Recently been getting back to the game after a bit of a hiatus and trying to really work hard on line construction and line merging. This hand came up early this morning around hour 10 of a 13h session. Table was playing like a $5/5 after the flop and stack average was ~$800 so it was an action table with decent players.

I have seen V around the poker room but have never played with him until today. Listening to a bit of chatter at the table, I gathered he's a bit of an aggro and plays too many hands aggressively but tries to make good decisions.

7 Handed: UTG straddles for $6. Most straddles were being checked by original straddler.

V: $650 - UTG + 1
Hero: $975 - CO with XhXh - I don't want to give the hand so as to not sway the comments - as I'm looking for comments on the bet sizing and line construction for the action as if it were for value or if I was running a thin bluff against V. In theory, I'm hoping both lines merge, which is what I'm really trying to get comments regarding.

V calls, call, hero calls, BTN calls and both blinds complete. UTG checks.

Flop ($42)

AdAc3h - checks around.

Turn ($42) Jh

Blinds check, UTG checks, V bets $40, folds to hero who makes it $125. Everyone else folds. V calls. HU

River ($292) As
V donks for $25, Hero makes it $200.

Tough reading hand because I do not get involved with hands limping in (number one advice for anyone in my opinion is not limping pre). You not raising pre and checking flop rules out most strong A's for you, so range is Ax, missed flush/gutshot combo, and 33's full (would assume you would raise JJ pre). If I villain was a friend I would tell them to call with A8 or better here. A9 or better is probably good >50% of the time. Maybe I am wrong but your hand does not look like KJ, that has too much showdown value and I do not think worse calls often unless you have a fairly loose image.... so you are turning your hand into a bluff with that type of hand.

Curious what hands you think V has worse than an A here other than Jx. Have to discount hearts if you have them. Most pp villain is raising if he has an ounce of aggro blood in him. Looks like Ax suited to me, whether or not he can fold Ax suited on the river is a read you can make better than we can after 10 hours of play.

Curious how villain is considered an aggro limping this deep and donking 25 on the river (doesn't seem all that solid to me).... or why anyone is limping this deep. Would love to play in this game.

Not entirely sure what you are looking for. It is a bit of a bizarre line since you checked in LP in flop and then decided to come alive on turn. His range should really have more aces than yours on the turn, so when he calls I think we are in pretty big trouble if we don't have an ace.

River is a strange and unusual spot. Generally I would not bluff this river because people never lay down hands when three are trips on the board. However, his tiny bet looks so much like a feeler, that I think you can raise and get a fold a reasonable amount of the time. With quads I'd be betting river a little smaller, like $85.

I think he bet $25 to induce your $200.

Trying to merge your range on this specific board is insane because

A) if you don't have the Ace, there is a solid chance he does since people love to limp Aces

B) even with that knowledge, people don't fold full houses, Google zeebo theorem

I can tell you've been out of poker for a while. Nobody "line mergers" any more. The hot term is now "GTO".

I'll just point out that any FH on the turn got counterfeited on the river. Unless the villain wanted to jiggle your idiot switch, his bet polarizes his hand to quads or a bad FH like 33. He's calling almost his entire range, so it is a bad bluff. If you wanted a call, you could have bet more.

And this is the problem with trying to bluff here. You are repping quads and hoping V can fold OTR. Normally raising weak river bets with busted draws is printing money, but when you're trying to rep quads people aren't as inclined to believe you. They'll pay just to see it, no matter how stupid. If you're trying to range merge here, I think you did a decent job, but I'm not sure it's the best way to play it, because I think you get called too often in this spot.

I'd shove here always with Ax.

Gmerge,smerge,imoG

Yeah I don't like it either. v potted it in a massive mw pot player wise. Generally raising when someone makes a blocker like that can be ok but this spot does not seem like one of those times. I think this hand is less about our hand and more about villains. Someone trying to play well isn't going to pot it mw, call a raise and then donk bet/fold otr.

You should probably post your cards. It might "sway the comments" towards constructive feedback

From what little else there is to go on, it seems you are trying to bluff someone off Aces full. This generally does not work at 1/3.