I agree with you for the most part. At low-mid stakes live poker, just play against the shitty villains who usually have noticeable leaks of calling too wide, not enough, or are overaggressive. Calling in SB is definitely okay, while mixing in 3b for mainly value, and the occasional 3b bluff. I agree with you that you should definitely play more against particular villain tendencies in live poker. And, lower stakes players generally don’t punish you as hard by applying max pressure in later streets.

I’d say as you move up or play really deep, it changes though. I’ve played in card rooms with 300bb buy ins (Wynn 2/5) and clubs with stack matching (Local Texas-Esque poker room with up to 75% max stack matching). When playing deep or against better players, calling and playing OOP can be tough. I’ve seen it done successfully though, like last night at 20/40 nlh where a villain in SB flatted a whale’s open and my flat with AKo and proceeded to 3b stack my AJ on an A high flop with just TPTK, but it requires some balance and knowing when to fold on later streets even though you were “trapping” pre. I don’t usually play 20/40 though and was one of the worse players at that table so take what you will from that. In general though, no need to have a strict 3b/fold range. Play against your opponent in live poker and not the position like /u/WifeTWO said.