2/5 at Bellagio, new to the table (~20min)

V ($800) - Young white guy, reg, saw him around a lot but first time playing together. Gives the vibe of making moves but haven't seen anything yet.

H ($500) - Young girl in party outfit, not sure how V sees me since we are both around this casino a lot.

The only hand history between us:
Folds to H in CO with 22 and H limps. V raises OTB to 20 and H calls. HU. We check down Q55r 8o 6. H shows 22 and V mucks.

OTTH:

H opens UTG to 20 with AQo. V calls NTA. Short-stack rec player AI for 45 in MP, folds to H who calls. V thinks for a bit then makes it 120. 450 eff behind, 75 more to call into a pot of 210.

What hands do you put V on? If V has premium why didn't he raise the first time? Could he see us just flatting the 45 as weakness and try to force us out?

Thoughts on V's hand and future action?

You need to 4bet this when it gets to you to prevent this exact scenario. $100 to go.

As played I'd fold while hating it.

Best table image at lower levels.

This history is interesting. It can suggest two things:

1.) Villain is a fit-or-fold type player post-flop. Or, at the very least, a fit-or-check-down player. He had three reasonable chances to take a stab, and he declined them all. If Villain plays this way, it makes your life easier in case you call preflop and then decide to play on. It means that if you call preflop and you miss the flop, you can check-fold easily; and it also means you will expect to check-thru the flop a decent amount of the time.

AND/OR

2.) Villain thinks you're a calling station. Justified or not, it means that when he bets, he thinks you will call. So it means that when Villain bets, he WANTS you to call. If Villain has this read on you, it suggests that in the current hand you should fold.


Anyway, (1) and (2) act in opposite directions, and if you want to read into this information, you will have to decide which is more likely. (They could both be true.) Also, the history is only one hand, and I don't want to read into it too much; however, the line taken by Villain was unusually passive, and so that information should carry at least a little weight.

Moreover, the hand history suggests Villain is not that creative. While some Villains might have T9s, call the Hero's 2-bet and then squeeze the Hero with a 4-bet, it seems more likely that Villain is not that adventurous.

More likely, Villain flatted with KK to be greedy and let others in; when he kind of got what he wanted, he took his subsequent opportunity to raise. Which points towards...