1/3 MS game

Hero is effective stack with $750.

V1: Is a semi-pro/good reg who plays often, sometimes in bigger games. Overall a very good player but not the best of the upper crust. He probably plays a little wider preflop than he should and goes for value that is too thin. For example earlier in the night he raised the tightest player at the table on the river with a straight on a paired board that also had 3 cards to a flush.

H: A reg that V1 knows and probably perceives as laggy/aggressive. V1 moved to get position on hero earlier and has won one big pot with H called a three bet pre, X/c 8-4-2cc flop, c/r Kx turn and was called by V1 with QQ. Hero had bluff and river blank went X/X, V1 was good.

I'll skip through preflop quickly as it isn't that interesting.

Button straddles $6, BB completes. Hero raises to $25 from utg with AsKc. V1 calls in MP, button call, BB calls

Flop:K82r ($100)

BB checks to hero. Hero....?

55

I would play preflop totally differently and have no idea why you don't think it's interesting (especially if this fairly gross result of OOP to most of the field, multiway, and SPR someone can easily force us to play for stacks and yet only getting in 3% of stacks is expected).

SPR is 7ish on the flop which means anyone can easily make us play for stacks by simply bet/bet/betting. Do we want to play for stacks on this super dry board? Even though we perhaps have an aggrotard image, my guess is probably not. Even though we're up against 3 opponents, it's unlikely the turn card will move someone from worst to better, so I risk it and check and go from there. If someone bets, I'm planning on calling; if it checks thru, I'm planning on leading the turn. If there's a bet/raise, I'm thinking some more.

GcluelessNLnoobG

preflop is fine, maybe a little bit too low, but certainly nothing bad.
we got a great flop, nothing "scary" happened yet, and still you are all about defense and just seem to focus on not losing the max instead of getting max value.

not saying flop check is particularly bad at all btw; your reasons for doing it are.

I like betting half pot or so on the flop and see what happens. I'd rather thin the field a bit, then consider checking the turn or river for control and deception. checking flop 4 ways is going to put us into a complete guessing game on future streets, especially if the flop checks through.

I bet $60 sometimes and check sometimes depending on the players. Obviously $50-$60 is standard.

Im not sure if Hero gave info away that button and BB folded the flop since he didnt provide reads or if he has no reads.

A little confused on BB completing before we act UTG, but would go $50 to $65 OTF pending BTN & BB stacks/tendencies. With no draws to chase, no reason to bet large. I'd say we want callers. The only fear on such a dry flop would be of a set flatting, or possible 2p if BTN/BB are wide pf. I'd be planning to get 1 more bet in on turn or river. I think V might give us more credit on this hand considering it'd be stupid of us to bluff OOP twice & we lead into a multi-way pot. If he flats our 1/2+ pot c-bet, I'd think his range would be KT+.

Sure.
$50 on the flop.
Lead the turn.
Ck/min raise the river for full effect against V1 who will have no clue wtf to do and call with any King prolly.

at some rooms, with a button straddle, the action starts at the SB preflop.

I guess I just see AK as a pretty automatic raise here and I didn't want to waste a lot of time with people debating $20/$25/30 sizing pre. I'm getting called by tons of worse hands pre. A limp would be pretty bad I think, but I don't mind if you want to make the case.

Correct SB folded as first to act, BB completed and then we raised.

BB is a super tight pro, very nitty. On a board like this AK is near the bottom of his c/c range so he's super easy to play against. Button seems like a solid player but no real reads. Both have me covered and button is $2k effective with V1.

$50

Standard cbet spot

Most standard cbet ever, I go 60 minimum but up to 2x that is ok

Ok so hero bets $65 on flop. V1 thinks for 10 seconds. Button folds out of turn while V1 is thinking and V1 makes the call. BB folds

Turn ($230)
K82 4 (still rainbow.)

Now hero ....

115-130

X/r is overplaying our hand.

We could X/c to really under rep our hand, but then if we lead river, we probably never get called by any thinking player with worse

Barrel for 1/2 pot or a bit over. If called, I'd c/c most rivers. As I expressed above, if V is a thinking player and assumes the same of us, I think he'd give us more credit in this hand than the general laggy image we've shown.

You're looking to get two streets of value on a board this dry. V1 probably has a weak/marginal K or 99-JJ, and didn't want to be in the pot with BTN if he called then BTN raised him off his one pair hands.

I check here expecting a check back. It also gives V opportunity to bluff at it if he thinks you're a one and done type of guy. I'm looking to bet ~$200 on any non Q/J river when checked through.

I'm assuming you'd L/RR here (or possibly L/shove if the gods are smiling on us)?

To guess at some thoughts in your head, you really don't want a mid-range SPR, preferring either something very low if we get to L/RR or very high if it's limped through?

I didn't like this at first, but it's growing on me.

V is described as semi-pro and a good player, with H having a laggy image.

V should call the flop with nearly any hand since he'd know that this is a great flop to cbet with up to our entire PFR range.

The second barrel might make him start to think, but if we're seen as laggy enough, he could call here too. We should have a plan in case he puts in a small raise OTT, presumably for a cheap showdown.

I'm not sure I'm down with the river x/r though. Once we b/b/x, what does V think we're calling him with? He might value KQ thinly (reads indicate he does value thinly), but would he really expect that we PFR/b/b/x and will now call with less than KJ?

I think I might go b/b/x-eval rather than x/r on the river, with a bias towards x/c since his range will tend to be polarized, making it harder to have the raise called by worse.

So I think 50 on the flop (let's avoid making the pot bigger than necessary).

As played, 115 on the turn.

Facing a very good opponent, it will be difficult to extract 3 streets vs. a worse king. I like a C/C on the turn, which gives him a chance to bluff worse while controlling pot size vs. the top of his range.

If checked through, I'd lead most rivers.

First, out of turn this is a PAHWM... Second, I don't like a min c/r OTR. I would also, like Samo, want to get two streets of value and if I can show him I might not have a king, he might take control and we can win an extra bet or two that way. C/R'ing the river would be over playing it imo. Are we calling a 3bet?

I like to have a plan for the hand on the flop. So it's fine if this is a PAHWM. I'm just giving a full answer.

As for the ck/raise, it isn't my default by any means, but I think it might be an interesting option after our turn failed ck/raise earlier where villain called without top pair.
If V calls the flop and the turn, his two pair combos are limited somewhat (and limited by the board, and our decent reg read) so we won't often be behind. Obviously the question then becomes will be bet the river?
Our reads suggest yes, so we are likely better checking than leading the river. Now the only question is will he call a raise with worse?

I think doing this maybe 10 - 15% of the time can be really fun and set us up for great spots to ck/raise later, get thin value out of a villain, and generally just fsck with his head.

so did he have the best hand? and did he get paid off?

No he got three bet and folded face up. It was too thin a bet though given the player.

So here's hero's thinking on the river:

V views hero as laggy but still is unlikely to think he is bluffing a triple barrel on this board. Therefore, there are only two streets of value likely if hero bets. However given villains tendency to value bet thinly, hero believes that he is likely to bet a king for value on the turn if checked to.

Hero checks, V bets $150 into pot of $230. Hero has $650 behind.

Any reason to do anything other than call?