The V is in seat 1 & has taken what appeared to be his last $200 that he was willing to invest in the game, up to over $1K; he won it primarily from the two whales & the one NIT. Now he's spending 1/2 the time away from the table & we're all talkin' about him, concluding that he's hoping some of his buddies come in so he can show off his stack.

Still, when he's here, he gambles it up - sensibly - or is that an oxymoron? Well, his 'gamble' is more reserved now than it was as he was building his stack from $400 to $900 AND he concentrated on the whales & NIT as targets. Yet, he thinks he's table captain.

He's a tall-skinny early 30's dude with a hoodie & sunglasses.

Me - well I've been card dead & was considering moving to another table but the slow playing whale kept me there My stack is $385 but that's because I keep it at the $300 max, as I am stuck ~$45. I've managed to grind by playing my 'tight' image [due to no cards] in the right spots & take down some medium pots without a showdown. So they've seen none of my thin value/semi-bluffs on the turn/river.

OTTH $385 effective

So the V has returned & posted his blinds 3 seats from the Button. This hand goes down when he's UTG for the 1st time since returning:

V opens for $17 UTG in seat 1 & it folds to me in seat 7 & I proceed to make a cardinal sin by flatting. You don't need to scold me - I know.
I think I am going to play 'deceptively' and trap this guy. He almost always opens for $17 & he has a wide range [24%] when he does so in EP. Plus two of the players that would be left to act are away from the table.

The NIT in seat 10 [BB] calls.

Flop:JJ6 [$46 raked]

The NIT checks & V methodically puts together a green, red & white chip & tosses out $31.00. He put his hoodie up & shades down when he got two callers pre.

Now most 1/2NL players would check their J here, but with his wide opening range, he could be holding J8s etc., and wanting to find out cheap if he has kicker issues. Then again, he could be playing the players. He knows the NIT isn't going to the turn without a strong hand & I've been passive when he''s been here for the most part.

I must have taken 45 seconds deliberating whether to raise here.
I could flat, see a turn & then raise, when he bets more on that street. That would look stronger I thought.
I also considered the fact that if the NIT was looking to c/r, since he's 1st to act, that I'd find out by flatting at a cheaper price.
Then there's the fact that I committed a cardinal sin pre & flatted with QQ pre & he has no idea how strong I am. The guy plays too many hands for me to be behind [on avg] if he doesn't have a J, unless he got lucky in the 1st orbit since returning.
I'm also thinking of all the ways he could have a draw here. Maybe I took closer to a minute debating. Probably just felt like it, as I usually don't take more than 15 - 25 seconds.
If I flat & an ace or turns up & he bets again, I'm in worse trouble trying to make the right decision on the turn than I am in now.

Since I flatted pre, I have a lot to consider. Thoughts?

Do you have the Qh?

You said his range is wide. I'm inclined to keep it wide. Just flat.

If you think his fold-to-3! is approaching >80% then I think it’s kind of a waste to 3! QQ here, especially when we are IP and there’s only one player to act behind us. His $17 open doesn’t tell us anything, so save your 3! for a hand like KQo or AJo or A5s or something.

Flop I’m just flatting. We have the best hand so often here and he rarely has a flush draw. Let’s see what the nit does and go from there. Against this described player you’re often going to have to hold on tight and call down light.

I have QQ My BAD!

Flatting pre is fine to an UTG open. Flat flop AINEC.

Of course it's ok to have some strong flats sometimes but not against this player when your primary motivation for doing so is deception. Make it big, 60, almost always unless you have concrete info that his open sizing is indicative of KK+. You also can't let the nits see cheap flops.

AP it's a vanilla flat. Need to see what the BB does and lean on position for the rest of the hand.

I can't imagine you did anything other than call - what's the rest of the hand?

Not sure what raising the flop accomplishes with your image, so I think flatting is super standard.

Pre - raising for value and to iso this type of opponent.

Against a reasonable UTG strategy, yes, but not against a 24% opening range, unless he's folding to the 3-bet at very high frequency.

If he's folding at a frequency like 80% like in johnny's stipulation regarding when we should flat then we should be 3-betting him light so much he's getting annoyed at us by now.

Raising the flop 3 ways is meh. Your hand is not vulnerable enough or strong enough to raise, IMO. Pretty standard flat.

Calling flop and raising turn would be an overplay. You can bet when checked to, but don't raise this hand after seeing two barrels.

I thought for sure everyone would advocate for raise. Anyways, I call & the BB folds.

Turn: JJ6A[$77 raked]

Now he cuts out $80 & puts pushes it out to the center in less than 15 seconds.

The ace really sux & I don't know that I can continue, however.....

Why would he bet so much with a jack? I don't see it happening unless he thinks I'd fall for a bet that looks like a bluff. If he has an ace, wouldn't he know that leaves less ace combos for me & I'm not calling w/o a jack? He must be certain that I don't have a jack.

Maybe he's semi-bluffing with a flush draw. With everything to consider, I see all the possible AX draws that are out there since the board is paired. However, there is also KX. And, since he opens wide in EP, we have T9 98...maybe even lower.

Then there's the fact I have the Q & I really want to call this guy but I'd very well might be bet into hard OTR if a blank comes, even if he is bluffing......it would be bets with won money & I'm sure he's confident I can't take the heat of 3 barrels.

More often than not he has a better hand now and its reasonable this guy would elect to bet his Ax hands now too. You have a very low quality bluff catcher with a meaningless under rep in a spot where you’d do better calling with 99. I don’t think you have nearly enough info to call down nor do you really need QQ in that range (it shouldn’t be in the first place) in order to make money when you have a hundred other hands to use. Fold, no worries, doesn’t matter if he laughs and shows you deuces.

Yeah, this. Sucks if he opened any Axhh or a suited connector but meh, it happens. It's also possible he is auto c-betting Ax OTF and ran into TP and is potting for protection.

3b for value pre, AP call flop especially with the Qh in our hand. Now fold. If he has some weird FD that tried to bluff the A, more power to him. Like amanaplan said, if he rolls over something like 22, hang tight. You'll get his $$$ eventually.

QQ can be in a calling range pre, but looks like a poor choice here.

Flop is an easy call. Not sure why you're thinking you are ever raising when you catch this flop.

Turn is a clear fold. You need better than 45% to call him down if he always shoves the river, but the situation is worse than that, as some of the time he won't bluff the 3rd barrel. Need quite a soul read to continue.

Would u have raised flop with a jack? Maybe he thought u would?

Fold ... may have the best hand but being so wide (opponent), there are many AX combos in his pfr and cbet range on a paired board.

I can't find a reason for calling & fold; V rubs 53 in my face by throwing it face up out in the middle of the table