Three-betting JQo against a LAG?

[ElSapo]

MP open-raises. He raises a lot of hands, like JTo, and he raises too often. I three-bet JQo on the button, he calls.

Flop is rags, he checks, I bet, he calls.
Turn is a K, he check-raises, I fold.

How do you handle this? Maybe JQo is not enough of a hand. I think he's raising suited aces, maybe any pair, definitely any two paint.

The problem is that if I check the turn I can't really call a river bet, even if it is a bluff. So I'm guessing here that JQo just isn't enough to three-bet?

[ElSapo]

Another hand, same LAG.

MP limps, LAG raises, I call in the BB with TQs.

Flop is JcKc5s, I check, MP checks, LAG bets. I call, MP calls.

I thought about check-raising here, but then decided to check-raise any turn if the MP folded, which he didn't.

Turn is a Qx, I check-raise, MP calls, LAG folds.

River a Qx, I bet.

[TerraUbrett]

Three betting a QJo? Maybe I'm just tight, but even agaisnt a lag, don't do it often. I'm assuming that it was heads up before the flop and after, so in that case maybe, and I mean maybe I 3 bet it, but I would surely fold to the check raise. A little more info on the hand would have been helpful...you say the flop is rags...turn makes a pair higher than your QJ, easy fold.

[sfer]

This really depends on the degree of LAGishness and how cooperative the table is acting when I try to isolate. If the conditions are right, I'm 3-betting and committed to going to showdown with middle-Aces or any pair, almost regardless of how scary/helpful the board is. I don't think a JT raising LAG is quite LAG enough for that, though--I'm thinking more of the VPIP >90% and the PFR like 50% type maniacs.

Even if the blinds are being cooperative I think QJo is really borderline for the reasons you gave, i.e. you don't have much showdown value unimproved. In your hand, if your opponent is willing to make moves with nothing, I would check the turn and hope to improve, planning to fold the river if I don't.

[ElSapo]

Hey Sfer, yeah, I think this is one of those painful situations where you have to think "I know he's got nothing, but I have less."

He's still open-raising, hands like 46s and bluffing 2/3 streets, so I don't think there's a rush to take advantage of it. He's not a maniac, it's more like...

It's more like a poor player who is trying to use deception and no-limit starting hands at a loose 2/4 table. On the other hand, he's managed to tighten up the table considerably.

ElSapo

[Clarkmeister]

The 3-bet is fine.

Checkraise the flop in the 2nd hand.