This is a hand from a 1/2 game I was playing in the other night.

Relevant history:
Hero ($700) is a regular 1/2 player at the casino. I am known as a loose but winning player. I play 1/2 the vast majority of the time but have played 2/5 a handful of times.

Villain ($283) is normally a 2/5 player. I have seen him play 1/2 a handful of times and right now he is playing 1/2 while he is waiting for a 2/5 seat. He is a good, tough player. Very aggressive but not maniacal.

The table has been playing fairly tight but we are in the middle of a round where everyone agreed to straddle. Things haven't loosened up too much but there's a decent amount of money on the table. We are currently 7-handed.

Hero is in MP with Q9

Straddle is on, 1 limp, Hero limps, 1 more limp, both blinds complete (Villain is small blind) and straddle checks.

Flop ($24)
QT9

V checks from the small blind
Early position limper bets $15
Hero raises to $40, 1 fold over to small blind
V raises to $115, everyone folds to Hero
Hero ???

Thoughts:
His preflop range is very wide. I don't think this is ever a bluff. I think I can rule out sets as I think he would have raised pre with any of these pocket pairs.

Would love to hear thoughts on what his range might be here, best course of action, etc.

it's really a stove question where you have to range him

My guess is it's pretty close at 140 bb if he can't have a set

Can he do this with QJ or JT without having QJss?

Good question. I don't think so but I'm not sure. I would certainly weight those hands less than combo draw hands.

Could have Qxss. Would he have raised pre OOP with KJ after so many limps? Action makes the most sense to me if he has KJ no spades as he has a vulnerable nutted hand and would like to take it down now. Could also have J8 I suppose. I think it's a shove/fold with his stack size. You just need to decide now whether you want to commit to the hand or not.

Pre: Either raise to pick up the blinds or fold. I would prob fold

Flop: You need to raise more. There is 79 giving the better 3-1 and everyone else 2-1 on a super wet board. 65 to 75 imo. You didn't say the stack sizes of the other players so maybe your raise doesn't give them nearly enough IO to call and the size isn't terrible.

Are you sure V isn't completing 99 and TT in the SB? Based on the discription you gave I def think we are ahead. Shoving would give him calling 164 into 384, which is just over 2-1.

I would think he's initially defending his blind and hit top pair with meh kicker. Maybe tens or nines like someone else recommended.

I dunno, I wouldn't feel like even as a small blind he'd just call through with QQ/TT/99 pre-flop.