Villain 1 (UTG+2), somewhat tight, passive recreational player in his 30s ($90)

Villain 2 (UTG+3), loose-passive Asian gentleman in his 60s ($500)
Limps and plays weak hands constantly, hard to put him on an exact range most of the time; rarely raises pre-flop

Hero (Cutoff), reasonably talented amateur, playing TAG standard ($210)

Villain 1 raises to $10; Villain 2 calls; I have KhQd in the cutoff and decide to flat call, see what happens on the flop; I don't want to raise with three players left to act, and KQo obviously isn't a super-premium hand.

Three to the flop, pot is $33. Flop is Qc 7d 2d. Action is checked to me (no c-bet from Villain 1); I have top pair and a backdoor flush draw, and am drawing to a king, so I figure it makes sense to take a stab at the pot, I bet $15. Villain 1 and Villain 2 call, pot is $78.

Turn is 5d. So flushes got there, but I have a redraw to a Queen-high flush. I figure if V1 or V2 put out a big bet, I'll at least consider folding. However, both players check to me. I assume that I'm still good here, so I bet again, $35.

Both players call, pot is $183. I have $150 left, V1 has like $30 left, V2 covers me.

River is Td, so four diamonds out there; I have a Queen-high flush. V1 and V2 both quickly check to me. My assumption is that my hand is good here; there's a non-zero chance that someone has a Kd or Ad, but given how they played their hands so far, I think it's an EV+ decision to bet out here and hope that I get called from a smaller flush (that made it there on the turn or river) or maybe a loose call from bottom set, two pair, etc.

Hero? Also, thoughts on other streets, please.

Welcome to the forum, OP. Please don't post results, as it biases responses. I edited them out and won't comment, since I've seen them.

my bad, thank you

Preflop is fine and I would consider a fold before a raise when a tight players open in EP. Flop bet is OK on a pretty dry board. When both players call flop and the only reasonable draw gets there you should check turn. Even if they don't have diamonds you should now be looking at keeping pot size under control.

While it is likely you have the best hand on the river when neither villain bets it's not by much. 1/2 villains love to trap with their big flushes. Plus with 4 diamonds on the board how many worse hands are actually going to call another bet? You have been betting the whole way as more diamonds show up. It's hard to put you on less then a good diamond. If it was just V1 I would go ahead and put him in but stacks sizes make the situation awkward against V2. I would check this and see who has the best hand.

wouldn’t it make sense for V2 to bet/raise on turn/river, esp. river,
with the nut flush? if I don’t happen to have a high diamond in my hand there’s no way I’m betting here ... so it seems like V2 shouldn’t have the nuts, given that he didn’t bet. (I’m calling anything V1 bets so no real decision there) On the turn I think V2 would be smart to check a monster, for sure, but not the river.

Pre-flop: fold the KQo to the the tight player's early positon raise.

Flop: you shoukd definitely bet. Bet of 15 into 33 is fine. You could even make it 20.

Turn: either checking or betting is fine. I would probably make it 50 into 78 rather than 35 into 78.

River: bet/folding 80 into 183 could be okay. I'm also tempted to just check it back. It just seems likely that a lot of the hands villains might call the turn with include the A or K.

normally I would consider folding KQo, but the initial raiser had a small stack ($90) and I figured it was worth the risk ... still, a good point.

I guess I'd be worried about making a small bet on the river, getting raised all-in, and then having the awkward decision of putting in $80 to win like $500 ... hard to fold at that point, though certainly it's a viable option

This, combined with OP's description of V1 as tight and in early position, should be a reason to fold KQo rather than to play it.

When players are shortstacked and in early position, they're more likely to tighten their pre-flop range to e.g. AJs/99+. It is also hard to out-manouvre short-stacks post-flop.

If effective stacks are deep and you're opponent is a loose passive player who you think you can outplay then that is better justification for expanding our post-flop calling range. You'll have a better chance of stealing the pot, minimising losses when we're behind and maximising value when we're ahead.

But this is a tight player opening from early position with a small stack. In a lot of cases, villain will cbet and we'll be forced to fold.

makes sense, fair enough

I'm folding this pre. Players I consider to be tight/passive raising in EP have KQo in bad shape.

OTF, we're ahead of all but KK+ and AQ. Given that V1 didn't lead out, I'm thinking we're likely good. Board has some draws so I'm betting more than half the pot. $20 sounds good. I doubt much is calling $15 that isn't also calling $20. Also, if we're going to go for two streets of value, let's make the 2nd street put V1 all in. That way the river features a protected pot and we're not likely to face a difficult decision vs. V2.

I think it's worth it to throw out 30 OTR. V1 can call with almost anything and we can fold to any real raise from V2: when loose passive V's x/r, it's not a bluff. I wouldn't bet more than 30 because there's not really much that can call you here. We're really targetting the sobbing call from V1.

Pre is fine with position imo
Flop - good
Turn - could go either way
River - I probably check back; these sorts of guys love trapping. If I do bet, I probably bet small, hoping that something like QxJd calls and if we get raised, we are never good.

Hi all - thanks for the advice, in retrospect I overvalued my Queen-high flush, underbet the flop, probably should have checked the turn, and definitely should not have shoved for $150 on the river (which I did!) and then lost to V2, who called with AdKd ... and somehow hadn't three-bet pre-flop, or bet/raised on any street.

Even though he played AdKd weirdly (flatting pre), he very easily could have had only an Ad and played the hand the same way. Ultimately a smart check by him on the river.

This hand illustrates a common problem 2+2ers have with LLSNL Vs. We tend to over-narrow their ranges because "there's no way he plays AKdd" this way. But yes, for a loose-passive, even AdAx could be in his range to play that way sometimes.

I really hate the river shove, as it's basically never getting called by a worse flush. Maybe the occasional Jd, but even that is a likely fold from anyone MUBSy enough to have checked it. A shove is basically a bet that only gets called by hands that beat us, thus ensuring we win the minimum when we're best and lose the maximum when we're beat.

imo loose-passive players MIGHT call with Jd, 9d, or 8d when they only need to call $150 to win ~$500, but on balance I should not have shoved there, for sure

But that's mirror-imaging again. Most of them don't really understand pot odds to that level. They just understand "he shoved on a 4-flush board, I can't call without at least a face card of diamonds."

fair enough!

what do you mean, "take a stab at the pot"? You HAVE the best hand on the flop. Bet 40. anything less than 30 is criminal.

Check turn.

As played, check river.