just sat down at a 2/5 game, bought in for 1k. seems like a pretty straightforward table.

there are a few limpers and i am in the SB with TT. I raise to 40 and the mp limpers fold and the 2 lp limpers call on the HJ and CO. the HJ looked fishy and called quickly preflop, but the CO seemed competent and thought for 5 seconds before overcalling. both had around 1k as well.

($135) Flop: A76r

hero bets 70, fishy limper folds, the next limper calls 70 closing the action.

($175) Turn: A76r 9x

hero checks, limper bets 90, hero?

just seems like he's not repping much here and a bomb ch/r might take it. i mean he can't have AK/AQ or AA, all of which i can have. i think of a lot of his Ax hands are checking back the turn, and if he bets them he's bet/folding everything except A7s, A6s, and A9s. i think ch/r prob gives me more FE vs the Ax part of his range than a turn double barrel, although if i come out and bomb the turn he may fold Ax there too.

maybe i should check the flop? although i dont really like that. maybe i should ch/call the turn and ch/f the river? i could just ch/f the turn too i guess. what do we think here?

I agree with some of your range but I think that is a small part of his range. I think A5-AT, JT, T9, 98, 76, 88 are a big part of his range and all picked up equity on the turn. This turn completely missed your range. Plus your hand play looks vulnerable to an A so A2-A4 might actually look you up. With AK would you have take this line?

i think with AK in this spot i am b/f'ing turn or check/calling. i might ch/r AA or 99 however.

interesting spot tho with AK. what should i do here?

With a set bet bet bet. Anyway once you check I think V can discount Aj+ from your range. That's the point. So your bluff had less fe than you think.

Versus your average player you don't have much FE and I'm just ch/folding the flop

Your problem here is that your line, from the SB, looks like exactly what it is - TT-KK - because checking this turn with AJ-AA makes no sense with 4 cards that hit so much of villain's range.

Your other problem is that you're drawing to 4 outs max when you're behind, but V's range still has pretty good equity when you're ahead.

Even a "bomb c/r", say to 250, is still going to leave you with 640 behind. Sure, you can fold to a 3-bet shove, but what are you going to do OTR if V just flats the c/r? You're OOP, so you're going to get valuetowned to death if V hits his hand, but he could rep about half the deck as hitting him ... ugh.

In general I hate c/f'ing in spots where I'm pretty sure I'm ahead, but I think this might be one of them.

c/f flop, as played b/f turn, as played prob c/f readless

i think c/c turn is better than c/r, which reps pretty close to nothing. unless you are playing with a deck with 6 aces, i doubt repping AA to get him to fold Ax will work

so the moral of the story is we're not cbetting the likely best hand given the action on Ace high boards and instead just check/folding vs villains who may stab with worse?

what ever happened to cbetting boards that hit your range for raising pre out of the blinds? idk about you guys, but Ax is the bulk of my raising range. AK, AQ, AJ, ATs sometimes even, possibly wider depending on who limped. also some big pairs too but who ever gets those?

so 1. do we cbet this flop.

2. do we cbet this turn. if not then ch/f > ch/r i've gathered but is b/f > c/f?

oh yeah so btw everyone who is c/f'ing flop i assume you are ch/folding KK here too presumably? and that's the optimal line in this spot?

we just cant possibly continue with KK on A high vs limpers and we must just check/fold now? even tho we're continuing with our bluffs? say KQs. i mean i know KK and TT are not the same here bc KK has more equity vs hands that are flipping with TT, but relative hand-strength wise they are pretty similar and i dont like ch/f'ing. maybe this is a leak in my game. or maybe you guys are all huge nits.

we dont have AK/AQ/AA because we checked the turn. It would be a highly creative spot to lead flop, c/r river with an Ax type hand. Any competent villain probably realizes his A is good here after you check the turn. I think checking the flop is fine.

fwiw at an unknown table i just complete SB with TT in sb. We are putting ourselves in a tough spot playing oop with TT here by raising. Sure we likely have the best hand in SB vs limpers but what flops can we possibly like/want to get it in on in a 3 way, $120 pot with TT vs limp callers.

c/f TT is pretty standard on this board in a 3way pot, although i suppose that could be a function of how you construct your raising range out of the blinds here. the tighter you are the more likely i would be to cbet this though, not the other way around. you can certainly do things other than c/f if you have a reason to do them, but consider that its going to be very hard for you to reach showdown, ie realize your equity, against good players oop here. essentially any hand that you beat will bluff on a later street and hands that beat you will valuebet, and since you arent going to check your Ax hands on the flop or turn often, your checking range doesnt have much protection making his life easier. you could, of course, add Ax to your checking range, but i think a better solution is to c/f TT and barrel more here, especially with all suited broadways that have a bdfd etc. you suggested that you dont like to c/f, and i would venture to guess that is almost certainly a leak (and likely a large one).

KK is prob better to cbet (although still not great), and definitely better to c/c with since you have way more equity vs his floats/stabs and can play rivers more easily if he hits a pair and checks back or something.

also not raising TT in the sb over limpers is absurd.

I think if you c-bet you have to bet the turn. If he calls the turn you can think about what rivers you want to bet. If he raises the turn you can instamuck.

Otherwise this is a ok but not great flop to c-bet - you are using the A to get some FE. The turn got worse but still playable. Not betting the turn you gave up all your A FE basically and put yourself in a spot where V knows you probably dont have the A. What hand can you raise in the SB without a big A -most likely a PP.

Even if V ranged you to KK/QQ, the number of guys that bet once with an A on the board to then fold face-up after that makes his call on the flop profitable.

Good stuff here ...

1) If you c-bet, then also lead Turn for pot control and c/f River. Most 2/5 players IP will go after this pot when you check the Turn. So lead Turn as well to maintain betting lead. I don't really like a T on the River here but you can get to showdown if V has Ax with weak kicker on River.

2) If you check, then c/f Flop or Turn if you don't hit your set. I still don't like picking up my T on the River but you do have a sneaky gutter and blockers to JT/89 type of hands.

V had to 'think' PF and maybe only called due to position .. this would be a wide range of hands IMO including Arag.

I would've continued on the Turn and hoped for a free showdown on River from Arag with kicker issues. GL

The answers to your questions come from answering these questions.

Assuming Villain knows that this flop hit your range and he doesn't fold, what information do you take from that action?

Do you think Villains are often bluffing with weak hands boards that hit your range? If so, you'd never raise AK in this spot correct? Raising KK would be worse than horrible if weaker hands are bluffing.

Why are TT (or KK) good bluff hands? It has blockers to hands that are folding not calling.