$2/5 - 2am or so Friday night. Table has had same line up for 4+ hrs.
Table full of reg's and overall a pretty competent table. H isn't switching to a softer $1/2 game because I'm working to improve my game and this is a good table for that.

V - SB - ($2K) - extremely competent thinking player an actual TAG. Tight, only raises or folds, never calls. Not at all a maniac but will apply continual pressure in the face of weakness. V perceives H as spewy, weak and loose. Thinks I'm more rec than reg. I've been tabling some crap hands, playing very loose and V surely has noticed. I've also 3b / c-bet / folded several times, again, V knows this.

H BTN - ($550) - sort of a spew monkey but pretty good hand reader and it lets me get away with being stupid wide most of the time.

OTTH
UTG straddles to $15. UTG and I have been very cordial and joking the whole session. I tell UTG "As long as I get K's or better, I'm raising you're straddle to $50 - well, K's, A's or AKs, any of those hands and it's $50". Folds to H and sure as hell I look down and have QhQs, so I make it $50. Folds to H in SB who asks "How much did he bet?" About the first words he's said in 4 hrs. This isn't an angle, I think he's unsure what I bet (1 green, 5 red went out). V flats the $50 from the SB and UTG folds. I'm shocked V flatted and haven't seen this from him before. I think he's views me as spewing based on my banter w/ UTG and is lighter than normal and looking to exploit my post flop aggression / weakness.

Flop ($118)
2h8h8s

Great flop for me. I put basically no 8 in V's range unless he flopped quads. Also doesn't have KK or AA, 100% would have 4b me pre flop. He absolutely could have 99-JJ, AQs+, AKo or maybe some amount of KQs/JTs. V also expects me to lead 100% of my range here so I see no reason to upset his plan for the hand. H leads for $65. V makes it $180. I think V is doing this with 100% of his range. Here's the super straight forward part of the hand where I'm not sure on the best move.

Either flatting or raising, never folding (obviously). If I flat there will be ~$480 in the pot w/ ~$300. If I shove the math is the same basically, V needs to call $300 more for an $1,100 pot. I assume we're always shoving here, but because we're so far ahead of V's range here does flatting make sense?

Thoughts are appreciated.

It’s going to be hard for you to get off the hand given that you only have 100bb. On a dry board I do like a downbet of 35-40 so that it’s easier to call his raise and not have the awkward stack size after.

As played I would call and call the shove on the turn for any non A,K card. I am not sure what to do if a high card does hit. Also if he always raises or folds and he sees you as a spewy player , I can see him do this with AA.

How are we ranging him? Don’t know if I can fold but he has AA a lot

"I put basically no 8 in V's range unless he flopped quads. Also doesn't have KK or AA, 100% would have 4b me pre flop. He absolutely could have 99-JJ, AQs+, AKo or maybe some amount of KQs/JTs."

It’s tough to range him but he’s doing some pretty serious button clicking here. I doubt he shows up with a value hand often. My best guess is that he doesn’t have SDV but thinks OP doesn’t show up with a hand that can call down very often. Villain shouldn’t have a raising range here. I disagree with OP that V could never have AA/KK, but it’s pretty spewy to raise those on the flop.

We’re never folding. We’re only 35 straddles deep with an overpair.

Brown - "My best guess is that he doesn’t have SDV but thinks OP doesn’t show up with a hand that can call down very often."

I completely agree. Does that mean I just flat, and let V try to hang himself again on the turn?

OP, if your read is that villain is usually just button clicking with air here, then obviously you should flat. A bit confused by this thread.

Villain is described as competent, so he should never have 99 type hands here.

I’m really trying to figure why I thought this was a good spot to jam (H jammed). Really thought I was well ahead of V and there are no good turns for me, and a competent V with position on us.

I'm a little confused with the positions. You start off saying you are the BTN but then talk about leading the flop as if you are OOP. So I guess SB check raised you? Regardless I think a 3bet jam is warranted, it's not like we're getting away from queens ever, and if he views you as spewy he may think 44 is a slamdunk call. And of course he could always have plenty of suited connectors and stuff which make for a great x/r. Because of this he will sometimes have an 8 too, but thats why calling with speculative hands and hitting on wet flops is so +EV. Sometimes you just run bad. At this stack depth we're committed.

Sorry about that - H is BTN, V is SB, and yes he c/r'd the flop.

So how often do you x/r when you flop the *obvious* nuts? And by obvious I mean the board is paired, or perhaps even the board is 888. Probably never right? Because you are basically flashing a huge neon sign saying "i have trips, i have trips, i have trips!" There's very little risk to someone slowplaying trips on a 288 flop as long as it isnt monotone. You would want to keep your range wide and make it look like you could be drawing, or maybe even just playing sheriff with a smaller pair.


For these reasons this is why I advocate 3betting V's x/r. He just shouldnt ever be check raising a big hand here because he runs the risk of making you fold, and why would he want an overpair to fold if he has you smashed? IF he's drawing then we simply cannot let him see the next card without an additional bet. It's not like if we just called and the turn is an offsuit Jack we were gonna be snap folding.