3-Player Shorthanded advice

Hey all,

I'm a tight player. I consider myself tight-aggressive when at a large table, only decent hands or better and playing the sack off them when I get them. However playing recently with a couple of my friends together in a 10 handed ring game, my playing style came under fire. One of my friends plays alot of hands, often playing garbage, chasing straights, etc, and gets very lucky on drawing out once or twice before going broke, often in multiway pots and ending up the night with more money than I.

Rather than take the satisfaction of knowing that i'll make more in the long run, i've had to hear about how weak my style is, throwing away 80% of my cards. So, I've challenged them both to a private 3 player table.

Thing is, I'm good enough to know I'm going to seriously need to shift gears and open up my starting hands, but this is only going to put me on par with Mr. Agressive, and the other player is a passive rock that will nail me if I get too agressive playing garbage.

Is there any advice that you can give as to how best to play 3 handed against a rock and a hard-player? I'mnot sure what my comfort zone should be when I get 10-7 and the like 5 hands ina row and cough up my blinds again and again.

First off, ignore DukeSoccer, he is a spammer.

Secondly, 3 handed is a different game entirely. I assume you are playing NL, so in that case when 3 handed I like to be preflop raising one in 3 hands (at least 1 in 5) regardless.

If a pot is unraised to your BB and a player (or both) have limped, then raise automatically.

Shorthanded NL is less about the cards, more about reads.

NL Holdem is a game of whoever bets the most wins, the cards just break the ties.

I know that the reckless player will come out firing tonight because of the verbal abuse back and forth, what hands should I be looking to keep under the assumption of a preflop raise 80% of the time?

So you want some basic hands to raise?

This is hard to answer, as I'd raise anything given the situation shorthanded, if it's only limped to my BB and I have 72o, I'll raise.

Medium suited connectors are a raise from anywhere here.

But starting hand charts don't mean much, you must be good post-flop to be able to play well shorthanded.

Wouldn't raising from the button also be good? In this case, you have the largest positional advantage.

So you should get more of your money in when you have an advantage like this, right?

any pair. any ace, anything that adds up to 20. suited connectors. one gappers. two gappers. but, it's been said before, post flop matters more.

i raise everything. if i get resistance, i back off.

that makes them have to decide if a hand is good enough. it's less work for me. :D

Don't raise so often preflop against a maniac, wait until you have a good hand. The rock, on the other hand...I'd probably raise every other time regardless of hand.

In a 3 handed game, preflop skills and hand selection matter very little.

Here are a few pointers (some have been stated already):

1. When you get the button, use it, raise any playable hand, and limp garbage (j3o), hope to hit a pair. Kickers don't matter as much in a 3handed game.
2. Know your opponents, very few inexperienced players will check-raise without a strong hand.
3. In a 3-handed game, you will see straights and flushes less, usually the pot will go to top pair or 2-pair.
4. Know the board, e.g. you just got check-raised when the 3rd flush card came on the river, lay it down unless your opponent has been bluffing frequently, or his raise is affordable.
5. When in early position, check-raise into weakness (e.g. button bets 1/2 pot, he might be trying to steal), use delayed bluffing.
6. Back down if your opponent comes over top of your big bet.
7. Play you ace and king pairs, also, quite often second pair will be able to take down the pot.
8. With position, DO NOT give any free cards, regardless of what your holding.
9. Try to win small pots, dont get too involved with a large portion of your stack on a hand that has little potential to win.
10. Practice, practice, practice, you will need to develop your postflop skills in order to succeed in a 3-handed game.
11. Finally, in a full game, Tight aggressive is usually the best way to go, in a short-handed game, it is the Loose aggressive players that succeed.

Hope this helps.