The hammer play

Iv got a couple of questions about the hammer play/3betting

1 is this a more common strategy for tournament play or is it just as common in cash games

2 what hands should I use to come over the top with things like AQ KJ JJ poker 9s etc

3-bet based on the type of opponents you are playing against

3-betting in Cash games definitely happens, but it's more common in tournament, especially after the antes kick in. When 3-betting with antes there's about an extra BB out there for you to win which makes it more profitable. Whether or not it works depends more on the people you are playing against than the cards you're holding (although holding great cards is always a major plus). I say this because if you're playing against people who only play their cards and don't think about what you could have, then they're just going to look down at their pocket 3's, look at the size of the pot and call or shove. However, if you're playing against decent opponents who can identify your tendencies, then there's a better chance of them giving up the pot.

If you are playing against novices, I would limit it to AQo or better KQs or better and JJ or better.

I think this is villan dependent, you will see some players who raise every button, but if you look at their fold to 3bet its like 90% - you can 3bet them with any 2. If the villan hardly ever raises or never folds to 3bets you better have a really tight range. Another consideration is stack depth....if you have 20 bbs you need to be careful because you can pot commit yourself fairly easily.