Pretty deep stacked and crazy, gambly game.

H ($1400): Mid-twenties tight-aggressive player. Takes down a high percentage of pots he's in, but almost always shows the goods when it goes to showdowns. Has been running good this session and mostly hitting flops well.
V1 ($1100): Early-thirties passive-weak player. Calling Station. Called down Hero's 3 barrel earlier in the night with second pair on the flop and V1's hand was good.
V2 ($950): Early-thirties hyper aggressive player. Is already down $3,000 for the night through a series of failed bluff-shoves and missed draws.

Hero is dealt A K in CO. 2 limpers. Hero raises to $15.

V1 in SB calls $15.

V2 in BB raises to $48.

2 limpers fold.

Hero calls $48.

V1 calls $48.

Flop ($148) is A K 4 rainbow.

Checks around to Hero. Hero bets $100.

V1 calls.

V2 calls.

Turn ($448) T

V1 leads out for $200.

V2 raises all-in for $802.

Hero tanks.. and folds.

Is this too nitty? I'm thinking that there isn't many hands in V2's 3-bet range that I beat - even with his gambly image, and the shove into a multi-way pot doesn't seem like a bluff to me.

V1 (weak-passive calling station) has shown strength by betting out. The entire table, including V2, knows V1 is a calling station; so I'm not sure if V2 is counting on V1 folding - even if he folds me out. But I could be wrong and levelling myself.

Did I make a bad fold?

V2 is a maniac but is he crazy enough to run a bluff through 2 players? Is he crazy enough to 3bet pre from the BB with A10/A4/K4/QJ, or to even call that flop bet with QJ? You block AA/KK to 1 combo each but that doesn't mean it's impossible for him to have that here, and specifically with AA he would likely check this flop, but he also might reraise your flop bet with AA. Could be spazzing out and turning JJ/QQ into a bluff.

Strange turn lead by SB, maybe slow played 44 or A10?

Weird hand. You've invested $148 into the pot and stand to lose another $802, the lower variance line is to fold here and I don't mind just folding this one and moving on.

I think you have to call it off. Hyper aggro V is down $3K on failed bluffs and missed draws. Tilt could well be a factor. V2 3b range against a CO open and SB flat is pretty wide and could easily include A4s (which he'd gleefully shove as the nuts). Maybe V2 knows V1 is passive; OTOH, passive players can be blown off hands with big bets and sometimes LLSNL V's don't clearly process all the information available. It's $800 to win $1400+. It's not a wonderful spot, but I can't fold a hand this strong against him.

We're going to lose fairly often, but I think we're ahead enough to make it a call.

I'd be more worried about V1 than V2. V2 can have lots of weird combo draws, especially if he is hyperLAG. When V1 donks the turn, what does he have other than QJ or 44?

Did you think about 4betting preflop? I know you have the advantage of position, but AKo is way ahead of a LAG BB 3bet, and it makes your life a lot easier those times when you don't flop a pair or two.

There are a lot of hands I put into this category.

With the pot tripling from flop to turn, it looks like stacks are going all-in this hand.

If the Villain(s) noticed that, are their ranges for check/calling, betting, or shoving dramatically different? They all lead to the same result, all-in by the river.

In fact sometimes I wonder whether the reverse of what Hero is thinking is true. If the Villain has the top of his range are those the hands he's least likely to shove?

On the other hand there are not a lot of obvious bluff combos.

Any merit to 4 betting pre? I'm not thrilled about it this deep, but we do have position and a guy who seems like the type to three bet/call with dominated hands here.

Preflop is a slam dunk 4-bet for value.

Yea for sure. And make it big.

Good HH. Solid first post OP

I wouldn't be surprised if you were in 3rd place here but I expect V1 to show up w/44 or QJcc/hh/dd. Good fold IMO.

So even though described as hyper-aggressive you think V2 has a reasonable 3bet range here? Like what specifically do you think his 3bet range is here?

I don't have anything to add to what others already said. Seems like a standard case of: "hate to fold but gotta fold but let me think about it yeah I fold"

Yeah, V1 leads < half pot into two opponents with a high probability of getting raised. Almost no chance he isn't beating 2 pair here and you have (probably) 4 outs. Good fold.

Okay good, was worried I was going full aggrotard in spots like this.

OP here. Thanks everyone for your feedback - it was really useful and thought-provoking.

Agreed that we should 4-bet pre-flop most of the time. Here's some back-story with V2 to explain why I didn't..

V2 and I were engaged in a levelling war for most of the game.

It started after I noticed that he was opening pre-flop light, and I started to 3-bet him light in position.

It worked for a few times till he caught on, and then he started to 4-bet me light - and I adjusted by shoving his 4-bets all-in when I felt that he was weak. (could be crazy spew on my part)

There was one hand where I shoved K-10 pre-flop to his 4-bet, and he open folded A-K, and I responded by showing him my hand to try to put him on tilt. (bad move?)

--

So back to the hand - I wasn't sure if I was ready to call a 4-bet / shove with A-K, given the dynamics with V2 - hence I decided to flat.

In most scenarios, if I was heads-up with V2 alone, I guess the turn shove would be a slam dunk call. But with V1 in the equation, I wasn't so sure anymore, hence I folded.

So what's on my mind is - is V2 crazy enough / on-tilt to bluff-shove knowing V1 is strong too?

Given the added meta game dynamics, top 2 is pretty strong here??? At any time he may show up with a hamd, but it seems you two were more interested in blowing each other off of hands. You showed him up last and now he wants you to lay down better?!

Some people play weak hands stronger and get trappy with monsters. If he is the latter, and is blasting away, heads up, this is a call.

What is v1 donking range?

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Grunch:

This is balls deep for 1/2.

Anyways, pf seems like a clear 4bet. A losing LAG 3bets from BB to our CO open after SB calls... His range should be pretty wide & he'd continue w/ worse or flips OOP. His 3bet is trying to scoop up the preflop money so much more often than going for value.

AP, I'd fold as well. Might be different if it was BB leading out, but when a passive player starts shoveling chips in & we have to commit 400bb, I get real cautious. SB is basically signaling that he wants to play for stacks.

Interesting. So the passive player leading out got your spider sense tingling as well.

Would you call if V2 hadn't shoved, and called/folded instead?

If V2 doesn't shove, I don't think I can fold getting better than 3:1, but I'm not thrilled at all.

Got it. Thanks for your reply!

Then assuming we call, V2 folds - and on the river V1 leads out for 3/4 pot?