Raising to 54 would have maybe given you the same info?
Fwiw i like a 4! Here.

I think i'd fold.

Hero may well be "pot committed." If he isn't happy about that (and he shouldn't be) then he should have thought about that pre.

What do you do on a 10 high flop if we flat the $27?

Maybe the kid has been card dead and is happy to get it in with AKs, either way if you are considering folding than you should have chosen a smaller sizing

Play poker. (I don't mean to be snarky, it's an important question. I was wondering the same thing. )

Having a quiet player suddenly make himself known with a 3bet should set off the alarm. Suggestions:
1. Evaluate board texture. (Is there a back door flush draw?
2. Check and evaluate bet sizing on flop, if any. Ok to fold if he over bets the pot. Otherwise, and especially if board texture might set you up for a semi-bluff on the turn, call.
3. Based on the read, I would be inclined to bet a scare card on the turn. Otherwise I check, thinking that AK might check behind.
4. Evaluate turn bet sizing. If it looks like he might let you get to showdown cheaply, call.
5. I would probably play the river much the same way.

I think that's pretty much the trickiest scenario. There are a lot of flops that play themselves, for example a K high rainbow.

This line is exploitable but I'm not sure I would lose any sleep over it. I'm out of position against a passive player showing aggression. There are better places to lose money and feel good about it.

It is not an auto call, queens are around 18% if we are only facing kings or aces here. As for the pot, its more like 410, meaning we have to put in like 24%. Seems like its -25$ EV, if we can be sure he has kings or aces.

No snark taken - I know it was a loaded question and I didn't mean to make it sound as if I was convinced that flatting was bad. Just trying to figure out whether a small 4bet and fold to a 5bet is the better option.

If we flat the $27, the original caller is always coming along too... so now there's $84 in the pot and our 3bettor on the button has roughly $170 behind. I think it's a little advantageous to suggest that some of the options you've given will work given those numbers. I like your thought process if we both have 300BB.

If we resign ourselves to calling 'small bets' on the flop, we will find ourselves with the exact same dilemma on the turn (is QQ good here?!?) and now we've further priced ourselves in. If we resign ourselves to folding to 'large bets' on the flop, we run the risk of folding better at times.

Playing No-Limit isn’t merely about having and getting big hands, it also about how to intelligently manage risk. In this situation you need to think things through very carefully instead of just thoughtlessly calling or moving in.

Let me say this too: It doesn't matter if the pot is $200 and it cost you just $100 and getting 2:1. Do I have the best hand or not. A 2:1 on the money is not a big deal if my hand may be WA/AB. You see; it is a huge difference to flop a middle set vs. having AA preflop. I rather flop sets than having AA or KK preflop. NL is not Blackjack where you increase the bet based on card counting when you got a small edge. Poker NL is about big edges against big stacks. Small edges and small stacks doesn't count in the overall picture. Yes, they bring some money but it's peanuts compared with playing for stacks. Winning stacks make you a winner in the long run. If you just manage to win small pots you cannot be a winner. I see this fenomenum every day at the tables here in Vegas. Dudes win lots of small pots, they bluff and steal the blinds, they raise from the SB vs. BB and win one big blind but at the end of the night they at best break even or most of times losing.

^ i get the sense that you are trying to be intellectual there, but unfortunately none of the things that you said made any sense, or are just plain wrong.

Dont take it personally, I dont mean to be offensive, but you might not really be understanding some fundamental, fundamental concepts. (Eg. Glaring holes in logic in what you said about big edges vs. Small edges, and small pots being not important)

I'm sort of flip flopping here back to my original position, but I slept on it. Just assuming it's barely + or - EV, personally I fold because I think losing would hurt your strong image and you are less deep stacked which I feel those two things have a lot of expected value especially if the game tends to get deeper.

First How long has V been at the table. If you have played with him an hour there should be some reads for him. How many hands has he played. Has he 3 bet in the session? Unless he just sat down and no previous history with V we should have some info that helps.

How many 3 bets do you see in your game let alone 5 bets. At llsnl when I am 5bet it has almost never been anything but AA or KK. For him to 5 bet you when you raise utg and have a winning image I cant believe it is anything but those hands unless we have a read on this V. If we narrow to that range we have about 18% equity. As played I still find a fold. If I am 4 betting this hand it would be smaller around $75. Flatting the 3 bet still leaves us in a sticky situation playing oop. If we flat the 3 bet I would c/f to any A-K flop. If he has 1010 thru QQ he will likely check back an A or K flop as everyone at llsnl puts you on AK. If no A or K on flop I b/f.

I agree 100% with this thought - and felt OP's 4-bet committed him to the hand whether or not he was ahead. Personally, I would only do this against a fish or drunk. So to your point, after OP makes it 100... his bed has been made (as Snowball has pointed out).

As far as correct pot odds - after the pot has been bloated, it seems the only course of action is to call. If I told you that it would cost you $100 to win $400 with any two cards (ATC), as a poker player you would have to call every time. Statistically, no hand is favored more than 80% preflop. So while some may see it as gamble... it's not. As long as you follow these same "rules" and take the same line in similar situations, you will be a winning poker player over time. It's always nice to have an edge and be favored more than 50%, but sometimes that's not possible... and that's when we have to rely on statistics/probability for our decisions. [Now when we are the cause of the pot being 400 and it now costing us 100 more to call as a dog... THAT'S a different story.]

BTW, what would be a bigger blow to OP's image.... 4-betting a hand and folding to a 100 5-bet? or calling the 5-bet with QQ?
If I see OP 4-bet/fold - I'm going to try and run over him all night.

Zoltan - for some reason it says you arent allowed to receive pms.

I agree - 3:1 is very iffy.

I think it's more important to keep opening raises within the confines of how the table is operating. This might fall under gameflow/table dynamics. OP doesn't give us an idea of the PFR sizes at this table, so it's hard to say what the best line would have been.

Assuming a neutral table image, opening upwards of $15 will not see much action at 1/2. At least where I play, $10-12 is standard, even in EP. Suddenly opening for 7x+ when it is not the norm won't let us realize much value. Those paying attention will notice when you do this. On one hand stacks can get in faster, but you risk broadcasting your strength, and not in a good way imo.

Even more reason to 4b (a reasonable size)
See directly above. Hero doesn't know what the flop will be. Why even give something like a weak ace 3 cards for no additional cost?

Even with the about even odds against V's range, I really want to fold here.

Hmmm...? What?
I'm wrong and you're wright?
OK, pardner. If you discovered your way to the winning alley go ahead and quit your 9-5 job and earn a living at the tables like I do. I live more comfortable than most dudes working for somebody else taking orders 8-9 hours a day. I don't take orders, I work my hours and get to work any time I want like 24/7. If I wouldn't be a winning player that plays well, obviously I couldn't do that.

But still, you are the expert

I think people are criticizing your logic of the fold here. Like you're saying only get in with the best hands and small edges don't matter. The long run small edges like c-betting on right boards is profitable. If someone gave you 10:1 or even 5:1 to all in with a pair against face up AA are you not going to do it? I still fold QQ here btw.

I would break down your post line by line and show in a basic level exactly why it doesnt make sense or it's wrong, but since you dont really seem to be in control of your emotions (as you clearly just flew off the roof after selectively reading my post and taking it as a attack on your selfworth), I dont know if there is any point in trying to get through your line of defenses.

And this is where pot odds come in, which I was talking about. That's far from thoughtless. I didn't say that the OP should put his last $100 in because he had a big hand, and then give no other reason besides that. If there was $200 in the pot in this spot I'd think we have a clear fold.

I actually think it's a borderline call now because the pot odds are only 3:1. If they were 4:1 I think it's definitely a call.

If someone is going for small edges, that doesn't mean they reject going for bigger edges. A poker player can do both.