Villain 1 (HJ) $700 : young white male, mid 20's, standard TAG image

Villain 2 (CO) $800 : asian male, late 20's maybe early 30's, fairly solid TAG, regular at this casino

Villain 3 (Button) $196 : older white male, 60's-70's, relatively tight from my recollection

Hero (SB) $600 : standard TAG image, haven't been getting out of line at the table thus far


Preflop $7
V1 opens to $20
V2 call
V3 call
H reraise to $100 AK
V1 fold
V2 call
V3 call


Flop $325 1043
H ?

Am I forced to check this flop due to V3 being so short? Would my decision be different if V3 was deeper?

wow an actual tough spot because that cold caller.

Normally i'd say just ship if vs villain 3 as you can't really be making a huge mistake even if you are behind but with villain 2 calling it's quite annoying.

As played it really doesn't mater if you bet or check as both are fine. Since it's 120~BB I really don't mind a bet of $150 and a shove on the turn. It will look like QQ+ and you may get JJ and maybe a weak tight QQ to fold. Villain 3 could have anything and cold calling half his stack is marginal at best. Don't be surprised if he calls here with 77+ as he seems terrible.

if you check you have to fold to a bet and your hand looks exactly like AK but that's not to say it's bad. It's more or less a risk management and if villains call light it's probably best.

Just try not to get married with AK if you are any deeper than this - as this is the cut off you really want to be going broke with AK.

Edit - you could also 3bet a tad bigger since there is $67 already in the pot. A 3bet to $130 would of made this hand much easier to play - unless you thought the old man was going to re raise so you could put a 5bet on. That would of been sick. But relying on him to play correctly is meh so I think $130 is a better 3bet. I would of liked the $100 3bet if you had position but since you don't I think you need to go higher.

3 bet size is rediculous. V utg range is questionable here so i would 3 bet really small. $45. I smoke out his big pairs early on, and he calls easily with broadways if he has them. The wider he opens (99 KQ AJs etc) then i would simply 3x as a 3 bet.

I think 3bet size is perfect. It give us the option to 5-bet if button just goes all in preflop. If V3 wasn't shortstacked, I would probably 3bet to $110 to $120.

On flop, I think I bet between $125 and $150. This puts V2 in a tough spot since he might have to beat 2 opponent's hands. I'll probably shut down if called.

WTF no one is UTG..... He is H jack...

if you 3bet to 45 no one is folding and you just bloat a pot out of position..

just saying.
This is not good advice - 3bet to $100 is fine.

yeah he is making no sense to me. what about on the flop?

Actually, I think OP's 3-bet sizing is perfect (3x the original raise + 2x for the 2 cold callers). OP should still be getting value from worse with this sizing.

Your suggestion to 3-bet to only $45 out of SB over a $20 HJ raise and 2 calls (CO/BTN) is probably WAY TOO SMALL.