So this is my first time taking a shot at a bigger red chip game, and I was slightly nervous (called down light a few times, 3-bet without the goods, spewed when i misread the board, etc). I ended up playing better and running better later in the session, but here's a hand from early in the day:

8-handed must-move table. Villain is an old guy UTG +1 who has been willing to open raise and double barrel all sorts of trash (two orbits ago he raised it up w/ A5o in this position). He doesn't play like a standard old guy.

Hero has Q Q in the SB.

Pre-flop: UTG +1 raise, folds to me and I 3!, UTG +1 calls.

Flop (3.3 BB after drop): K J 4

I bet, UTG +1 raise, I call

Turn (5.3 BB): J

I check, UTG +1 bet, I raise...

The flop raise is strong enough that I think your hand is a bluffcatcher on the turn. I call down instead. Why would you want to stop his river bluffs? He likes to spew so let him.

That's one thing I was thinking, but at the same time, is he really raising my pre-flop 3 bet range, on this board, with trash? I feel like if he's not insane, any hand he reasonably raises with OTF that I'm ahead of, got there OTT.

I could be wrong and that he likes to spew without initiative pre-flop as much as he does with it, though.

grunch

spewy.

your hand wants to get to showdown. versus his flush draws/straight draws or worse PP (TT, 99, 88 if he plays them this way), you'd like to let him value own himself by continuing to bet. otherwise, you're just putting a lot of bets in against a better hand. you're turning a value/showdown hand into a bluff, unless you're k/r'ing the turn for value. in which case, i'd like to hear what range from which you get value.

there's nothing in your read that says, "villain will raise the flop and barrel in position with all sorts of trash." your read is that he double barrels a lot. it seems like this situation is different.

if the guy has a flush draw, straight draw, or a worse pair, let him barrel with it.

Do you bet out no matter what comes on the river? If he calls the turn and the river your only getting 1 more bet out of him with your c/r. What if you get 3 OTT? Fold? I think the c/r was not valuable. I agree with the call down.

I was raising at the time to charge a potential flush draw, or get him off a king. I felt his flop range consisted of Kx, Jx, any AT, AQ, and QT (though the c-bet in position mitigated these) and flush draws.

R/f was the plan, no way he isn't 3'ing anything but a hand that smokes me OTT.

What about Ax, AT, AQ(no preflop cap so it's discounted but still there), QT, T9, Q9, and other flushdraws? Also consider the possibility that he's running a pure bluff.

When you're trying to develop reads you don't want to turn showdownable hands into bluffs. Your sample is tiny.

In the case of flush draws, I should be getting value out of them here, and him folding a flush draw is a huge win for me in this spot w/ the pot odds in play.

I didn't even consider the possibility that he folds a flushdraw. Looking at the math, if he has the flushdraw then you're winning about 1.6 big bets with your turn raise. If he bets the turn and river with his missed flushdraw then you're winning 1.8 big bets. This is assuming everything else is equal, but it illustrates the fact that you win 100% of the bet when he bluffs the river, but only a fraction of the bet on the turn. Add that you probably don't beat any of his value hands and it's clear that you hold a bluffcatcher. Take away his bluffs and QQ is junk.

I see. I guess in this situation I would of rather 3bet OTF and cbet OTT IMO. Don't be nervous, chips are chips. If you can't play your game at its peak I wouldn't play higher at the moment. People can see this and I think it's a huge disadvantage to anyone, I personally pick on these people (in terms of poker, not in real life).

So looks like the consensus is spew.

What other hands should I be calling down with on this board, though?

I think raising showdown-able hands in this spot is a generic thing I tend to do a bit too often, and FWIW I got back on my game later and ran pretty good (+ 60 BB swing in around 5 hours of play). Definitely some things to clean up, though.

You could go the gto route and fold the bottom x% of your range and you wouldn't be exploitable, but I'd rather exploit him by calling all bluffcatchers on turn and river blanks.

I'm thinking 66-KTs, Ahigh broadway draws and Ahigh flushdraws. I'm probably dumping A9- to the flop raise if I don't have a bdfd though. Without the added draw equity I think the weaker Ahighs aren't getting good enough effective odds, though street by street it may look like a calldown. The reverse implied odds suck too because he's in position with the lead so he can check back if he wants to and exploit his image by only value betting, but you hardly know him so you're forced to calldown. On scary rivers I'll fold the weaker Ahigh flushdraws or Broadway draws depending on what hits, but I don't plan on folding a lot.

That's just my plan though and I hope others aren't shy about answering your question.

Problem I have here is that I'm never 3-betting <= KTs here OOP, even against this guy. 66 is probably light, though I'd consider 77.

So that makes my cd range 77-TT, QQ, AQ, AT, A x. Seems narrow? Should I even add something like KQ/AK here so that I have something to punish a double barrel w/ top pair?