Hero mp1 $850: tag image

Villain utg+1 $1400: competent tag. have seen him open limping in straddled pots from ep. from past experience, have seen him bet big on the river with big hands. however, he is surely capable of doing so as a bluff


Preflop $17 (straddled pot)
V limp
H raise to $35 KJ(is a raise fine here? or is a limp also acceptable? I'm not sure if we should be isolating this type of player)
Mp call
Blinds + Straddler fold
V call

Flop $122 642
V check
H check (could we cbet this board? or you guys like the check?)
Mp check

Turn $122 6
V bet $55
H call
Mp fold

River $232 9
V bet $225
H ? (I was planning on calling any modest size bet, and betting half pot or so when checked to. However, facing a pot sized bet, Villains hand looks pretty polarized. I beat smaller flushes, but I'm not sure Villain would bet pot with those hands. Thoughts?)

I'm leaning toward a call here.

While some of the time V has 22 or 44, is it possible for him to nearly PSB on river with A6o or A9o? Maybe J9o+/Q9o+?

No way this particular V would be open limping in A6o, A9o, J9o, Q9o pre. He would likely not being going for a PSB with A9 on this river either. Haven't see exactly what hands he's been open limping with. But I'm assuming small to medium pairs, medium suited connectors, and possibly suited Ax.

This looks like a value bet to me. Once you check the flop and call turn, your hand looks like two overs with a flush draw.
When V leads in with a PSB on the river which brings the flush in, it looks a lot like a boat to me.

I would not be surprised to see 99 here.

Are we assuming that with V's stack size, he isn't trying to earn the pot here some of the time? A flush is going to win here very often.

Villains range here is very polarized, however pot sized river bet bluffs and overplayed Q or 10 high flushes are so rare that that I'm folding here without too much thought.

Regardless of what's done on the river, it seems like the OP didn't have a plan in mind with the given flop, thus giving the larger stack a chance to push him out on turn and river.

With the way the hand played as it was, it really just comes down to the feel of the action by the river.

^ are you cbetting this flop? I opted to check, and give up if unimproved ott

HU, I c-bet.

As played, am I the only one that raises or folds to turn bet? Either try to take it down right there or fold, IMO. Maybe I'm too nitty. I hate the idea of just calling and playing our hand strictly as a flush draw w a pair already on board. I want to be able to get max value when I play draws.

I think c-bet is a must for information and deception. Checking pretty much flips our hand face up.

Also, by c-betting, we should have control of the turn action.

Agreed, just didn't think this was an ideal flop to cbet. But I guess I could have.

As played by OP,

As much as I don't like the math, we would have to put in a small to medium raise to have some semblance of control and room to evaluate river. Folding to reraise.

Call