is, what range of hands are you 3-betting with given this scenario? If you change the BB to a tight, conservative player, could you even 3-bet with any 2, counting on folding equity to take down the pot HU whenever CO whiffs on the flop?

[brazilio]

With BB picking a fight to be in, I'm going to ranges that are a bit tighter for defending, perhaps 30% instead of my normal 40% defending range. Stuff like T9o, J/Q8+ K5+, A*. Defending against a posting CO, I'll defend at least 50% of hands, and I'll usually 3-bet most anything that isn't absolutely abysmal. I've tried 3-betting any two for a time, but I didn't see enough fold equity when I tried it. That was at 2/4 though.

[brettbrettr]

I need at least an ace. A suited one preferably, with a 5 kicker or higher. I'd go KQ, maybe. Pairs above 55.

[Nick C]

The thing is, I don't think most 3/6 unknowns open-raise with any two, or even close to that, when they post in the CO and are folded to.

So that makes the situation difficult, and personally I don't adjust my standards a whole lot.

Sometimes (speaking more generally) in the absence of a read I do vary my decisions based on what my opponent should be doing, but I try not to take this too far.

In any event, the question of what to do when facing an open-raise from a poster in the CO is interesting, and it's one I've thought about, without reaching much of any conclusions.

[Harv72b]

Forgot about this thread. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anyway, the reason I asked was because I went a little more aggressive than normal in this hand, 3-betting with KTo. The blinds folded, and I took down the pot with a bet after a Q98 flop.

I think that in general, I'm playing too tightly/conservatively in scenarios like this. I'm thinking now that I should treat it just like I would if it were folded to me on the button, and 3-bet with any hand I would normally try a steal raise with. I'll have to track things &amp; see how this works out.