5 person, homegame .25/.50. I have a fairly aggressive image and have 1 of the 2 big stacks at the table.

I'm on button with A♠️2♣️ , UTG limps into me. I raise to my standard preflop 2.5 BB ($1.25). Blinds+UTG call, 4 way pot.

($5) Flop comes K♠️9♠️2♠️.

SB bets $2, everyone calls.
I semibluff raise to $8 planning to take it down right there, thinking I have the nut flush draw and can draw to top 2 or trip 2s if I get called down or face agression back (9+3+2=14 outs).

2 weak players fold, UTG/Villain calls.
Villain = former 6-figure/year grinder, by far best player at the table.


($25) Turn 9♥️. Not a great card for me. At this table, villain's philosophy preflop is "any 2 cards" and he's easily playing almost any K9o+ and 97o+ going into the flop and I think he'll likely call most bets if his unpaired card is ♠️. I don't think the bluff will work and there's no value to be gained, so I check.


($25) River 6♦️. I brick on everything.
He checks to me. He likely has a made hand >22, so I check back to him.


He reveals his made hand to be a 6 (I'm assuming the other card was a ♠️, but not sure).
I'm stunned. He says "hey, you let me see it." And he's 100% right, I did.


So, question, did I navigate a potential minefield well, intelligently assessing his range and losing to an unfortunate suckout or was this a pathetically weak play that I should have been able to get a wide-opening, fairly-wide calling opponent off of? Thanks in advance.

You didn’t look at his cards...?

Wasn't my house and house rules didn't force people to show 2 to win.

I was annoyed, but didn't want to bully people over it. When I did point out order of obligation to show, people generally disregarded (including host) it and I finally let it go when I saw I wasn't going to win that battle.

Without knowing what his other card was it's hard to say. How much of a game is villain allowed to play here showing on river? If he has 96/66 can he show a 6 and see if you can beat that before showing the other? Was the card he showed the 6s? Could he have 7s6s and just show the pair?

In any case it's an OK line. The 9 is a bad card for you since it's a highly likely calling card on the flop. Some of villain's KX raise preflop or on flop so those are discounted a bit and 2's are unlikely. You could continue on turn but you don't need to after a bad card. If villain has something like 7c6s he just got wildly lucky.