general question: how often do you fight the 3-better postflop

[Wynton]

Say you raise utg with something like KQ. CO then 3-bets, leaving it HU. Assume that CO is pretty solid.

Flop is J74 rainbow, so there's no particular reason to think that it helped anyone.

It seems wrong either to routinely c/f or to routinely go after the pot aggressively (whether by leading, c/r the flop or even c/r the turn). But how often does one need to contest the pot, if nothing else, just to keep villain from thinking that you'll lay down too easily postflop?

Should I just randomly mix up the post-flop action here, or is there any guideline that can be of use, i.e., c/r the flop x percent of the time?

And is the answer radically different if hero has raised with A10, rather than KQ?

[Surfbullet]

I let these go when I don't improve on the flop unless I have reason to believe that my opponent is raising me very light. If I suspect he is, i'll alter my calling down / playing back standards etc to compensate. It can be profitable to call down AJ or some such UI if your opponent is 3betting A2.

Surf

[Wynton]

I can see the default being to let it go. But what happens if you notice the villain 3-betting you a second or third time during one session, and it ends up hu each time?

Isn't there a point at which it's necessary to c/r the flop or otherwise show aggression, in order to keep villain honest?

[Catt]

[ QUOTE ]
I can see the default being to let it go. But what happens if you notice the villain 3-betting you a second or third time during one session, and it ends up hu each time?

Isn't there a point at which it's necessary to c/r the flop or otherwise show aggression, in order to keep villain honest?

[/ QUOTE ]

With a hand or a strong draw, sure. I don't think you lose much at all by C/F a lot of these flops so long as you are willing to play on with a decent hand. Look at it this way (it always helps my mindset to do this) -- you're putting in money pre-flop with a solid hand and a presumed equity edge (which is called into question by Villain's three-bet); when you check-fold these flops, you deny the Villain any chance at making money from your play; ck-folding on the flop costs you nothing if your view of his range is reasonably correct and the flops come up this way (i.e., there's a better than average chance that you're behind and he's not giving up unless you're willing to put in multiple bets on a wing and a prayer and catch him with a worse nothing than yours); even if you C/F a bunch of flops, you make back more than enough from him (post-flop) the times you actually catch a hand or a good draw when taking a stand will not only be greater +EV, but also more likely to cement a lesson about your post-flop play. You're not going to stop raising KQo in UTG because he's sitting behind you; you should be willing to alter your post-flop approach depending on his play characteristics in combination with his 3-betting range. Put another way, so long as he's not 3-betting really, really light (so neither his PF range nor the flop does much of anything to change your estimate of relative hand strengths on the flop), you're playing very well by C/F and he's making mistakes anytime you're still in the hand at the turn.

[roy_miami]

I would fold the KQ everytime in this situation and look him up or play back the times you have better showdown value with hands like AJ or 66. If you really think he's getting out of hand 3 betting you light and you want to play back with KQ cap it preflop.

[aba20]

If you are really set on winning these pots you need to cap preflop and lead flop and turn. He will usually fold his UI A-high hands by the turn. Overall though you are better off check folding as others have stated. Or as Victor would say "You don't have to win every pot."

The only time I peel one off in these situations is if their 3 betting range is starting to get dubious and I've got something strong like a backdoor nut flush draw. In re-steal situations it gets quite a bit trickier, and you have to know a bit about your man.