Part: Part Five - Betting Before the Flop

Set-mining in a multiway pot

Pre-flop
Blinds 100 / 200Pot 1,500 (7.5 BB)BTN3♣3♦● 25,000 (125 BB)YOUto actMP● 25,000 (125 BB)Openerraises 600 (3 BB)HJ● 25,000 (125 BB)Callercalls 600 (3 BB)SB● 25,000 (125 BB)posts 100 (0.5 BB)BB● 25,000 (125 BB)posts 200 (1 BB)D

A player opens to 600, another calls, and it's on you on the button with 3♣3♦.

An opener and a caller are already in; you hold 3♣3♦ on the button. Best?

WhyCall. With a raiser and a caller in, your implied odds are excellent: you flop a set ~12% of the time with two opponents to pay you off, and you have position. Three-betting bloats the pot as an underdog; folding passes up a clearly profitable set-mine.
What happensYou call; the blinds fold. Three-way to the flop.  Pot: 2,100 (10.5 BB).
Flop
Heads-upPot 2,100 (10.5 BB)A♠K♦7♣BTN3♣3♦● 25,000 (125 BB)YOUno set - just a small pairMP● 25,000 (125 BB)Openerbets 1,500 (7.5 BB)D

Flop A♠ K♦ 7♣ - you missed your set entirely. The opener bets into the field.

You whiffed the set on an ace-king flop and he bets. Best?

WhyFold. You set-mined for a set and didn't flop it; pocket threes have almost no equity on A-K-7 against a bettor and a player still behind. The discipline of set-mining is folding instantly when the set doesn't come.
What happensYou fold.  Cheap miss, no set, no problem.
You called purely for set value with great multiway implied odds, then folded the instant the flop bricked. Set-mining is call-cheap, hit-or-fold - the discipline is as important as the call.

Multiway pots boost a small pair's implied odds for set-mining - call cheaply for the set, and fold without hesitation when you miss.