V1: Stack about $210. 60’s, well dressed, competent player. V1 is seated to my immediate left. V1 and hero are friends and chatting about vacations and other social stuff. V1 and hero are dominating the table in conversation and hands. Having a good time on a Saturday afternoon.

I recently doubled up V1 when he slow played AA on me.

V2: Stack about 230. 20s-30s. At the table for 8-10 hands. Not much of a read. My impression is he is less than competent.

Hero. Stack 194. LAG image as indicated above. Aggression is working well on this table and I’ve been more aggressive than usual, which in turn, is letting me open my starting hand range.

PF
V1 is UTG opens for $7. Folds to V2 in MP who calls. Folds to Hero in BB who calls with K7. (I know, not a good starting hand to call a UTG open.)

Flop (Pot $22)
AK4
Hero checks. V1 bets $25. V2 calls $25. Hero shoves for $187.

Thoughts?

Results:

Fold pre but you knew that.

I like a lead or smaller raise on this flop, then shoving turn if called. CRAI means you're only ever going to get called by AA, KK, AK & 77. Barring flopping the nuts, this is as good of a flop as you can get for a hand like this. So, why not try to get some value out of the hand as opposed to shutting everyone out?

If V1 is as decent player he knows your value range is very narrow here, basically 44 and A4s mostly. If your Lagy most of your value range would 3-bet preflop.
Given a tight UTG opening range (you said he was competent) I expect him to call with all his Ax hands and you are mostly folding the hands you already beat which is medium PP's up to QQ. The only better hand you can fold here are KQ and maybe KJs. I don't think he has much else.

3bet or fold pre

i would donk 14 with the intention of 3bet shoving the flop


c/r is fine as well but i prefer a lead

i dont see folding the bb here for 7 especially if your opening your range up...im gonna say i actually like the line...your not behind much at all and have a ton of outs, with stack sizes a raise is just awkward but your never going anywhere...i like the shove you get some fold eq but i think sometimes the Ax calls us and we beat him often enough...anytime you take down a decent pot like this with what is unlikely currently the best hand has got to be a good thing.

If you think the pre-flop is incorrect then why call a competent player's utg raise and an unknown caller from the BB?

The flop is good for your holding and you check raise ~2.5x the pot.

What do you think the large raise looks like to a competent player? Based on your pre-flop line it looks like the type of hand that you have rather than a set (44) or two pair (A4).

Your raise is likely to fold any hand that a competent utg player raises pf with and you beat. The check-raise is unlikely to fold any hand that a competent utg player raises pre-flop and is beating you except perhaps AJs. The large raise also wrecks any chance of keeping dead money around for another street.

The large raise does get the money in some of the time and so if you hit your NFD you will win a high percentage of the time your draw completes.

There is also a problem if you check-raised the flop to something a little smaller. That play has you getting your chips in on the turn because of your stack size and because if you check up front on the turn after a flop check-raise from the bb your cards play nearly face up. Your raise also has you putting your money in with a higher amount of equity then after you've missed on the turn and if you hit your turn an all-in lead likely folds all non sets and two pair (AK) holdings and so your slower play cost you money. It's also unlikely that if a spade hits and you check someone is betting except perhaps big sets and smaller flushes.

What were you hoping for with such a big check-raise? It looks like you were playing for both players to fold or you enjoy gambling.

Does no one ever play pot-limit poker? I'm always shocked at the number of people who can't calculate pot-sizes. The pot is 97 before we raise. We raise 162. 162 is not 2.5 times 97.

A pot-sized re-raise equals
pot-size + (number-of-callers + 1) * raise-size, in this case:
22 + 4 * 25 or 122.

Pre-flop is 7+7+1 (SB) +7=22
Flop is (V1)25 +(V2)25 +22(pf) before hero bets =72
Hero check raises all-in 187= 72x2=144 187-144=43 43/72 is a little more than .5. I've never seen that formula but I still don't know where you get 97 before hero's raise.

Thank you for the reply.

I can't get pokerstove to work, but I've messed around with some ranges with a holdem calculator. I discount villains are holding AA or KK because of PF action. 44, A4, AK I figure are a snap call to my shove. A10 to AQ are hands V2 might call with. I am certain someone or both have an A.

I figure I'm roughly 45% to win at showdown with this flop.

If I lead out this flop half to full pot size, I expect a strong Ace to call or come over the top. I'll start to lose FE.

Suppose I just call the $25. If the turn gives me 2 pair or nut flush, I'm sitting pretty. More than 75% of the time the flop does not improve my hand. Non broadway cards really hurt me. I'm really in a bad spot on the flop that does not help me and likely to fold.

Fold pre. But other than that played perfectly for this type of game. You fold out many A pair hands which is fine since you our out of position. Most of the time when called you are coin flipping with dead money in the pot. This is great for your image at 1/2. These are the type of plays that get you action when you have monster hands.