$1/$2 blinds, 8-handed, $140 effective.

Hero (BTN) - Early 20's SLAG reg, has raised quite a few hands recently and Cbet almost all flops

Villain (BB) - Early 20's SLAG reg, has been caught pulling bluffs

Fish (MP) - Early 20's beginner, plays very loose-passive and straightforward

Hero is dealt J4dd

2 limpers (inc. fish)
Hero raises to $14
Villain flats $14
Fish flats $14

Flop ($42, 3ways) is 9s 4h 3c

Villain checks in the dark
Fish checks
Hero Cbets $21
Villain raises to $45
Fish folds
Hero calls $24 ------ Was this a mistake? Should I have 3bet shoved the flop? I figure that there is the chance villain is raising a hand like 66-88 and 9x to "see where he's at" and has the intention of folding to a 3bet. It seems weird to me that a villain would x/raise a dry flop with a set, but some 1/2 players do weird things so I don't know. Perhaps he's just bluffing with 2 overcards.

Turn ($123, HU) is 2h

Villain bets $50 (hero has about $80 behind)
Hero ???

In one sense, the turn card could allow him to continue bluffing all his hearts and Ax hands, but on the other sense, if villain has a pair, he's probably not folding by this point.

What do you think about this hand? How do you approach these dry flop scenarios?

I wouldn't cbet middle pair. The only things that continue have you crushed, and you fold out everything else. You've also literally only left yourself with a pot sized bet behind OTT and are pretty commited

Also as many are going to say ahead of me "fold pre"

I sometimes don't even play J4s hu.. that's how bad it is

E/ I see you're in Melbourne, are you playing 1/2 at the crown? If so that means you're buying in for 100 max, you need to play right with 50bbs ESPECIALLY against the players there, I can sit there for 8 hours and just set mine and reraise aces to 10bbs all day and print money. The games are so weak loose passive, just play the opposite of how they play (I know it sucks, I have a much looser game 100bbs deep, or online. But these games it's just a terrible idea. Cbet ~30% of flops, seriously.

If you are playing SLAG and villain is also then you need to decide on the flop what you are doing. Stack sizes are not deep enough for maneuvering later. If you think villain is bluffing or can fold a weak pair enough then shove on the flop, otherwise fold fold. Your hand doesn't have enough ways to improve to continue against an opponent who is unlikely to give up. Against SLAG this is a judgement call.

In general trying to play SLAG when not deep is a mistake. You don't have enough FE or enough stack to barrel. For SLAG to work you need effective stacks need to be deep enough you can raise preflop, barrel at least twice and still not be pot committed. Preflop raises at 1/2 and villain's tendency towards being stationary make it even harder.

Pre is a pretty big mistake. With fish in the hand you're always seeing a flop here, and you're not deep enough (IMO) for position and skill to overcome the fact that you have J4s. More generally I don't think you're deep enough to play anything other than ABC poker anyway.

I'd fold to the flop raise. With stack sizes he's only folding if on a complete bluff and I don't think that happens enough to justify getting it in here.

Really don't like pre with stacks being what they are. Any hand you play you'll potentially being committed so I'd rather wait for a good hand instead of only valuing position and playing J4s.

Folding flop raise, as played fold turn.

grunch

Fold pre, AP x/f flop, AP fold to raise, AP fold to turn bet

Really I'm saying just fold everywhere, there is no need to get into ridiculous spots like this.

fold pre, you're value cutting yourself against two loose ranges, one of which plays aggressively. especially 7x-ing from the button (for context, "stealing the blinds with any two cards" is only profitable given a lot of information about villain blind folding ranges and bet sizing). your preflop raise is pretty -EV.

as played, check flop. you're turning a made hand into a bluff here, and you have plenty of reason to create a check-back range against an aggressive opponent. You're not like, missing a golden opportunity by refusing to shovel money into the pot on this flop (see previous comment about value-cutting).

as played, fold to the raise. you have no freaking clue where you are, you aren't even near the top of your cbetting range, and you can find a much better spots to bluff-catch.

preflop is horrible (raised too much and made your hand impossible to play)

flop cbet is pretty bad.

didn't read turn because it seems we are just clicking buttons.