All-in - but I find this line to be the strongest of any that we could have taken given we have absolutely zero bluffs and the worst hand we'd shove is KK.

(It’s only 63bb into nearly 200bb)

Yep easy shove now

Everything is so super-narrow and straightforward in a 4b pot not deep anyway that I personally am not concerned about how my line is perceived. Neither range is going to have any bluffs once the flop goes bet and call. Not arguing, I just don’t know how deep we can get strategy wise here when we are just trying to figure out how to stack off w AA. Like, when the tool leads flop, ok, just fold non pairs and call down the rest, or even shove like you said if you think it gets him to call it all now. Just not much here to go over, seems standard, rant over.

Results:

The "interesting" spot to me was his check on the river. I just couldn't imagine what he'd check there and what I'd get paid off with. I did shove, though, and he sigh called. I flipped my AA and he mucked. From the conversation, he must have had QQ or more likely KK, but who knows?

Once he bet flop, I figured calling down was my best option and betting when checked to.

He had QQ - The Asian 2/5 grinder at C is aware that you 'have more AK' when he has QQ and will lead as a result to win the pot immediately. He's just hanging himself though.

The river check is because he just wants to showdown his hand at this point, knows he's dead, but is never folding... hoping you somehow freeze up because there are two jacks on board. It's just a standard nitfish line by him which is why you can just call down pairs and fold any non-pairs when he leads. Fold worse 100% of the time (fold some equity, but that's ok), call/bet better 100% of the time. He made it easy.

I was surprised he called river. My hand was so face-up -- at least I thought it was. I was really amazed to get paid off, but I guess he didn't have much choice.

A little later a short stacker went all-in for $77, he flatted, and I raised to $300 (AA). Wish I had gone smaller. He folded, of course. Shortie had AK and I held.

No one is putting in 300 pre in that game w anything but AA.

I haven’t read anything but the original post. You’re all so funny, how is there 3 pages in this thread? Are you debating if you should slowroll them or not?

To those of you wanting to raise the flop, do you wear reflector vests when running?

I lied, I saw this and laughed out loud a little.

Yes very much so

However your cover is blown as soon as you 3!+ pre. You’re on my radar if you 3! even once. If you do it twice you’re a confirmed beast.

I think you can exploit with some post flop aggression however. Any semi-bluff raise is far more likely to be read as protecting a value hand rather than a semi bluff. I made this mistake recently on 5-10-20 after my 3! pre holding AT on T76 facing a cr from MAWW because I thought she was more likely to flat rather than 4! her JJ-KK range pre. Turns out she had 88. Minx.

So my advice would be to continue to disguise by having a passive game pre (see GG deepstack strat) but be more aggressive post in appropriate spots and see how the table reacts. If you find everyone snap mucking then you have a potential gold mine provided you don’t overcook it.

Oops. I 3bet more than your average player. Definitely more than GG I 3bet AQs and they all folded then, too. I try not to overdo it. I can't see myself being passive pre -- especially not as passive as GG. I feel as if I'd end up getting crushed at a reg-infested 2/5 game if I played that way. You have only so many chances to be aggressive post where it actually tells a believable story (if the story is fiction).

^^^ You do realize you accidentally played the hand passively until the river, which you also thought shoving was possibly a mistake, and took a regs whole stack.

Had you 3! To your standard size pre, decent regs probably find a fold and you probably would have been happy with your much smaller win. A very good player told me that money in 2/5 ~Deepstack is made on the turn and river, not pre or on the flop. YMMV.

Just a little more food for thought on this hand... I don't know how many were left to act after you raised so.....

1.A shortie is all in.
2. V flats.
3. Any raise by us is likely to go 3 ways to the flop. Obviously V is only caller.

So $77+$77 when it gets to us. If we add in our call the pot is $231. I like about a 3/4 PSB which in this case is $173.25 which is almost perfect. It means V will need to call <$100 which most will. I would actually size down to $165 which is larger than a min-click but gets $88+$88=$176 for a nice start to the side pot. And we have a hand that dominates his and we are now HU since Shortie and main pot are largely irrelevant now.

Think of it this way. If you had bet $88 pre and got 1 caller, would you be happy with that result? I know I would. After that it's up to you and your reads and the board texture, prolly not folding except to really bad run outs.

I don't put too many of my thoughts during a hand (except pre-flop reads) because I think it skews results, but the whole time I thought, "He must have QQ or KK." I thought raising at any time would lose him, but I was prepared to bet if he checked. I honestly thought he'd fold to my shove, although small, on the river.

In the second hand, as mentioned, I wish I had gone smaller, but I would not have gone below $200. There were three players behind me.

For sure. Just trying to look for places where sizing down makes sense and getting more of their stack overall on multiple streets by doing so. Yeah sometimes somebody comes along we don't want in the hand or V calls when she originally wouldn't and sucks out. There are risks but I think the rewards far outweigh them. Just something to think about occasionally if you want to mix up your game.

Agreed. This is super standard as I expected.
V would never put you on AK here as I said.
He just ran a big pair into the biggest pair.