2/5 casino game

Hero: $1475. Image super tight. Tripled up shortly after sitting down, and leather-assing since then for about 2 hours with few playable hands. Unknown at this room.

Villain: Covers. LAG on my immediate right. Opens wide, attacks limpers from button, good thinking player post flop. Always straddles UTG. Involved in more hands than anyone else at the table, and winning. We have not really tangled with each other. He must have noticed that I've been very quiet since the triple up.

V is UTG raises to $15. His raise sizes vary from $10 to $30, lots of pot sweetener type raises with small-to-medium PPs.

Hero is UTG with AKo. 3! to $40.

Everyone else folds. V 4! to $80. Looks like he wants action.

Here is a disconnect between V's image (super-LAG), and his position/action (4-betting from UTG against the biggest stack/tightest player at the table). There hasn't been much 3-betting or 4-betting at this table, by anyone. My first 3! of the session.

Hero?

It's such a small 4 bet, I'd be really tempted to 5 bet to 180. You have to at least call.

I think flatting pre might have been the better play. First of all, the PFR comes from UTG which should be a tighter range (but maybe not with this lag). AK doesn't do that great vs an UTG range in general. And when we 3bet, we kind of reveal our range to a good thinking post flop player. When we combine this with stack depth, 3betting AK vs a likely strong UTG range just bloats the pot uncomfortably vs a good lag while all we have going for us is position.

As played, this spot definitely sucks. Folding is out. We're getting over 3:1 with position so we have direct odds to try to flop TP. But calling caps our range. We wouldn't flat with KK+ so once again we'd be revealing our range to a good player. I think 5bet/folding might be the best play. A good lag in his spot won't just call our 3bet. He'll raise or fold because playing post flop oop sucks. Only thing is that his sizing is throwing me off.

Regardless, I think $200/fold here is better than calling. We look like KK+ now and it's going to be almost impossible for him to continue.

uh flat and play some poker

not a huge fan of 5bet/folding here IP

did he miss his straddle?

i don't think flatting limits my range here because i'm perfectly capable of flatting a 4bet IP deep with KK+ against such a LAGgy player but maybe it's just me

Preflop: First 3bet is good, after the min 4bet, reraise again to $220ish. If he calls and checks to you on the flop, make a c-bet. Tiny 4bets like these from aggressive players tend to mean hands that are trying to "see if you have aces." So reraise and make him think so.

Just my opinion...

In this situation, you need to ask yourself:

1. Could he min 4 bet with AQ or worse in this situation?
2. If he could, would he put a lot of money in the pot with TP?

If the answer is yes, then call. Otherwise, fold.

Let's say he has QQ for example. He's not going to pay you off if an A or K hits on the flop. The only hand you're going to make much money off of is going to be AQ. If he isn't playing that, you've got a RIO hand. No reason to put more money in the pot because you're way behind his range.

Correction: he was UTG+1 in this hand, not UTG.

at least call here and play the pot in position, really against folding to a min raise it just seems ******ed.

your range is super strong since you haven't played a hand in a while and just 3 bet an UTG raise from UTG1, so it doesn't make sense for villain to 4 bet little when he could be getting more value from your strong range, if he was strong himself. i'd probably 5 bet here to 210ish and fold if he repops it

This is slightly off topic, but I'm starting to learn that you can just fold AK to some people's opening raises, since their opening range is so tight. I usually don't 3-bet vs EP raises with it.

OP doesn't specify whether V is tight in EP and opens wide only OTB or close to, or whether he opens in all positions wider than "standard" (while still being positionally aware).

I'm going to assume that his EP range is tighter than his LP range, but that it's wider than just premiums (which is what I think good play looks like).

Actual positions are he's UTG+1 and we're UTG+2?

OP indicates V's raise sizes "vary from $10 to $30, lots of pot sweetener type raises with small-to-medium PPs." Well, this certainly looks like that. At the games I play, a $15 raise is roughly equivalent to limping in terms of number of callers. This could be a monster inducing a 3b, but is more likely a small to medium PP.

I'm not folding AK to a LAG's raise, even in EP.

I think flatting here is bad. A small raise in EP that we call is going to invite others to overcall after us. I think flatting very likely leads to us playing a TP hand in a largish pot multi-way. On our bad days, people at other tables are going to call this.

I think a small 5b/fold is perfect. He'll pretty much have to fold any PP since it looks like he's not getting the odds to set mine. That's a great result for us, since he's actually ahead of us. If he shoves, it's pretty much always going to be a hand that has us crushed and we can fold with a clear conscience.

If he calls the 5b, I'll bet/fold any flop (even TP) or fold if he leads. At that point, we will have oozed mighty strength from every pore and he's still trying to get more money in against us.

If we call, 2/3 the time we're going to miss the flop with a fairly capped range against a thinking LAG. That's less than ideal.

There is no one else in the hand as everyone else has folded

Oops. Unclear in my post.

I think flatting <the original raise> here is bad.

Thanks for pointing this out.

Actual positions are V I s UTG+1 and Hero is UTG+2.

His EP opening range is def tighter than his LP range, still widest EP range at the table.

Raise-fold to $230-$255.

Better yet, call the $80 and bet $120 OTF if he checks, or raise to $275-$325 if he bets.

I'm probably folding. If you hit an ace or a king and he gives you action, you're chopping at best. If you miss, you're just gonna fold. If you 5bet, you're only getting action from QQ+ and there's not too much else he'll 4bet.

Don't get fouled by laggy, thinking and observant player.

He must have noticed you are tight.

When you 3bet him, he knew that you were not likely betting light here.

He is very likely to put you on strong range and uses his laggy image to build the pot.

Many good Laggy open player can still have a very narrow 4bet range in 1-2, 1-3, 2-5 game, especially the 3bettor is tight.

I might just fold

Why?

Because players get uncomfortable playing poker multiway with 1p hands.

It's easier to 3bet huge, create a SPR of <4:1 and then durrrr GII with my OP.

Why don't we flat the original raise IP? We have IO when we flop TP in SRP and now we have RIO and turned our hand face up to a thinking LAG, albeit IP.

And on the odd chance we call and someone 3bets behind we get info about villains hand and get the chance to scoop a lot of dead money.

If this LAG really is that action I am sure people will 'take a stand' with pp's like 77-TT or KQish type hands and possibly 3 bet, where we can scoop a LOT of dead money with a cold 4bet in that scenario

youre agreeing with me right?

Flatting or 3 betting pre are fine.

Really people the EV would almost the same.

As for the 4 bet. If you think he's nutted then fold.

If he could do this light then call.

Without a read just fold. Better to make a small mistake then make a big one when 300bb deep even in position

Villain, as described, likely sees you as weak/tight. His four-bet was designed to get you off everything but aces. The fact that you have AK discounts the chances that he has Aces or kings.

With that being said, raising here bloats the pot against a thinking, tricky player (even though you have position). Instead of 5-betting, I would probably call pf and raise his likely c-bet on flops if an A or K comes.