1/2 Borgata.

Before I post, I just wanna make it clear. I rarely bluff at 1/2. In the actual hand here I just folded, so this isn't results oriented and I'm not defending a spazzy play.

Villain 1 ($300 stack) - 60's white guy. Standard nitty old man.

Villain 2 ($200 stack) - 20's white kid. Seems to play a little weak/tight. He limps a little too much, and folds a lot. Several hands before this, he was in a limped pot where the flop went check/check. He bet like $5 into $15 apparently as a feeler bet or w/e and instafolded to a min raise. He said something like "I wanted to figure out where I was at." This may be a guy who makes little stabby bets when he's weak.

Hero ($400 stack) - playing basic TAG

Another note, the other 2 callers were >$300 and bad, which is one of the reasons I called.

Villain 1 (UTG) raises $7
Villain 2 (UTG+1) calls $7
2 more calls
Hero (button) A2 calls $7
blinds fold

Pot ~ 35
Flop: Q63
V1 checks, V2 bets $13, 2 folds, hero?

Again I actually just folded, but later I was wondering if this isn't a decent spot to make a play.

Villain has shown he'll small bet/fold, although I realize that a raised pot is a lot different. Still, it's a 1/3 pot bet and it looks like no one else is interested.

There are actually a lot of good turn cards for me. Aces may give me the best hand. 4's and 5's give me a gutshot. Diamonds give me the NFD.

Would you ever float this 1 street, or raise now? Obviously if he puts any more money in I'm folding.

If I were to float, and he bets again I fold (unless i pick up a FD and he bets tiny). If he checks, I can be pretty sure he's weak and he's not calling big bets.

If I raise now, unless he's got 33, 66, QQ, AQ or MAYBE KQ, he probably just gives it up. I don't even know if he 1/3 pots 33 or 66 either.

This might be me just seeing things where nothing is there, but I'm curious if plays like this have any merit.

Does he barrel/know how to value-bet w/out nuts? If so, floating is going to be a lot tougher because his range will still be balanced when he bets the turn and we'll just be guessing.

I mean I usually just give it up, but if he small bets/folds a lot and you've seen this as a reliable tell, you could probably pump it up to $35-$40 and get a pretty good price on your bluff and have a few run-outs to save you when he calls, so it looks fine to do from time to time.

He does not seem like a good internet player. Seems like your standard 24 year old guy drinking a beer playing poker. He's not a fish, and isn't horrid, but he doesn't seem to be a dangerous player.

I don't have a ton of info on the bet sizing tell. BUT, If he bets $13 on the flop and tries to bet like $15 on the turn or something, I think that's a weak hand always and a raise wins the pot always. I've seen fish do this all the time. I expect if he has a hand like QTs he'll either do this, or just check the turn.

If I didn't have bd straight/flush/oc potential I wouldn't do it as a stone bluff. If I wasn't last to act I wouldn't consider it either. Just curious if this is a spot I can try playing around a little.

I think he shows up with pocket pair lower than Q a lot

It doesnt seem worth it considering the risk. It is a pretty dry board so he could have a hand like kq/qj here that we will have to stick a lot of money in with just to hope he will pass when at the moment the pot is small. Just seems better idea to fold and move on

Hand is a pretty interesting spot. I'm really torn. As you note, you have a lot of ways tp pick up equity, and we have good FE against this guy given the previous hand. OTOH, we're telling really thin if we raise.

Crap! I can see an argument for fold, call to bluff turn or raise.

I' leaning toward raise and barrel if we pick up equity on the turn.

Cool spot; I would have just folded before you posted this hand(and I will continue to just fold against most players).

If you are not known as a bluffer or "shot taker" this as good as a spot as you are going to get without being on a 100% semi-bluff. Two actions to choose from: raise or float. A raise probably gets you the pot now as villain will think that he is getting away cheap. With description you gave he is probably the type that prides himself on the ability to fold. A float here is other option. As long as the turn does not improve his hand you can bet the turn as he probably checks any K J or 10 that does not improve him. 2/3 to pot bet on turn checked to you whether it helps you or bricks. Which ever way you go Make sure your story makes sense. This is a skill you are going to need to learn sooner or latter, and mistakes will be made, but you will get there.
As you are learning to bluff it may help you to decide what you are representing that way your story will make sense.

If you think he'll barrel another street with a weak queen or a middle pocket pair and that you can get him off it on the turn, then float to bluff.

If he's the type that will shut down on the turn if he's called, raise the flop, no need to let him see a card that will only be a fold unless he improves.

As played, raise flop, 30-45, if called you're likely not going to get him off it. You can evaluate it on the turn, if you pick up outs you'll probably see the river for free, if you don't you can decide to barrel the turn or just shut down.

I really like a raise here. You can price your bluffs soooo small here with your image. Just minraise flop and barrel the turn, HE WILL NEVER CALL WITHOUT A SET. He's showing up here with small suited queens here or a hand like QT a lot.

One caution is that there are a lot of players whose EP limping range is heavily weighted towards small pocket pairs. Seems like you said this guy limps too much, but what else could he limp with and lead in EP on this flop? If you make this play, you need to know two things:

a) he will overlimp EP with weak queens
b) he's good enough to fold a weak queen on a dry board where all you can rep is a big queen or a set

Also, you NEED to fire the turn if you commit to bluffing here, and you need to put a decent amount of pressure. Don't chicken out and bet like half pot or something.

I'd probably just fold. The bet into 3 players behind is in itself a pretty strong bet (i.e. this guy never shows up with a stabbing underpair < Q as someone else suggested, IMO). So really this is a big Q (AQ/KQ etc.) which I believe we are going to have a very tough time folding out, or otherwise a monster QQ/66/33 which doesn't want to scare away his customers.

He didn't limp; he was the first to call an UTG raise. I mean, this really looks like nothing but AQ/KQ/Qworse?/QQ/66/33 to me, and we're going to have a very difficult time getting most of those hands to fold.

Yeah my reading comprehension is a bit off here, sorry. In a raised pot, his range becomes a lot tighter and I like the play a lot less. I don't think he's stabbing here into a bunch of players with medium PPs and I don't really think he's going to fold AQ/KQ. You're basically just going to try to get him off his QJ/QT/45 hands if he calls with those hands pre and if he is capable of folding them as well.

Yea, if you're in position peel a card in this spot if you feel that the guy is weak. See how he plays the next couple streets. You're deep enough to speculate.

Bluff spot is meh, only 48 dollars in the pot. Floating is not a bad idea, but I dont see you getting paid on later streets, unless villain over plays over pairs on fd boards. If so call reevaluate turn.

I've actually been getting some decent play out of delayed semi-bluffs in this kind of spot. Not usually in raised pots, but I think it can still apply.

A lot of weaker players at this limit make their hands super obvious with turn bet sizing. They may bet normally on the flop, but if called, they'll bet like $20 into $75 with QJs and maybe like $50 or $60 with 33.

So I thought that I could reasonably float, because I think he NEVER calls a turn raise without AQ minimum, and might even fold that.

If I min-raise the flop, there's some chance he calls 45s, QJ etc to c/f the turn. Then I have to fire a bigger barrel.

I don't necessarily agree. PF raiser checked already. If this dude has QJs, maybe JJ, he might take a stab with a 1/3 pot bet. Do you really think he's betting $13 here with a set? Even fish know that 1 pair hands are vulnerable. If he donked INTO the raiser, I'd put him on a really strong hand. If he bets after the raiser checks I think there are weaker hands in his range.

$7 raise is very small for 1/2, and small at this table. I can see him calling with a lot of queens that are certainly not stacking off.

Well, by Big Qx I basically meant any Qx (so ya, QJ could be there too), although I still think mostly only bigger Qs show up due to him being the first one calling the preflop raise. With 3 people yet to act behind him I'm not sure he now takes a stab at the pot just cuz he has JJ-77, but I could be wrong. As for betting only $13 with a set, it's a bone dry board which is only going to get action from Qx hands; I think my bet would be on the small end too.

Could I make a case for floating then? If he bets $15 or something on the turn he's folding to a bet 100% IMO. If he checks, he's probably folding also. If he bets 1/2 pot or more on the turn, I'm beat 100% and it's just a case of whether i pick up a FD and get decent odds (which i probably wouldn't).

Again, I actually folded anyway. Just wondering if there's a case to be made here.

Well, I get what you mean about the bet sizing on the flop, so if he does some weak-ass "same bet" on the turn, ya, it certainly looks like a pot we could pick up. But one thing to keep in mind is that is unlikely any scare card comes on the turn for us to represent; so we're basically hoping he folds Qx cuz he puts us on a flopped set. I make most of my money in poker from people not being able to do this.

In this particular spot I wouldn't mind floating V here due to the wicked small bet. Raising on the flop I think is pointless because we have almost no equity if we're called... and if V calls the flop he probably calls turn and most likely river. By floating it allows us to re-evaluate villain's hand.. if he checks the turn we can most likely win the pot by betting about 1/2P or so.. we easily can rep a hand like KQ, QJ, QTs even.. we can also rep any 2 or 7 or a hand like 45s. Any diamonds hit the turn and he bets weak again ($25 or 30 MAX) I call and hope to hit the river. If we pick up a gutshot on the turn and he bets I just muck my hand here.