Hand Feedback at 2NL

Hand is fine. I would probably bet 33 on the flop because range bets rock but it's a horrible board and that is that.

I've never payed any attention to the aggro stat but if you want to get better at bluffing you need two things: 1) a broad understanding of the basic theory and 2) lots of practice.

For 1) it's difficult to advise a route because everyone's different. Are you a maths person or a visual person? If visual you might want to start using gtowizard or a cheap solver quite early on to start to conceptualise how we split ranges into folds/calls/raises/bluffs. Don't be intimidated though, everyone is still so bad at poker just having some basic understanding will start to separate you from the pack.

2) sounds easy but the biggest issue when starting out is understanding variance well enough to weather the emotional turmoil that accompanies playing more aggressively. It's extraordinarily difficult to lose several hands in a row to a solid bluff and still make the next correct bluff with no hesitation. Things like that.

But there is another 'bonus' route you could take instead. You could just practice getting good enough to beat 10nl with a more nittier, value-orientated style that will almost certainly win long term. Get used to variance. And all the while start to practice little bluffs here and there when things are going well and then, afterwards, hyper anlayse them by online and seeking honest feedback as you are now. [In fact that's another good mitigation against the fear. You can tell yourself although the bluff failed and you don't know if it's good yet at the very least it will provide valuable information on how to improve going forward. I try and operate a no BBs were ever 'lost' education strategy]

The board is equally as horrible for villain, given your 3bet range

Ax makes up a lot of villain's range, but not all of it. Would a x/r line for pot on the flop be profitable?

That's exactly my thought and question. Villain is a 15/12 nittish type, so I presume he'll probably have more Ax and less other stuff--but a x/r would likely be a good option on wider villains I would think?

x/r ensures villain continues with an A and folds everything else. If you x/r and get called, how do you play on any non-J turn ?

That's why I'm thinking (now) that playing as is versus a tight reg/nit (like I was) was good, but x/r the flop vs. someone much wider (fish/weak lag) to induce those folds might be a good play. If it gets called, then I know I'm beat. Sound logic?

Appreciate the responses, these thought experiments bouncing ideas off others really is how I learn best.

It would be a good idea with 54 : it's worthless unimproved and it can improve to a very strong hand. If you get called and don't hit the turn you know you're beat, but you don't mind too much because you had 5 high to start with. JJ is the different, it will rarely improve and it has good value now. If you just bet the flop they will call with a lot of hands you beat, like most pocket pairs, that will most likely fold to a x/r.

And what hand do you want to check-raise for value anyway? AA would be weird, you block their calling range and give them an easy exit, A3 a bit the same and 33 you don't have.

Got it--that makes sense. I appreciate the example!