AQ Suited in BB - 3 Bet Sizing

Lock Poker - $2 Bounty - 25/125/250 Blinds -- 8 Players

UTG - 6,640
UTG+1 - 4,995
MP - 3,448
HJ - 15,847
CO - 3,910
BTN - 13,179
SB - 3,741
BB (Hero) - 3,722

Pot is 475

Dealt to Hero Q, A

3 folds, Villain raises to 500, 3 folds, Hero raises to 1,500, Villain calls

I'm wondering about my 3-bet sizing here. I don't think I raised enough since Villain called, but I'm also not sure on how to determine 3-bet sizing. I thought that Villain had a wide range there with his min-raise and the fact that he's so huge (although the call did narrow his range a lot). I also thought my 3-bet would fold out most of his range, since it is a 3-bet of about half my stack and I thought that would look really strong.

I get that if I wanted him to fold, I should have just shoved, but I am asking more about determining 3-bet sizing instead of how this hand should have been played. I mean, I'm pot committed OTF and will shove no matter what hits since my stack size is now half the pot.

If you aren't going to shove pre, then this is a good spot for a go'n'go. Raise 1/3 the effective stack size preflop. If called that will leave a potsize bet left and you then shove pretty much any flop. This is a great play for lower level tourneys.

A 3bet to around half your stack would just strike me as a really odd thing to do and if I was the large stack and I have a decent hand I'm getting loads of equity to see a flop and I can afford to fold otf, whereas you can't so are shoving lots of hands you don't hit with.

A shove is definitely the best thing in this situations imo. I'm pretty sure villain can be calling your shove really wide mathematically, so when we get him to fold out good hands in his range which are +EV we are making tons of equity and we don't hate getting it in with AQs when we are so short stacked anyway.

As for how to determine your 3bet size, when you have so few chips the only moves we can really do are shove & fold. Anything else would require some serious reads.

Shove pre, you've got a strong hand and don't mind a call from a chip-leader who could well be loss and will call a lot of dominated hands to a shove pre. You're putting in 1.5k of 3.7k leaving yourself with just a pot size bet - if someone did this against you do you think it would look really, really strong?

Originally Posted by agnesamurphy

I'm wondering about my 3-bet sizing here. I don't think I raised enough since Villain called, but I'm also not sure on how to determine 3-bet sizing. I thought that Villain had a wide range there with his min-raise and the fact that he's so huge (although the call did narrow his range a lot). I also thought my 3-bet would fold out most of his range, since it is a 3-bet of about half my stack and I thought that would look really strong.

I get that if I wanted him to fold, I should have just shoved, but I am asking more about determining 3-bet sizing instead of how this hand should have been played. I mean, I'm pot committed OTF and will shove no matter what hits since my stack size is now half the pot.

It all depends on what you're trying to achieve and who you're up against. Effective stack sizes will make a big difference because so often any 3bet will commit you.

a 3x 3bet in mid to late game is usually too big though (imo).

I hate AQs in the bb (bad experiance big buy-in) . the deep stack will probrably call anyway (8s or better with your stack)!
so 3-bet or shove ? best to put Aq in a race (with your stack size) as much as i dislike AQs lol

As much as the go-and-go has lost value in the med-high stakes, its still a very viable option in this spot.

As a default, 2.2-2.5x is around normal for a 3b size post antes, adding maybe 0.25-0.5xbb if you're OOP or if you're squeezing. I would shove this hand, but 3bing to 1200 and then shoving any flop is a decent move too.