It's 4am and 5 handed. Out of courtesy I told the other 4 people i'd be leaving shortly.

$800. Villain is mid 50's gentleman. I'd describe him as smug. Doesn't need the money. Doesn't like playing with me. Doesn't like losing to me either. Can peel light and also isn't afraid to bluff. Generally see him playing $1/3. The 1/3 broke so he came over to 2/5.

I cover. I look really young, and i've been playing loose aggressive.

Limps around, I make it $25 from sb QJcc, folds, utg and Villain call OTB.

Kc Jh 8d ($79)

checks around

4c ($79)
I bet $60, utg folds, V double checks his hole cards and calls.

4s ($197)
I check, V checks his hole cards again and bets $200, I...

preflop sucks almost always

as played bet flop

fold river to the psb from mid 50's guy unless you've seen him make similar sized bluffs before, then it comes down to a soul-read

If he likes to call you down like then I'd b/f small, like 1/2psb. As long as he isn't a good tricky player and can raise knowing you almost never have a strong hand here.

If he likes to stab with whiffed draws but won't vbet lightly, then I'd c/c.

But if you do decide to raise this pre oop, I'd go larger and cbet flop

Bet flop. On the river, I call. The reason is the re-check of his cards. Most people can remember the bigger of their two cards. The reason for the re-check is either to check if he has 2 clubs (people forget this) or if he has the smaller card. If he called you with bottom pair and hit, good for him. He's bluffing enough to make 2nd pair a reasonable bluff catcher.

Ok. I'm more concerned with what to do on the river.

I usually bet flop. If I recall correctly, utg played tight abc and had ~$100 after the call pre.

If she bet flop I'm more than comfortable folding. Once they both checked thru, I know UTG doesn't have any Kx, and the BTN doesn't either. I guess V could be checking back like K7s or something of the like, but idk.

So, ott i'm getting value from 9T, QT, Jx, Q9 that wanted to see a free card, backdoor XXcc, and I guess any 8x or 4x that he feels like peeling with. I doubt Villain slow plays a big hand two streets. The only hand that beats mine is a hand like K7ss that decided to check back flop, or maybe a rare K4s, J4s (even tho most people raise the turn).

So, like I said, the river is what I want to talk about. otr, everything bricked. No flush, no straight, and it paired the 4 so any 4x is unlikely. I checked river to get value from any bluffs since everything bricked. Now, he pots it in position. I know that most big bets and esp overbets from recreational players are almost always for value, but everything bricked. I don't know why he's betting so much and I don't know if live players try and push people off of percieved chops with such large bets

I think villain is doing this rarely, if ever. To me he's pretty polarized to either having 4x or better or having 8x or less. I'd be a bit stunned if I called and he had Jx or Kx.

I can see a call on the river if you think he is bluffing a missed draw a third of the time.

i know your question is about the river, but you can't just disregard previous streets played if you really want to know why you find yourself in this situation.

you should really have a plan ott once you bet. like, if i bet and get called, i'm b/f the river if it is a brick. or if i'm called ott, i'm c/f or c/c river. betting and then not knowing how to handle the river if called is probably your biggest concern.

it is entirely dependent on the opponent how you should handle the river if you bet turn and get called.

against passive calling stations, you can b/f confidently. against others, c/c is better if they don't call light but will stab at the pot when weakness is shown.

it is true that big bets in live poker generally mean strength, but you can also find opponents willing to make larger bets when it is obvious their opponent doesn't have a strong hand. the check otf, bet turn, check river is incredibly weak and could have induced this large bet otr with a number of hands.

I know what i'm doing most of the time. I play online poker for my main source of income. You could have just said the last part and it would've been fine. I was basically just double checking.

Hmmmm I mean, the way you played it is not the way I would have played it butttt I don't dislike your line here.

I've got him polarized to either K4, 44, mayyyyyybe K8, or nothing, honestly. So I'm calling.

He limp/called shorthanded pre. And then checked flop. And then called turn.
No way KK/JJ/88 turns up here. I don't see how he can call the turn either with just a 4. He can't have a 4 and a club draw, he can't have a 4 and a straight draw either. Just a 4. I think even a player who is capable of calling light will rarely call with just a 4 here. Might bluff-raise, but not call. I don't think he's on a capable level of firing a huge bet like this with just a K here? Plus, I think it's likely he bets the flop with most K or better type hands. I think he either flopped/turned a huge hand, or he has nothing. I think so many more combinations of T9, clubs, and QT come up here then a huge hand.

too many times this type of guy is betting a king as you have not scared him. so calling may just be paying him off.
his hand looks like a bluff though.

I think preflop is too loose. You really think you will get it through all 3 players when they have position on you?

As played bet flop is pretty standard.

River is interesting.

On the one hand his sizing makes me think its a bluff. Also I think it's unlikely he has a king since he checked flop.

On the other hand All the draws missed but from my experience 1/2 players don't like to bluff missed draws.

I think I learn towards call due to your read that he isn't afraid to bluff. Part of being a good lag is you will get into these spots a lot. So of you are unsure what to maybe don't raise this pre.

Snap that off. NH, he has so many more bluffs that value hands in his range here.

Draws all brick out. Brickee gets checked to OTR. No SDV. What´s a fish to do?