Hero ($230) has been at a tight and passive $1/$2 Nine handed table for an hour when he gets dealt KK in SB. Villain in this hand is a middle age Indian dude who has played with Hero before few times and is sitting on $320 stack.

Hero's reads on Villain are a regular player willing to gamble and be somewhat aggressive but not overly aggressive. He will make small raises to create action on dead tables pre-flop but will not get carried away with it in general on later streets without a somewhat strong hand. He is also somewhat loose calling and limping pre. A thinking player in general.

This table has been generally action dead. Lots of weak limping pre-flop and scarred folding Villains. Hero would guesstimate 6 "nut paddlers" and the action has been very slow. Hero is assuming Villain has picked up on this and is driving him restless so Villain has introduced $6 straddles in UTG last two orbits.

On to the hand...

Pre-Flop

Villain in UTG straddles to $6/320 and is folded to Hero in SB with $230. Hero thinks for a bit how much to raise this Villain but to also keep him in the hand. Hero raises to $15/230. BB Folds, and Villain now re-raises Hero to $65

Hero's reads are that Villain has a TT+ PP or an AK type of a hand (QQ specifically or JJ. No AA) and thinks what to do now given stack and raise size against this aggressive thinking player?

shove, and its not even close.

if hes thinking then your call is going to set off plenty of alarms for him, and he will probably know that with your SPR of about 1:1 he has no fold equity.

dont give him a chance to outflop you for $65. dont overthink 1-2.

you have 165 left. I would just shove.

Raise bigger first time around. Now shove

^ Thanks for your comments.

Would shoving scare off Villain more then flatting? I am not worried about him having an A here and don't really like shoving to fold out an A(K/Q). If I shove does this make my hand more face up and my range narrower then if I flat call?

I am not disagreeing and believe shoving given Hero's stack pre-flop would have been most optimal. Unfortunately Hero probably over-thought this hand and wanted to try some "Fancy Play" deciding that shoving can make this aggro Villain release too easily hands that Hero dominates. (AK/Q,QQ,JJ,TT). Fishy thinking?

Hand conclusion...

Hero tanks a bit and decides to flat with a plan to check any low flop and one with no A.


Flop ($131)

JJ5

Hero checks expecting a C-bet from an aggressive Villain?
Villain hesitantly/worryingly checks.


Turn ($131)

K

Hero now overkills the hand and checks again hopping for an A or Q OTR. Fishy?
Villain checks back.


River ($131)

2

Hero bets out $65. Villain quickly calls.
Hero shows, Villain mucks without much facial expression.


Appreciate any comments on my train of thought for an actual "As played" scenario given this board run-out and post flop play specifically if Villain had QQ for example...

Stack sizes mean that your only options preflop are flat and shove. The shove is a bit big here, so I wouldn't always do it but OOP I would shove more then flat. Something like 2/3 shove and 1/3 flat, depending on how aggressive and stationary villain is.

As played, you should bet the turn after the flop check. On the turn villain either has a good hand and will call at least one bet or they are done with the hand. Hands like TT/QQ are probably going to call one bet and give up to continued aggression, and hands like AQ are not calling anything. So betting here costs you one bet when villain has AQ and would catch one pair on river, but that is more then offset by the chance of stacking AA/AK/AJ.

Agree w/raise bigger initially.

But I would probably tank flat and c/jam all flops vs an Indian btn straddler who just 4x'd my open.

As played turn is a must bet, that is really the only glaring error here.

Shoving pre is fine I guess, I mean I doubt he's going anywhere after putting in 20% of his stack.

Your raise sizing was designed to make the villain comfortable enough to play and was accomplished. If you call his re-raise what do you do on challenging flops? What do you think he thinks about your raise and call from oop? If you do re-raise then he is folding a lot of the lower parts of his range but is likely calling with the upper parts of his range which you're obviously ahead of almost all of it. If you call you look like you've a strong hand while potentially finding yourself playing oop against a "restless" opponent in a challenging situation or if you call and because of the now obvious strength of your hand, you might end up losing value against smaller pocket pairs and AK or AQ hands that fold to aggression on a lot of flops or turns. The optimal play against this player in this spot is to re-raise and with your stack size it's appropriate to shove. However, if you don't want to over bet the pot because your sure he's weak then flatting is ok. However, if you flat call and it goes check-check on the flop you should lead most turns.

Would a standard pre-flop raise have allowed for easier bet sizing?

What you're asking for here doesn't really have any application to the hand.

Pre-flop just shove. There's already ~$130 in the pot, give him the opportunity to make the mistake of calling. Based on your description, villain will splash around pre, but plays more conservatively post flop. So your ability of getting his stack in on the flop/turn when he doesn't have you beat seems less likely.

Getting tricky with KK at 1/2 is not a very good idea. What's your plan when any flop with a couple broadway cards is going to give you difficulty? What about the A high flop?

Winning is about making less mistakes than your opponent. Probably the easiest way to do this is to make your opponent make the hard decisions rather than yourself. So just shove pre.

Shoving pre depends on how often he calls. He will call your shove w/ AA and KK, neither of which we beat. We need him to be 3bet/calling with QQ at least also to make shoving a good play. From description he sounds like a guy even with JJ who would say "i know you got me" as he's putting the chips in.

I do see merits to calling with the plan of getting ai otf though.

Agree w/ shoving pf, but if Hero flats pf against a thinking player, why not donk $45 on this flop to induce? It looks so ridiculously FOS; Hero ~never has Jx or 55 here. Villain is never folding anything with SDV, and might even jam overs.

Edit: I guess this depends on what range Villain will put Hero on after flatting 30% of his stack OOP...

Fancy play syndrome just shove it in as played u lost value.

As played preflop and on the flop, I actually agree with the turn check. The deck is crippled and it's best to give him the chance to bluff at it or check behind and improve. If he actually has a hand that can call (unlikely), chances are he will bet if you check. It's also pretty obvious you have a monster if you bet the turn.