Hand has me ruminating since last week so I need a bit of advice.

Late night 4/8 table (on a High Hand bonus night) down to five players and talk has been to quit soon. Villain and one other have already begun to rack up. Last fifteen hands, very small pots where any flop bet takes it down.

Villain (Button) was true TAG when table was full....and has (probably) loosened up, though no pure evidence of this other than more active PF. Will CB IP....and can barrel all the way with air vs. weakness. Probably best player at table (including better than me) at this point.

Hero (BB) is active and too loose during last hour. PF, positional raising...but generally passive OOP. Post, I c/f often at FR. My c/r have folded out the field as table has gotten smaller. (My FR MO is tight aggressive.....so maybe this hand is a holdover from that?)

Folds to Villain who bets, SB folds and I call with A4

Flop 844

Hero?

checks

Yeah, after I read your reply (had a chuckle)...it is common strat to allow villain to bet.

So yes, Hero checked and villain bet.

Hero? Do we call and allow villain to get a piece (assuming he missed flop completely) or do we raise flop hoping villain continues?

i'd just checkraise fastplay

if we check-raise he may give up quickly

otherwise i dont understand why you told us this novel

I'd check raise the flop.

It's always possible to say what "might" happen, so it's better to think about what's "likely" to happen.

I think it's very likely based on the flop texture that villain will at least call the check-raise. It's unclear whether I would expect him to follow-up with a turn bet if he has nothing.

"Otherwise"? It's just information about villain.

I would have been more interested in the actual fill of the racks. If he had something like one and a half rows filled in his top rack, the chances of him continuing to go forward are higher than if he had only one chip in the top rack. I would expect him to check his nothings on the turn if he only had one chip left. If it were closer to 2-3 rows, perhaps he's willing to fling those loose chips around.

But since that information isn't available, I would just discount it as being actionable information.

So you think it's useless info and we should play standard.
Some guys play the same when they are about to leave, some want to leave in a good mood (not to lose much even if it's FL). So for me choosing non-standard line to make him confused is more +EV. I consider even donking. Why not.

Confusing someone is not always +EV. This is a good way to FPS yourself into bad situations.

Good, if i had 87,86,etc. i would like that.

btw,i could cap or call and c/r turn when he has an over pair or even a strong 8 by letting him the chance if i c/r the flop.