2/5 9-handed game in local room. hero just moved to this table without any solid reads. villian seems a loose white guy who loves to see flops.hero has a TAG image.
Villian(BT): $1.4k
Hero(UTG):$1k
Hero raises $25,MP calls, villian in BT calls,bb calls.4-way pot.
Flop($100):8h 6c 6d. hero bets $45, villian calls,everyone else folds.
Turn($190): 7d hero bets $125, villian calls.
River($440): Ts. Hero checks, villian bets $200, hero?
Is b/f a better option here?His range on river certainly includes a few 9s combos,6s and pair 8,7 or T.

Loathe the flop bet. Either make a real c-bet, or just check, imo.

I prefer a b/f OTR, as LLSL Vs are such non-believers on paired boards, that I suspect we still get a call from 78, and maybe A8. If the guy seemed bluffy, I might try a c/c to keep bluffs in his rage, but board is so scary that I doubt we often get a bet from those hands.

AP, bleh. I prob fold readless. Not many generic Vs are betting a paired 4-line straight board when they can't beat 2-pair.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the cbet size. You can just cbet all your hands that amount.

With AA specifically I somewhat prefer checking, though. You're not getting three streets out of anything and a free card is more likely to help you get value than lose you the pot.

River I'd check fold and accept that occasionally I'm getting exploited.

V probably reraises QQ+ preflop, JJ sometimes too. Therefore he is mostly calling you down here with smaller pairs and draws.

Flop call: (KK-JJ discounted) 66 88 86s A6 K6s Q6s J6s 96s 76s (76o) 65s 64s TT 99 A8 K8s Q8s J8s T8s 98s (98o) 87s (87o) 97s 75

The first problem you have with the flop cbet is that the flop is dry enough that any hand that out flopped you will happily slow play so you are no wiser going to the turn

Second problem with flop cbet is that, despite the number of hands that can call there are many, many more hands that just fold to the flop bet. You'd cbet with air here even MW since you expect so many folds.

Betting this flop OOP fairly deep isolates you Vs a broad range with significant equity while leaving you clueless on exactly which part of the range you actually face. It starts to build a big pot and risk RIO for your strong one pair, a hand that is obviously a large part of your narrow range having opened UTG. You're creating a situation where your opponents have near perfect information in position and you are playing blind.

I much prefer a check on the flop. You feign weakness and get a lot more information from your opponents than if you cbet. Yes this will make your cbets on this board really unbalanced (mostly over cards) but that's not something to worry about Vs unknowns. Much more important initially is making sure your opponents range you incorrectly while you gather info to accurately range them.

Say you had checked and everyone else checked behind. You are unlikely up against trips+ and you shorten the hand so you don't offer absurd implied odds.

If instead someone bets near pot behind you and gets called before action is back on you it becomes obvious you face at least another strong pair and a draw and possibly trips. Any raise going in on the flop is highly likely to be trips. Small flop bets are weak pairs and draws etc etc. Checking allows opponents to choose the bet size and thus give away information about their hands.

AP I think you have to fold after checking and seeing V bet half pot on a 4straight. I'd favour a small b/f myself for the reasons Garrick gives.

This.

AA makes a great flop check. Lot's of value from picking off bluffs from BTN, more likely to get value on later streets if cards like J,Q,K peel off, if BTN bets and SB/BB x/r we're in a gross spot but we can often just comfortably fold and save 10+ bbs, we don't have to worry about "protecting" our hand because basically all of villain's check folding range we have crushed.

OTR he'd have to be turning his 8x or 55 into a bluff or have a lot of floats on the flop. Getting a good price but I just fold.

b/f small on the river is good as well. He'll put you on AK

C/F river primarily since most LLSNL opponents likely check back worse. 99/98s/TT take this line, besides the 6X combos.

I respectfully disagree on the flop check. Pot is 4-way and Hero is new to the table, i.e. readless. On an 8-high board there are plenty of over pairs (QQ/JJ/TT/99) that will call. Maybe 77/55; also need to iso. I’d bet a bit more than ½ PSB.

I agree this may not be a 3-street value hand, but prefer to extract on flop then evaluate later avenues.