$3 NLHE MTT Rebuy: $3 NLHE MTT Rebuy: What to do with A6s in BB facing a 4x open from SB

$3 NLHE MTT Rebuy: $3 NLHE MTT Rebuy: What to do with A6s in BB facing a 4x open from SB

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 14/7/4

Here's the hand, I will hold off on the results to try to get some unbiased opinions on what Hero should do here. This is the $3.30, $1500 GTD tournament on ACR:

Winning Poker Network (Yatahay) - 175/350 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG+1: 55.41 BB (VPIP: 15.52, PFR: 12.28, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, hands: 58)
MP: 52.96 BB (VPIP: 29.31, PFR: 8.62, 3Bet Preflop: 9.52, Hands: 58)
MP+1: 29.45 BB (VPIP: 21.05, PFR: 5.36, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 58)
CO: 27.34 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
BTN: 27.98 BB (VPIP: 36.00, PFR: 4.17, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)
SB: 57.35 BB (VPIP: 13.79, PFR: 7.02, 3Bet Preflop: 10.53, Hands: 58)
Hero (BB): 36.31 BB
UTG: 17.75 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 100.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)

8 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.3 BB) Hero has A<font color='red'>♥</font> 6<font color='red'>♥</font>

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3.8 BB

What should hero do here? Folding seems weak, but the open size makes me think that Villain either has some sort of strong pair or a stronger Ax type hand that will have me outkicked. Unless I flop a flush draw, I don't see many situations where I will LOVE the flop...but again this is SB .vs. BB, so maybe I was looking too much into it. Maybe a small 3bet bluff to make it easier to play, especially since the hand works well as a 3bet bluff against almost every hand?

I hadn't seen Villain open to this size before, he seemed like a regular, and it made me think that he probably just had a strong hand. Idk...thoughts?

Yes he maybe bluff when he saw thats all opponents folds, I would call and see the flop, but would be careful on the flop.

I think that the OR as the limp are good options, but vs a regular player I prefer limp in order to create a dynamic of a passive player, and when this happens you can limp strong hands to trap him.

Has he raised your blind before when it's folded round? What was the sizing? You can't compare blind v blind sizing to normal open sizing. This sizing is more common in that spot as it creates more fold equity when your weak and builds a bigger pot when strong and called, both compensating for being OOP.

I wouldn't necessarily say it means they're strong, more likely it's that they're weak as it looks like they don't want a call.

I'd probably sometimes call and sometimes 3-bet bluff with A6s. Stats look pretty tight though, raising range is similar to 3-bet range. However, again the blind v blind situation is different. 35BB isn't a great stack size, I'd raise up to 10BB as a bluff, put pressure on them and let them know you can't be bullied. Then only carry on with really strong hands.

He had never opened to that size blind on blind before, to be completely honest I think he had only one other hand where we had a blind .vs. blind face off and I think he limped and then I raised and he folded. So that's why I percieve his almost 4x raise as strong...and I don't really think a 4x is standard, especially only 35 BBs deep or something like that. Seems to be a rather large open to me, I think 3x would be much more standard...I like the idea of raising to 11BBs and either getting him to commit or fold, and if he commits just assume he probably has a stronger hand.

b vs b spots are generally tricky spots where you can lose lots of chips. Based on your explanation, the V has very tight stats and this was the first time that he 4X opened. I don't think so 3-bet to 10bb (risking 33% of your stack) would be an optimal play with 35bb against someone who has a very tight image. However, 4X opening raise is telling that he has some mediocre type hand that he is not comfortable to play with post flop obviously and he wants to get value from it preflop. I would personally call since we are getting 1 to 3 pot odds in position and play post flop.

I think your options should probably involve shoving and not trying to 3-bet. You're a dog to big pocket pairs if he calls, but fine against suited connectors, etc. With such a tight player they're pretty likely to fold, they're just trying to steal your blind with such a large open.

In hindsight, I prefer a call definitely. Playing in position with a suited ace can never really end badly even to a 4x open. However, as someone mentioned before, I read this large open as weakness and at the time didn't really like the idea of 3bet folding so I just shoved and thought he would fold a large majority of the time. Even when he calls, we normally have like 33% or something like that against the majority of his range. The shove seemed rather rash now, as he snap called with 10s and we didn't get there.

The board ran out 623J2, so I guess I'm probably losing a large majority of my stack regardless of how I play the hand. But still, I don't want to be results oriented here, and if I come across this spot again I'll probably just be calling with a suited ace in position. Seems like the better play in the long run, as we can outplay a lot of SBs holdings on certain board runnouts. However, when we get it all in preflop, we deny ourself that chance and have to just hope to get there. Thanks for the input bros!

That's why I don't think shoving is a great option, puts so much at risk. I think the 3-bet gets them off the hand when they are weak but lets you get away when they are strong. Playing a 35BB stack is not much better than a 25BB stack tbh, I think it's worth the gamble on the 3-bet, if he calls you've at least narrowed their range and can play the flop with more information or fold when they shove. Flating here means their range could still be very wide, obvious pros and cons there.

Then again, calling and playing in position is never that bad.

The combination of the stats and the limp fold in previous blind probably does lean more towards strength though.

I think larger raise sizes are more common in this position, not standard play though.

I think you are a little too deep to go all in. 3bet folding doesn't seem like a great play either but its either that or calling. I would lean towards calling.