Shorthanded Games: 3-betting preflop

[PShabi]

So far in my shorthanded play, I've found that I've been challenged a bit pre-flop. I've done some research, and what I've seen by way of 3-betting standards has been pretty loose.

Two charts I've looked at suggest 3-betting:

-Pairs down to 7 (I'm cool with that.)
-Ace-suited down to 10, 9 on the button (Eh, if it's multiway I've been cold calling. I should be raising for value?)
-AK-AJ with A10 being marginal
- KQs and KJs with K10s marginal from the button
- KQ (are you guys 3-betting this?)
- KJ from the button marginally?
- QJs from the button?

I don't think I 3-bet enough if this is the case. Let's say it's 5-handed and I'm on the button. It goes limp, raise. Do I reraise k10s?

I would normally call.

****** Here's another hypothetical along the lines of raising for value. Blind play though:

Playing 5-max games, I see a lot of 3-handed pots like this.

You're in the big blind. Loose-passive calls on button, weak small blind completes.

What range of hands can you raise here for value from the BB?

What about if there's one more limper and it's 4-way? What hands can fit in that range now? Will PokerStove compute this for me?

[nutbag]

Preflop gives me a lot of trouble too, but in my case, almost all decisions I make playing short handed are table dependant. You're realizing that these decisions are based on how many are already in the pot, but I think a lot also depends on the passiveness/aggressiveness at the table. A three bet against a passive player means he or she is going to be scared and probably calling down with a pair, while a three bet against an aggressive player means that he's got another chance to raise(but it can be a chance to isolate that person if your positoin is right).

My personal reraise standards are a little better than these cards at a table where I have no real information. These are the hands i'll open raise with most of the time, but i'll I save that extra bet for a raise on the flop if I hit. Imo, Preflop raises(and especially reraises) seem to mean little or nothing to 6-max players. If you reraise and miss these hands, any player/players with anything are going to call you down and you'll be faced with a difficult turn decision so many times.

For instance, your k10 hand. If you're up against AK or JJ or better, that's just more money your putting in as an underdog. You'll probably be check/called on the flop, and check raised on the turn if the other person hits or has a big pair. But a call on the other hand lets you see if you hit without putting more money into the pot on a marginal hand.

Flop raises, on the other hand, can be so useful to gather information/scare somebody into giving you a free turn when you're heads up. To me, it seems like a much better way to use/save(by folding to a bet on an ugly flop) that third small bet on hands like the ones you've listed.