1/2NL. Full ring. BTN straddle.
SB folds.
BB calls.
MP1 ($300) raises to $20.
Hero MP2 [8h7h] ($340) calls.
CO calls.
BTN calls.

4 to Flop [Jh8c6h] ($77)

MP1 ($280) bets $60.
Hero...

My immediate instinct screams overpair. Most players at 1/2 don't suddenly play faster because the pot is bigger. He raised preflop in early position and is leading with a fairly menacing bet into 3 players.

What are the differing values in various plays?
Calling $60?
Raising to $120?
Raising to $180?
Moving all-in for $280?

Preflop is atrocious. Fold.

As played I actually don't hate a shove on the flop. I realize its an overbet but your hand becomes pretty tough to play on a lot of turns and rivers and your biggest equity advantage is going to be on the flop. You have 47% equity vs JJ,QQ,KK,AA which I think is an accurate range given preflop huge sizing.

AP eff shove 180+ You need to retain as much equity as possible by shedding players behind and getting HU with PFR. The pair+FD+BDSD equity+FE (some) is enough to stack off here without falling too hard into the spew realm. Flatting from MP with SC facing an EP raise this shallow is, however, a leak, which should be extremely apparent to you now considering you found a top end flop yet still posted the hand.

If it isn't apparent why it's a leak, the thread will inform below.

You are 50/50 vs. an overpair now. But fold pre.

Fold pre!

But OK, here we are. If this game plays like the ones that I'm familiar with...then this cat has an overpair and is *never folding*. So, here is a trick that may work if you want to continue in the hand...fake-tank, do your best silent-strong dance, and raise it to 135. There is a reasonable chance that the guy will appear confused...then proceed to call and *check the turn*. There's the exploit. We'll see 2 cards, and he'll still stack off when we hit. Of course, this plan could blackfire, but our raise commits us anyway, and it is a flip (and this is a junk play in a "real poker game" ). But, this play *could possibly* give our opponent an opportunity to make a major mistake, thereby allowing us to benefit even in such an ugly spot.

Conversely, you could refuse to flip for such an amount, being only 20$ invested, and just fold on the flop. He will sometimes show up with pocket jacks here as well.

make it look super valueish, like 135, or shove, to get max FE. you don't really want a call from an overpair. but no problems if you get one.

but don't wait around for the next card to peel off. you have tons of equity now, just take down all that dead money.

I actually realized my mistake in the middle of the hand. Without the straddle I love this call as I am still likely up against a strong range but now deep enough to justify. With the straddle this simply is not true.

As played, I raised to $160. I agree with the sizing of $135 to peel two cards. He did in fact call and check the turn, which was the 9s, giving me an open ender as well. He checked, and I, realizing I had a free card, checked.

The river was the Jc and it became apparent just how badly I misplayed the hand. He checked and I checked behind, realizing if I had also sized my flop raise smaller, I would have more FE on the river.

Nah, the purpose of the smaller raise on the flop is to simply try to peel the free card. Unless you are up against a total clicker, you really should have no FE on the river. Just check-fold if you miss. If you hit 2 pair or a flush, jam, if you hit something like a backdoor 4-to-a-straight, bet to get a call (70?).

I disagree with this for several reasons. First of all, if we make it $135 and he calls, the pot will be $347 and we'll have just $145 left. Why play this way? With our hand we don't want to peel for free cards and go for $70 river bets if we hit. We want to either maximize our FE with a shove and take down $137 OTF, or try to double up with a high equity hand.

What we don't want to do is get to showdown with a pair of 8s because we're likely going to lose. OTF we fear no hand so let's bet like it instead of getting cute with a small raise and leave ourself with less than a half pot bet behind.

Oh and fold pre...especially since you got one of the best possible flops for your hand and you were still unsure what to do, and with shallow stacks to boot.

Fold pre with these stacks. lol @ V just calling and checking turn. As played I would've just shipped it on the flop.

shipping on flop is okay, we have plenty of equity VS Vs likely range and have dead money to compensate

Just so we're clear, I recommended shoving/3-betting the flop here, obviously...I was just offering a possible alternative way to play the hand, given the unlikeliness that villain folds on the flop.

Understood.

Fold pre.

Either shove flop or bet something stupid like $200 to make your hand look as nutted as possible. Never folding once we see the flop.

The pot size should be $80 on the flop, not $280.

If the straddle is $5, then you're playing with a 60 BB stack, and calling a 4 BB raise out of position with no reads is really unprofitable. As you saw, there were two more callers making your SPR ~3.6 which is horrendous for small suite connectors.

AP - you're ~even money against an over pair, ahead of a flush draw, and behind a set, so your equity is about 50/50. You don't want anyone else to porfitably call behind you, so I think you need to raise all-in. Maximizes FE and works fine within your equity edge.

I raise to 200$ and call shove