Villain is a middle aged Asian who loves to gamble. Started the hand with $395.

Hero is an early thirties white guy and recently doubled up after raising J-J and flopping set over set. ($600)

Villain limps UTG
Three other players limp (SB, BB and MP)
Hero limps on the button with A6

Flop ($15): A96
Checked to Hero who bets $10, Villain calls, other players fold

Turn ($35): A
Obviously a great card for me as it completes the flush draw and boats my hand.
Hero bets $20, Villain calls.

River: 5
Villain bets $45, Hero raises to $145, Villain shoves. Hero?

Can I find a fold here? How often is he going to show up with A-9? It feels super nitty to fold the second nuts. I feel he has a lot more diamonds in his range and possibly 9-9.

Is this a clear call/ cooler if he has A-9?

Never, ever folding in this spot.

I think it's crazy to fold here, also because of the disclaimer you put on V.

We're 72:28 ahead of a range of {A5,A6,A9,99}. Depending on what "likes to gamble" means, he may have 55 here as well.

Definitely a call when we're only 130BB deep. Need more reads if we're 200BB+.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't think there was anyway to fold this hand. I called the shove. I think you can guess what he had.

I was thinking he might have 87 but... Guess he had A9 based on your last post.
Did you check the river? I would have bet river, if he raises you have option to shove or call.
Never folding A6 here. If V likes to gamble, limping A9 UTG is in his range but only one of many hands he might have here.

He bet the river ($45), I raised to $145. He then shoved. I actually thought for a minute before calling. I figured I was way ahead of his range, I just happened to run into the top.

A cooler for sure.

Never folding, Good play.

fist pump, slap the waitress five, head nod and tip the dealer before villain shows.....then laugh w the rest of the table when your shown A9.

but seriously this is never ever anything other than a get all your $ in the middle spot

Ha ha ha yeah. Pretty much what happened. I gave him a sincere "Very nice hand. " He expressed genuine shock that I had a boat too.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier was raise pre.

A suited A otb is a strong hand in a limped pot. There's dead $ in already and your giving yourself more ways to win. also you don't want the blinds in w/ atc, which is what happens at these levels. It's super hard to play when you can't define ranges.

the bigger the pot the tougher it is for the limp callers to play post flop. (Their more fit/fold post)

some will argue that you want to over flush villains w/ Axs. This happens very rarely and if it's going to happen it's going to happen regardless. Meaning a guy who is gonna stack of w/ QTs when he makes a flush is the same guy who is going to limp/call these types pre.

In general letting more players see the flop for cheap to try and hit this mystical flush over flush that's often talked about on here is absurd imo. In fact I would argue that raising increases the chance of someone stacking off strictly do to pot sizes going forward.

so yeah, raise pre

Excellent point. I am just getting back to poker after an extended break and I'm finding that I'm playing a little more passively than I used to (I have more mouths to feed so I'm having a tougher time distancing myself from the money). It's definitely a leak and I think I'm getting myself into bad situations because of this. I doubt I would have gotten him to fold pre but I think your point is still valid.

LMAO

I also overlimp preflop unless the 2 limpers and the blinds are quite tight (in which case I could get behind an isolation attempt raise). But my default is to overlimp behind and encourage a multiway limped pot with this speculative hand.

I play flop and turn the same way, although I probably bet more on the turn.

Wow, weird spot on the river. The one hand you didn't mention is A5, and if I was forced to narrow his range to one hand, that would be it. I think A9 is more apt to lead the flop (or check/raise it) and maybe even donk the turn (or put in more action). I don't feel great about going broke for 133bbs in a limped pot, but against a "middle aged Asian who loves to gamble", I'm doing so here.

GcluelessNLnoobG

You kind of hit the nail on the head with "going broke in a limped pot." That's why I posted this hand, I'm trying to avoid these situations where I have a strong-but-beatable hand in a limped pot where someone wants to GII. I love my hand but hate that it happened in a limped pot. I was ahead of everything but A-9.

Oh yeah in a limped pot I also need to remember after the flop that it was a limped pot ~ leak