5/5 300-500 buy-in game at Commerce.

Hero(covers): 31 yo white guy

Villain(~$600): ~40 yo asian guy. drinking a beer and has the asian flush going on.

Dealt: QdJh

Villain has clearly been drinking a lot, he just changed tables and in the limited time he has been at the table I've seen him involved in a lot of hands and he is clearly bluffing a lot.

I've been running over the table. Raising preflop often and taking it down with a c-bet most of the time. Table captain status.

Everyone folds to me I raise my QJos to $20 from mid late position and the button calls and villain calls from the big blind.

Flop ($60) KcTd4c

Villains checks, and normally I would be inclined to bet here, but the villain in question has been extremely active and the chance that he check raises me with air is very high and I can't really stand a check raise in this spot. Also I want to hit my straight for free and then give him the chance to hang himself. I check and button checks also.

Turn ($60) 9c

Villain checks. Now we turned a straight thats awesome but its not the nuts because the club came with it. I decide to bet half pot ($30) trying to keep club draws in the hand and keep opponents ranges wide, obv if a club hits river I'm just done. Button fold, villain calls.

River ($120) 6h

Villain leads out for $45 and in my mind this feels like the naked ace of clubs that just doesn't want to check give up and doesn't really know what to do. That's my initial feeling based on his sizing. I don't think he has a flush here and in case I'm wrong and he has two pair or something I don't want to just call here and miss value. I elect to raise to $135 total.

Villain thinks for 3 minutes at least, so long that I consider calling a clock on him thinking that might get him to call. While he's tanking I'm telling myself that if he raises me I'm just going to fold. I'm preparing myself for it so I can make the right lay down.

Well after pondering for like 5 mins he dramatically turns the Ace of clubs face up and tosses out two white chips. A raise of $110 more to me. So it's costing me $110 to win a pot of $500. Thoughts? On all streets appreciated thanks.

looks like he's trying to scare you into folding. I would snap call.

Looks good. I would call his river raise. The fact that he showed you the Ac makes zero sense. If he actually had the nut flush, would he show you the Ac? Me thinks not.

If I am not planning to call a raise on the river, I don't raise the $45. If you put him on the naked Ac, what did you expect him to call with?

Now that you are here, just sigh/call it off.

Yeah once he showed the Ace of clubs it took me about half a second to make up my mind to call. However I sat there and tried to look torn before sigh/calling and saying "ok show me the other card". I didn't want to discourage this player from bluffing me in the future so making an easy decision call of his river 3bet is wrong. I really don't like to hollywood my decisions or waste time but this spot certainly calls for it.

I really think that I might have folded if he just didn't show the ace.

He says "you're good" and folds the other card I muck without showing.

This is a weak mentality. I thought I might have misread it and he was making a blocker bet with a 2pair type hand. In retrospect I need to be more ready to call down a 3bet on this river in this spot against this particular opponent who seemed to be bluffing every time he could. He really was playing like a maniac so I should have been prepared to call down knowing he could spazz out with the Ace of clubs. But against 99.98% of players and I mean that folding to the river 3bet is the right play imo.

Bet turn bigger.

As played I like your play given the weird dynamic

I'd call it off. I don't think we fold out that many hands by going $35-40 OTT, but overall, my thought process would be the same as yours throughout the hand. Good flop check imo.

To your point of "table captain," is the 5/5 @ commerce generally nitty? I've only played a few sessions there, but compared to Gardens or HP, I've found it much easier to bluff & harder to get value at commerce.

Meh, shrug, call. He will have a flush a decent portion of the time but the call should be at least break even against an aggressive drunk guy.

I like your line but bet more on the turn. I agree that folding to a big reraise on the river is likely correct. But for that your hand is simply too good to just fold for that price.

Easy fold imo.

And it looks like I was wrong. Oh well.

Why is it a weak mentality? You can't raise a player like this and then fold when he re-raises you. You can fold vs. a lot of other players, but not this one. Folding would be weak.

Whole dynamic is bizarre. Easy call IMO. What villains x/c 1/2 pot on turn, then lead out 1/3 on river, and 3bet min-raise with nut flush (while showing the ace)?

I have personally taken weird lines (with both blocker bets turned into bluffs and the nuts) like x/c turn, weak-lead river - but you better believe if I have the nuts I have a good reason for expecting a raise when I do this, I'm pounding them with my river 3bet, and *nobody* else does this stuff.

i think 30 is better simply because it keeps his range wider. he is going to call with a lot maybe even all of his clubs and i dont mind that. obv if i know he has the ace of clubs i can charge him 50 he wont fold but i dont want to blow him off his hand at all.

yeah the regs are pretty tight at least against me who they must percieve as solid.i have a good feel for when i can double barrel and push them off there hands. im making 3x pot size all-ins in weird spots with nothing and getting folds.

again i think betting 30 on turn keeps all sorts of garbage in his range and any more starts producing a lot more folds. im less concerned about protecting my hand from a one card flush draw in this spot against this player.

yeah 110 to call to win 500 almost 5:1 against a drunk guy who turned over the ace of clubs. its just going to be a bluff often enough here that its actually an easy call.

Ok I thought you were saying that in general you can't raise fold this river, but if you're saying that you can't raise fold this river against this player especially given my read of naked ace of clubs then yeah you're right and I'm learning. I got lucky he showed and 3bet small because if he just jams I probably fold, though now I know that would be wrong in this spot.

Yeah him turning over the ace of clubs and being a drunk amateur type player is just such an easy read for me that he doesnt have the flush. And lol 5:1 odds on a call. *fake sigh* Show me your other card.

The reason for generally raising more is that the turn is often your last chance to make any money. There are a lot of river cards where villain doesn't put any money in unless they are bluffing. Another club and either you are beat or villain is done with hand also. Another high card puts more possible straights or some possible boats out there. Those may give villain a hand that can pay off or make him bluff but are also likely to convince villain to give up and many give him a better hand.

However, if you have a villain who makes a lot of foolish river bluffs then a smaller bet may actually be the best option. If that is the case then you need to be ready to call off a big bluff on the river. Against that sort you need to be ready to call any bet/raise unless the river is a club.