Hero is on the button with 9s4h. Folds to Cutoff who is very bad loose aggressive. He raises to 10 but flashes his hole cards so hero can see he is holding AcJc. Stacks are 100bb effective. Blinds are both tight passive. Hero?

Same scenario except cutoff is tight aggressive reg. Hero?

Same scenario except hero has AKo and cutoff has Q10s. Hero?

I've been in this spot a few times before. I will almost always call because you will be able to play the flop, turn, and river perfectly against them.

To the posters in this thread.

Don't discuss the ethics of seeing the hole cards. That's a discussion for LCP and there are lots of threads in that forum about it. Simply keep it as a discussion on what to do in a theoretical "Theory of Poker" situation.

As played, we need more information. Is the villain a calling station? Will he float on the flop? How will he react to a 3bet pf?

Ethics aside, 3 bet small to isolate. Like $25. He will always call unless he's ******ed so you won't have to worry about getting 4 bet. Then pray for a low flop or K/Q high flop that doesn't given him a draw and play perfect poker in position against him.

Would be hilarious if you cbet a K86 flop and he decides to check shove.

Since hero knows villain's exact cards the difference between LAG and TAG is small in this situation. With a hand as bad as 9s4h and tight blinds I'm just flatting. In this situation hero is playing hoping villain misses flop entirely so hero can take it away. A small raise is fine also, because it will get called preflop and let hero represent a stronger hand post flop. Flatting is likely to be more profitable because hero can call flop and then take the pot away on the turn. Raising preflop opens up the chance villain gives up on the flop if they miss entirely. If the blinds are loose then raising is probably better to insure the hand goes heads up.

I prefer the small raise with the AKo because hero has more actual value and can exploit knowing where he stands in the hand better. Hero will be able to bluff knowing he has a better hand anyways if both miss or bet to extract value when both hit but hero is still ahead.