This is a general philosophical point stemming from a hand I played just now.

Quick version: me and villain have full stacks; I'm semi-laggy, he's nitastic and pretty weak. .25/.50 blinds. I raise to 1.75 in middle position with 8s 9s. He re-pops it to 3.50. Everyone else folds, I call.

Flop: 8h 9h 3s. I bet almost the pot (7.00), he raises to 24.00, and I push. He calls, shows down two black aces, loses stack.

Because of the type of player he is (weak and non-3-betting) his tiny 3-bet tabled his hand. It was almost certainly QQ, KK, or AA; maybe AK. I called with no designs on doing anything but hopefully hitting a flop I could stack him on. I got it, I led into him knowing he'd raise and inflate the pot out of control very quickly, and it went down just like that.

This leads me to two thoughts:

1. Tabling your hand on the cheap is usually an awful idea. If you're going to give away what you are holding, at least make your opponent pay to continue. Most of us know that but low stakes players can always stand to have the lesson reinforced - I see a lot of people's hand histories here where they are 3-betting for only a little more than the initial raise, which is not good. Don't give them tempting implied odds to try to beat your big pair. Especially if you only 3-bet with premiums. The less you 3-bet, the worse this mistake is.

2. On the flip side, has anyone ever used this for good? Ever tried 3-betting a small amount as a setup to a c-bet bluff (because your opponent has already put you on a big pair)? It could be useful for repping a hand - but only if you haven't already exposed yourself as a decent player. Could be an interesting thing to mix in with your squeezes for raise-stealing, and it benefits from not requiring such specific and recognizable circumstances. I know when I raise in late position and get called, then re-raised, I always get suspicious; but when someone min-3-bets me I am never thinking bluff. It gives off a very clear strength vibe.