Table is playing 8 handed and was full of recreational players. But V was new to table with 200 stack so no reads on him.

Within his first orbit, he straddles (no one had straddled previously), I have 300+ stack and am in BB with 78dd.

5 limpers @ $6 including me who completes, then V makes the obligatory straddle raise to 26, everyone folds, I decide to call (yes, calling OOP with this hand is fishy but that’s not the point of this post). I was calling $20 into pot of $56 so pot is now $72 (after $4 rake).

Flop: Ad Qc Jd ($72).

I check, he checks.

Turn 6h, I lead 35 as semi-bluff, V calls ($142).

River 10d.

So, do I check and hope V bluffs the 4 card straight board and then raise him?

Do I bet ½ pot ($75ish) and hope V calls thinking he might chop?

Do I bet small ($25ish) and hope V reads it as blocker bet and raises?

Because he called my turn bet I figured he had something but I’m just not sure how to max value this hand (perhaps that is why calling with this hand OOP is bad?)

Curious, if river was blank, what would you have done?

Also, if river was K/T (non-diamond) what would you have done?

As it is, seems like an easy value bet with no reads. No reason to assume he'd bluff with a hand that has showdown value (i.e. A4) and no reason to assume he'd bluff / thin value this river (i.e. with QT)

I'd probably bet around $55-65. If I think he has a K (live reads), I'd bet $100.

Absolutely betting this 100 percent. Its so many mediocre showdownvaluehands that are scared of the board that will check behind you- so you have to do the betting here. And you cant be put on a bluff/fancy play syndrome unless you bet.Some villains are really MUBSy also and will even check a king behind you because "you could have a flush".

If he is bluffing and you raise him then he will just fold. He might not even bluff that much so I wouldn't assume he likes to attack blocker bets or bluff on boards that an opponent of his is likely to hit.

The best option by far out of the ones you listed is to value bet around 1/2 the pot or maybe even more (I might bet $100). Calling is a more common leak than bluffing too much, and you did get a call the previous round. I always assume an unknown villain will call too much and I don't assume they will bluff too much. Just because villain straddled, that doesn't mean villain likes to bluff.

Follow through, in my opinion. All bluffs have to bluff to win this river, all kings have to call, a lot of two-pair hands will end up calling as well. Checking here is losing money over the long run.

You took the betting lead on the turn, and I think that many river checks end up going check check unless they've completely missed and really sense weakness.

He's got 139 behind from your description, I think we can lead for either a value bet of about 90 (calling a shove). Your turn bet does make your flush draw a bit more concealed, especially since no information was given on the flop.

Edit: I know you said to leave this out but your river problem is because you decided to limp and call a raise OOP. Betting into a new opponent makes it difficult to find correct sizing, especially OOP.

Stacks are too low to bet/fold, if we were both $400 deep I would bet/fold $90 expecting to be called by kings, occasional small flushes, sets/2pair. With the flush and four to a straight it's a great bet/fold river because they're only raising with the nut flush unless they crazy agro. With what he has left we are going for value but I'd stick with fat value of $90ish and call any all in. I've seen a lot of villains rec players buy in short and try to get it in on the first made hand, wouldn't be terribly surprised if a player that bought in short raised all in with a king here and when fails just buys in for $200 more and tightens up. For some reason that first buy in is their coin flip money, then they buckle down.

I also complete preflop. I don't like being OOP, but we're almost closing the action and we're getting insane odds with a nice multiway hand. Really easy fold to the repop, imo. We'll be OOP in a HU pot without initiative fairly readless with 8 high; I can't possibly see this being profitable.

I also check the flop.

How often do we think our semi-bluff is going to work here against a preflop raiser who checks back the flop? My guess is very little as even TT might just peel one once. Unless we're prepared to barrel the river, I'm in give up mode.

On the river we only have a PSB left. KK/KQ/TT are all reasonable candidates for playing the hand the way he played it (let alone some other FPS monster hands), and all of these hands are going to have a tough time folding. I shove the river.

ETA: Can't believe I'm the only one shoving the river. With Kx hands (a decent part of his range, imo), the difference in him calling a 1/2 PSB versus PSB is virtually nil. TT, meh, maybe a slight difference, but not enough to worry about.

GcluelessNLnoobG

V's stack is way to shallow for you to be calling the pre-flop raise. You're going to flop 2 pair 2% of the time. You're going to flop a flush draw 11% of the time. Your 1 pair flops might get you in trouble. When you win with a suited connector in a raised pot, it has to be a HUGE pot to make up for all the times you're going to miss.

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.

For those asking what I would have done if the river was a blank, it would have depended on what the card was but more than likely I would have given up - big bluffs don't usually work at 1/3 IMO.

Yes, agree the pre-flop call of the raise was bad.

Results:

I led for $75 and V tank folded (although I think his tank was an act).