Hero (utg) - mid 20s young half asian half white partime grinder. Been playing TAGish with some LAG here and there. Having a rollercoaster session about 4.5 hrs in. due to set over set and other crazy hands, but still managed to be up $115, effective stack $425

CO - mid 20s smart looking white kid, claims he never played here before. running pretty hot, playing well. Effective stack $260

MP - older reg, white, plays tag-lagish, cbets a decent amount, raises pf when he should. Calls a bit wide pf. Not your avg older guy, has plenty of post flop floats and bluffs, espicially in squeeze spots postflop. Eff stack is $250ish

HJ - mid aged, white, aggressive. Not much info, farely new to table.

BB - 20-30, white, playing pretty nitty, haven't seen much of him postflop.

Okay now to the hand,
This is a 1-2 NL live game.
Hero raises utg to $12 with AQ of clubs.
I normally make my open raises a little smaller but half the table was fairly new and loosish and the MP reg has been making it a point to call me in pos whenever possible pf.

MP - calls anyways
Which induces a multiway pot.
HJ - calls
CO - calls
Bb - calls

Pots about $60 flop comes Q72 two diamonds

BB checks
HERO decides to bet $15 to induce a squeeze :/... I usually don't do this but I was targeting the MP players tendency. My normal cbet sizing on this flop is half-2/3..
MP instafolds... fail.. lol.
HJ folds.
CO makes it $45.. when he did it I didnt have a good read on what range he was doing this with (fd, set, 2pair, top pair, 2nd pair, air?) This is where it gets sticky..
Bb - folds.
HERO - I'm thinking I'm OOP I should have the best hand but I haven't seen this kid do this yet, and its not the player I thought I was going to induce so now I'm a little confused on where I'm at and how to continue or fold? I wanted to 3bet or flat and look for a safe turn. I flat..
TURN is a 6d. $150
HERO I decide to check.. was planning on c/f bc I thought if he didn't have me otf he had me now..
CO checks back, but it was a suspicious check I felt he could still have a set or flush maybe a weaker Q or same hand in his range.
RIVER is Kh $150
HERO this is where I think I might have messed up, but idk if its just short term results?
I decided to lead for $50 1/3 pot.. as a blocker bet oviously. I felt he'd flat call two pair and sets possibly instead of maybe c/c $100.
CO - thinks for awhile, I start to feel comfortable he doesn't have a flush until he starts acting a little but I thought he could have set or two pair thinking about raising for value bc it looked like I had what I had. He finally decides to raise $100 on top.
HERO - I thought wow I'm probably beat but idk the way he was thinking before he raised seemed pretty weak and like he was thinking about making a move on my obvious blocker bet. So I'm torn, I decide its unusual for him to have QJ or worse in this spot from my experience at this stake and for most of his stack... I start acting like I'm really considering a call, I'm talking it out, and he says hell show me out of no where, I laugh, think some more he talks a little more he seems kind of nervous but I just can't believe the whole acting job before he raised and now he's messing with the show if I fold talk so I decide to fold even though his initial tells when I bet $50 were weak.
CO shows Q3 of hearts.. turned top pair into a bluff.. so now my hindsight is if I checked river he was probably checing back, sighh.

Sorry, for long thread, wanted you guys to have the info I had and my perspective. Help lol

I think betting $15 into $60 on the flop is pretty bad and also wreaks of weakness, so I can see why he played his hand the way he did. I don't think he thinks he's bluffing the river. Maybe he does, who knows? I would think if he thought his Q was good, he'd just call since he should know his raise is only getting called by better.

Just mark the hand in the memory banks for the next time you sit with him.

I do think you played the hand pretty poorly, but I don't want to sound harsh.

That HH is a mess

lol - don't get tricky in multiway pots - open is fine, bet 3/4 pot on flop, go from there. Your FPS on flop confused you for the rest of the hand. As played I hate the donk on the river, since you no longer beat KQ.

Villains are making this move so infrequently at this level I think you have to fold as played. You leveled yourself though with the small flop and turn bets.

Bet 45 on flop and bet fold turn for 90. As played i may just put this kid to the test since you raised small to induce, reraise to 145 on flop. This hand was ridiculous and I don't fault you for folding because you really only beat bluffs. Just note that this kid did this strange play, and honestly once he starts talking I am even more inclined to fold. I would be willing to guess that he was unsure of wtf he was doing.

you bet 1/4th the flop, he raises and gives you 4:1 odds and you call. this means (barring multi level meta stuff) that he isn't very eager to price out the flush draw, which to me indicate tpnk or a pair below top pair.
turn checks when the diamond hits. when you check river he assumes you don't have the flush, nor does your betting look like a good Q. he figures this Q3 is good and raises.

just b/f 2/3 pot all the way down

the MP reg is probably unlikely to make a move on you in a multi-way pot at this type of table

Except I don't see most players raise a one-pair hand here for 'value.' If he thinks his Q is good anyway, he will call expecting to take the pot. He doesn't expect you to call with JJ if he raises the river.

It's either turning top pair into a bluff or a huge hand. In this case, he turned his hand into a bluff.

I hate the river bet.

I think you should really play this one of two ways. Either call the flop and get to showdown as cheaply as possible, folding if he continues with large bets, OR, if you think he is FOS, come over the top of him on the flop.

Admittedly, I don't want to stackoff with AQ as a one pair hand, even with this favorable flop, but, if you have a good read, you should follow it.

:grunch:

I like to bet a little larger UTG to avoid spots like this, $15. But $12 is fine too.

On the flop, FPS! Just bet out $45 yourself.

When CO pops it, he *could* have a Q, or a semi-bluff, or even a set. I think a Q is most likely though. I really want to know more about him that he's white and not completely ******ed though.

With $200 behind I'm not liking any stack off on this flop.

Calling is fine. I'd rather let him possibly bluff or value bet with worse, raising here runs a lot of that portion of his range out of the hand.

Turn check check is weird. If he's got a flush he's burning a lot of his value by checking, which is fine for us.

I don't like the river bet. It doesn't make any sense. What hands do you raise pre with, b/c the flop, c the turn and fire the river? It looks weak to almost all opponents, even if they're not paying that much attention. I don't think it folds out enough of the hands that beat us, they're going to grumble and call anyway, it only folds out things that we beat. I'd rather check and call $50.

The $100 raise is screaming for a call, and almost all of the time should be something that beats us. But your bet and probably your demeanor at the table all says "I'm weak". So he might be taking a stab, but it would be far more likely if you had checked a second time to him. The only problem is that I don't see what hands he really has that beat us here. Flushes. But does a flush raise the flop? Probably not. Q's? We beat those. A K? Maybe. 77 is the likely candidate if we're beat.

aaaand now I see that you've given results. Don't do that.

Refrain from posting results in the OP.

There are 2 things I HATE in this hand. 1) betting 15 otf, why get tricking in a 4way pot? 2) don't bet river, you can easily x/c, when you bet river you give V a chance to bluff and you end up folding.

I would bet flop 40-50, if V raises I call.

Check check turn.

X/c river