A buddy of mine played this hand last night and we disagreed on his final decision. Just curious to see what other people think of the final decision, as he played it:

Hero, SB (my buddy) $1,250
V1 (UTG) I don't know what his stack was
V2 (MP) $620

V1 raises to $20, V2 flats. Folds around to Hero who raises to $80 with AK. V1 folds, V2 calls.

Flop ($185)
774
Hero checks, V2 checks

Turn ($185)
6
Hero bets $95, V2 calls

River ($375)
3
Hero checks, V2 jams for $450

As played, Hero?

Not a lot of info on V2. My buddy described him as a young unknown that seemed to be playing decently without anything out of the ordinary to affect his river decision. My buddy is a 21yo wearing his headphones/hoody.

Fold.

Tell your buddy to stop wearing hoodies and headphones; they're bad for the game.

Easy fold imo

I would have 3 bet to $120 pre and bet the flop.

Flop check is debatable but I'm a fan of checking OOP there for the most part. The turn bet is VERY bad in my opinion. No point in folding out all of his bluffs by betting here. We're getting value from like AQ or AJ maybe but that's a critical mistake in the hand which makes us have a tough decision on the river. If we check turn, there's 2 scenarios:

1. He bets, we check/call and possibly check/call river
2. He checks, we bet/fold river or check/call river

As played though, it's still a close decision on the river IMO. The 2nd nut flush is a bluff catcher at this point but when we bet turn and check river we are representing a wide range of hands that will be almost certainly check/folding and anybody who plays at higher levels will exploit this play. That being said, it's 2/5 so I guess folding is not a bad decision and can't be faulted.

I'm more of a bet flop here than he is but I can see merits in both bet and check. I'm more likely to bet when I have a tight image and check when I have a loose one. Once he decided to check the flop, I'm not sure I liked the turn bet he made either unless he was planning to follow it up with a bluff/blocker bet on the river which I think would have been easier to fold to (and he didn't do this). Betting turn and checking river feels like you're inviting someone to run over you. I agree that you're making yourself exploitable here unless you do it after you just hit the nuts against a very aggressive player who wouldn't call a bet and you're trying to induce one out of them.

I don't know that check flop and check/call turn is a line most players take here when they may be drawing dead on the turn to a lot of combinations.

I too think it's really close as played. I advised him that I would have called here. Based on his line he looks extremely weak here and I think a player betting the river behind him for value is going to size it smaller hoping to get a call by a hand like JJx, QQx, or KKx. I think my buddy's river check takes most A out of his range since he didn't lead it for value. I just don't see what V2 can be putting my buddy on that a bet that large is extracting value from. If V2 has a full house or A flush I think his bet size is usually a mistake based on the weakness displayed in front of him.

Probably fold here.

Villain is passive the entire hand but then wakes up on this river with a big bluff? Not likely enough to justify the call.

Villain could easily have A / full house / 5 , and correctly recognize he's never getting raised, and probably thinks any call is going to be a bluffcatcher, so why not bet as bluffy as possible looking for max value.

Grunch: More pre, like 95-100. Bet the flop like $65, then bet the turn all in. As played, readless this is dumb but I think it's an exploitable fold vs random 2/5 player with $650.

On the turn I like a check/call. Our hand has more value as a bluff catcher

I don't think villain should ever have 5c so this river is probably a call

Hero also has medium pairs with a club a lot more than the a or k of clubs, also hands without a club (idk what villain thinks turn lead represents but if he has put hero on a weak range hero seems to close to the top to fold)

If hero isn't calling this bet why check?

I think it's just one of those spots where you get shown the nuts ~always at 2/5 (or frequently enough for it to be a fold). There's a few things happening here:

1- the overbet shove is virtually always the nuts at these stakes. Doesn't matter how weird the line is or how fishy the shove looks, it's just always the nuts ime

2- guy plays super passively all hand then goes insane on river. If you ever do see the rare 2/5 overbet shove, it's a guy 3b/b/b/b or otherwise trying to put on max pressure, not what you see here

3- I don't give 2/5 villains enough credit to turn a made hand into a bluff here and villain basically has to have a made hand. At higher stakes someone will turn 99 or TT into a bluff here because while they may be good, it looks like hero may fold his entire range anyway, so why not bet. People don't do that at 2/5 nearly enough.

All those factors combined make it a fold for me. I would legit consider folding Ac here too.

Obviously the result doesn't make a difference, but the V in the hand had J9hh and called the turn with the sole intention of turning the hand into a bluff. My buddy's assessment of him seeming like a decent player was probably a bit off but it was too early in the night for him to get a good profile on the guy. A little while later, V got caught on a fairly substantial triple barrel bluff.

I don't think my buddy played the hand optimally since the turn bet followed by a river check just feels terribly weak. Granted, a river blocker bet would have made it really hard to fold to a raise given the odds he'd have, but even if b/f on the river is a bad play I would have preferred it to a check. I think betting the turn and then checking the river is just so exploitable with the weakness that it shows.

I think once he decided to check the flop he should have just check-called the rest of the hand with his bluff catcher. That was probably the optimal line.

Pre fine
Flot bet small 1/4-1/3 or x
Turn x
River bet or x
Probably just fold but it's a little bit close

The shove seems a little bit fishy and polarizing here... I could see myself sometimes finding a call, depending on reads, etc, but usually gonna fold.

Fold I just don't think you beat V often enough for this call to be profitable

With that being said, bet flop