More of a theory-type post...

Assume that the opener is a bad player and that the blinds are also bad and loose (VPIP>50). Stacks are 150bbs and it's 6-max. We're OTB in all examples. Tell me if my PLO reasoning makes sense

Hand 1 - dealt [ A 8 J 9 ]

MP opens, Hero calls - our hand is very good in position (I think), but we have the NFD and would want the blinds to tag along. We can control the pot size and punish players for chasing non-nut draws.

Hand 2 - dealt [ K J Q 6 ]

MP opens, Hero 3-bets - we don't have a NFD, but double-suited w/3 broadway our hand should play well in position, so we want to limit the field to simply the PFR.

Hand 3 - dealt [ 8 7 6 5 ]

w/ this hand, I think it's standard to 3-bet from any position.

Whether to three-bet depends more on your overall strategy rather than your specific hand. Depending on the strategy you are playing, any of the hands you listed could be a call or a 3 bet. You want to mix up your three-bet range to include your AAxx type hands, but also some other hands so people will not be able to put you on AA exclusively when you three bet. The number of non-AA hands that you three bet will depend on the % of your AA hands that you three bet.

The other consideration is the type of hand you should three bet with. The ideal is hands that have good equity against AAxx hands so that you won't have to fold if four bet. This basically means double suited rundown hands like 789Tds and also hands like TT99ds (TT98ds is not quite as good). Bad hands to three bet would be KKxx with bad side cards, or any hand containing an Ace.

It also depends on the opponent. For an opponent that always has AA when he raises, then you should never three bet at all. For an opponent that is very loose, you should be willing to three bet with KKxxds or AKxxds type hands because of their good preflop equity. For the typical opponent who raises AAxx and some other premium hands, you can three bet your premium suited connector hands, but you should be cautious to three bet with hands that play badly against aces.

So in your specific examples. Hand 1 - if opponent who opens is raising with a lot of garbage hands, then I could consider three-betting, since this hand probably has pretty good equity against his range. If the opponent has Aces a good percent of the time, I would not raise since I will have to fold if three bet.

Hand 2 - I probably would almost never three bet, since this hand is pretty crappy. If I three bet it would be with the hope of outplaying opponent post flop, but I don't really play this way

Hand 3 - this is not a great hand to three bet because it is unsuited. If it was double suited I would three bet it most of the time.

One other thing to consider is that is that when the hero holds hand 1, there are only 3 aces left in the deck. The chances of the villain having AAxx (and thus the risk of a 4-bet) go way down.

good point

dingas good post thanks. If y'all have any other theory-type posts let 'em fly