Hero only limped/posted a few hand since sat down 1h ago, dont think ever showdown. stack ~$300
Villian is a good tag who's been running hot, covers hero

1/3
Hero raise otb to $20 against 6 limpers, all fold except for villian who was playing with his earphones and didn't seem to be paying attention. Dealer asked for his decision. Villian tank called.

Flop: a59o

Villian donk $25 into a ~$55 pot, hero tank raised to $50 total, villian quickly 3bet to $125 total, thoughts?

What are your cards? Also like a bigger raise pre after 6 limpers. Something like 25-30

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Pretty strong line here by V and it is likely 55 or 99 given the pre flop and flop action. You didn't state what you had but you played it like an AJ+.

Raising such a dry flop only lets villain continue with the nut part of his range unless he is pulling a suicidal bluff. I would be folding to the 3bet unless you have AA. A9 maybe.

Best I can do with the information given.

Assuming we have Ax, flat flop. Dry board against a good villain...hard to get called by worse.

Fold now

Thanks for all the replies.
AP hero folded AJo.
I was just surprised that a decent villian would lead into such a dry flop, instead of c/r if he did have a strong hand. Was hero's raise on the flop EV+?

No. What are you gaining value from raising here? AT, A9 maybe? This boars is super dry and he just bet into the preflop raiser, a raise likely only gets called by better. I like a flat on the flop and reevaluate turn.

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No, a good opponent will fold anything worse than AJ to a raise. But a lead on an A high flop could easily be a bluff. Just flat and see what happens.

Flat call flop.
Bet if checked to on the turn/river.

If V bets again on turn, eval turn card and bet size and maybe it'll be a call. Might have to fold to a river bet.

Against the average 1/3 LLSNL player, a donk bet doesn't necessary signify strength. But you don't want him folding worse than you have, so raising is out of the question. At the same time, AJo isn't a powerhouse. If he has an ace, he's beating you with 4 combo while you're ahead of 7. That sounds good, but it means that to be ahead, he needs to donk bet things like A6, A4 etc. That's not likely. I'd peel a card and see what happens. If he keeps things cheap, keep calling. Many LLSNL don't bet based on the pot size, so the odds are good with another cheap bet he doesn't have a power house either.

If he bets big at some point, fold.

You should always consider raising a donk bet. But you shouldn't always do it.

If villain is some little old man who hasn't done a thing all night, or its some chick who is afraid of putting money in the pot without the nuts, it's OK to fold to a donk bet. Don't pay off the nits.

If villain is your average low-limit dope, raising should be strongly considered, and overall is +EV. These guys stab at the pot with 1p, often with a weak kicker. Sometimes they are sweetening the pot with a draw. Sometimes just cleverly playing their hand the oppposite; ie, betting their weak hands and check-raising their strong hands. A raise otf often takes it down.

The exception is an ace-high board. These dopes never fold aces, no matter how lousy the kicker. Which is weird, they bet for information, but then don't use that information. Bluff-raising an ace high board is a loser. Value-raising is a huge winner.

So against your average low-limit dope, yeah you would raise here all day long. The problem here is, you're up against a skilled, thinking player. Caution is advised.

First of all, don't count on this guy check-raising sets. Check-raising the flop is fishy, it lets your opponent off the hook too cheaply. Donking your set is a good play if you think villain is passive and cally and isn't really thinking about your range.

When this guy donks, you need to stop and think. "Now, what the heck do you have that you didn't like enough to raise pre, was willing to call a $20 raise with, and now feel compelled to bomb this board with?" The answer is obvious.

Not convinced? OK, then call. But realize that, given this line, you are way, way not strong enough to raise.

Part of the reason for hero to raise the flop was because that his reluctant preflop flat kinda discounted a higher A than J.

Since everyone suggested not to raise this flop, it is probably justified.

So here's the interesting question: is there a hand, we should raise in this situation?

Against 6 limpers I would typically have to make this a lot more than $20 in order to have a chance at getting this HU. With a $300 stack, I think perhaps an argument could be made to raise to $30 so that we get 10% of our stack in and can commit postflop with TP (although to be honest I hate committing on A high flops with AJ since so many Ax hands are ahead of it). As played, we managed to get it HU in position with initiative, so good result.

Kinda tough spot on the flop as the SPR is just over 5. I wish we had raised more in order to setup an easier stack off situation. I probably feel committed here.

However, having said that, I think I still would just flat the flop. The board is completely bone dry, so there are no draws to charge. If villain is bluffing then all we do is blow him off his bluff (or possibly allow him to get away from a weak A). I actually think I just go into calldown mode.

As played, I probably fold. We've totally played our hand like a big A and yet this guy looks to be wanting to play for stacks anyways.

GcluelessNLnoobG

If we just call, the pot will be $105 with us having $255 left. We're in position, so we can easily play for stacks on the last two streets with bets of $75 into $105 and then $180 into $205, which are both very reasonable bets. So there is no reason to raise value hands in order to play for stacks.

The board is also bone dry and there simply ain't any scare cards to slow down action. So no need to raise because of this.

So, with that in mind, I don't think I'd raise any value hand here. The possible exception would perhaps be bottom two pair if we're worried about getting counterfeited.

Mediocre hands (such as an underpair like KK) don't want to build a big pot and yet could still have showdown value given action on future streets, so absolutely no reason to raise those types of hands.

So the only other hands to consider are total bluffs. A raise could fold out bluffs that happen to be better, plus could possibly make a good player fold a weak A.

So I think the only hands I would ever consider raising here would be complete air. Not saying I would raise complete air, just saying it's the only hand I would raise here.

GcluelessNLnoobG