Took about a 6 month break from poker because my life was insanely busy. This is my 5th session since getting back to the casino, wanted to get some feedback on some hands.

Hero has about $350, sat down an hour ago. I am probably seen as aggressive, mostly due to some good cards coming my way.

3 folds to Hero in MP, raises to $12 with AJ
Villan MP ($55) calls. He has been buying in for 100 and playing very passive.
Villan HJ ($700) calls. Showing down premium hands, seems very competent.
Villan CO ($300) calls. Haven't seen him do much in the hour I've been there.
Villan BTN ($400) calls. Claims he had 22 on AQ2-A-Q board when I called his $75 river bet with AK, he didn't show.
Blinds fold.

Flop ($63) - 962
I bet out $40. Villan MP calls ($5 left behind). 2 folds. Villan BTN calls.

I put Villan MP on a spade/st8 draw or a mid-low pocket pair. I think he woulda raised a high pp so against him I think ace and jack are outs if he has a pair.

I was a little confused with Villan BTN because in the 22 hand I described above he checked through flop and turn before showing any aggression (I checked flop, bet turn).


Turn ($183) - 9625
I check (Please give advice on why or why not this is right move)

Villan MP puts in his last $5.

Villan BTN bets $65.

I think for about 15 seconds and call. He only bets a little over 1/3 pot, so I think I have good odds to call and see what the river brings.


River ($318) - 96255
I check (more advice on whether to go for the bluff).

Villan BTN bets $115.

I fold.

Thoughts on all streets appreciated, thanks.

It's fine. Fold.

seems decently standard

checking turn is good because the 5 doesnt change the texture at all, so if V is calling your cbet, he's prob gonna call your turn bet, so just try to get to the river for cheap

Played it perfectly. Turn is good; I like the check/call, because it gives us the right price to draw.

River play is optimal. I'm never ever bluffing this spot, because villain is never folding.

How do you play it if a Jack or an Ace hits the river?

First, seat change to the left of the Button. This puts us in position against a deepish stacked Button who sounds like a moron (lol at letting two streets check thru with a set), plus it also puts us in better position against the deepstacked and competent HJ (having position on him might even be more important than having position on idiot Button).

If table is loose, then I'd be cool with open limping AJs here; I'm not exactly thrilled about going very multiway to the flop in a bloated pot OOP. Sure, the hand plays decent multiway but it also has domination issues. Either that or raise a lot more to possibly thin the field (although that might be difficult to do due to big stack sizes).

I bet half the pot, I don't think there is any reason to bet more. If no one has anything, we win the pot for cheap; otherwise, they'll continue and we'll have to hit. Admittedly, we have a nice draw, but we're not looking to get huge stacks in now (cuz if we do, we're at least a 2:1 dog vs anyone who wants to play for big stacks).

MP is unimportant at this point since he only has $5 left. I would check/evaluate the turn. With MP being almost all-in (he's committed, imo), the pot is pretty much protected, so I doubt Button is going to get too out of line here. We're getting the immediate odds we need to chase our flush draw, let alone implied odds, so easy call of the turn bet.

Nice fold on the river, imo. Again, the pot is protected by the all-in MP, which just means it is so much less likely that Button is bluffing.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Overall,

played it fine. MP being short stacked and all-in really limits our options.

You got the right price to draw on the turn so drawing is fine.

A, J, or spade hits and you probably still get paid off.

incidentally, these sorts of flops/boards are why I like JJ.

Everyone always complains about JJ but JJ would have been pure gold here.

Just random food for thought.

I would bet 32-38 on the flop. On the turn I would check then ship him if he bet out.

i like a slightly smaller bet otf also with four left to act. Your likely to get at least 1 or 2 callers with the flop texture, so no reason to bloat it so much OOP.

like the check ott. terrible card to fire a second barrel

well, thats good if we get 1 or 2 callers with the amount of equity we have. we have a very good hand here. why would we underbet it?
OP played it fine.

JJ is my favorite paired hand. Not so big that you can't get away from it, but big enough to win an insane number of pots. I probably win more with it than any other pair....