PokerStars - $0.50 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 25.37, PFR: 17.91, 3Bet Preflop: 4.35, Hands: 68)
SB: 158.78 BB (VPIP: 32.14, PFR: 17.86, 3Bet Preflop: 15.38, Hands: 29)
Hero (BB): 109.9 BB
CO: 109.12 BB (VPIP: 32.26, PFR: 29.03, 3Bet Preflop: 9.09, Hands: 33)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

CO raises to 2.5 BB, fold, SB calls 2 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, CO calls 7.5 BB, fold

Flop: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 5 9 J
Hero bets 9.4 BB, CO calls 9.4 BB

Turn: (41.3 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 22.28 BB, CO calls 22.28 BB

River: (85.86 BB, 2 players) K
Hero bets 68.22 BB and is all-in,

Hope he has AJ and just paid you off. Well played.

Too bad if he flopped JJJ /999. A winning strategy is the way you played. NH

Could have some QT or KJ in his range although OP blocks KJ.

c/f flop
c/f turn
river's good

OP, I like your reasoning for playing this way. The way you get so in depth about your thoughts and your opponents stats and even tendencies is amazing. Thank you.

I like betting the river but would suggest a smaller bet.

You only have 33 hands against villain, but at 31/29 it's already likely that villain is raising a lot of hands from the CO. By default I might assume a relatively loose player will call a 3bet in position with:

* any pair
* suited connectors
* AJ+, any 2 suited cards T or above

After 2 flat calls on a relatively wet board, you can usually eliminate big hands. That gives you something like this:

* around 12 combos of pocket pairs: TT and maybe 88
* around 18 combos of suited connectors and 1-gappers that made weak pairs (98, JT)
* 1 combo of KJs (only KJd is possible)
* 24 combos of sets: which I discount to 8 combos based on lack of a raise by the turn

Given that the range is weighted towards 2nd and 3rd pair, I'd bet an amount that would pay off with these hands (1/4-1/3rd pot). You'll sometimes get bluffed raised as well, which you can snap-call here against a small-stakes LAG.

Of course - all of this is moot against a bad player. If you think villain is fishy then by all means ship it in :-)

i agree with checking flop with AK, but wonder if we can c/c with As vs say half pot bet? i feel like we are check folding sooo much

I wasn't paying attention to suits. Doubt I fold to a bet with a bdfd and bdsd . Certainly not betting though, as you mention.

I considered checking the flop but the reason I decided to bet was that I thought I would be unbalanced in my betting range.

In game, I felt that betting the with my AK hands that had either the A or K of spades would be an easy way to include a bluff that has a lot of equity vs his calling range.

I wasn't sure if this was a good strategy or if I was now bluffing too much in this spot.

Id check the turn personally but it's fine as played.

c/c flop, as played c/f turn, as played river is good

I'd just give up on turn but jamming river as played.