I've been on a long hiatus from poker, may start playing again soon, so here's a hand from awhile ago; I'd be curious to see what the forum makes of it. Playing the hand, I felt every decision point could have gone at least 2 ways.

It's a 2/5 game on a Saturday night. I have history with several of the players, and others are new to me. I will give all the reads I can remember on everyone in the hand at every decision point.

Effective stacks are $800.

Preflop ($7): One limp from EP, one limp from LJ, HJ raises to $25, CO calls.

Reads:

-The two blinds and the EP limper are all new to me. I don't have a lot of reads on any of them. The EP limper seems passive and my read is he is not limping to raise, ever. He will almost certainly call if I don't 3bet, and fold if I do.

-The limper in the LJ is a regular donator in this game. While not exactly a whale, he is loose-passive on every street. When he limps preflop, he could have any medium or small pocket pair (he definitely raises TT+ and definitely limps 77, don't know about in between), any ace below AQ which I think he raises, any other Broadway card with a 9 or higher, any suited king, and any connector or 1-gapper, probably without regard to being suited. He probably also has suited 2-gappers in his range.

-The raiser in HJ is relatively unknown to me, except that I don't recall him raising preflop a lot. He's probably not getting out of line.

-The caller in the CO is a winning player (almost certainly a pro) and a thinking LAG. He loves aggression and loves to bet people off the weak ranges he usually puts them on. He probably views me as a nit. We do not really play big pots against each other, though he probably remembers double-barreling me off a handful of pots in earlier sessions. Relevant details from the current session are that he has already had a river bluff picked off tonight (but by someone else, not me). For him to be calling here, he almost surely has some kind of speculative hand.

Hero is on the button with KQ

Hero...

130

I can go either way. Flat or 3bet are fine. Obviously fold to 4bet. Versus unknown, in position (esp vs CO), and with multiple players, I probably flat this hand.

Given the image of the raiser, I’d flat. Hand can pickup additional equity on flop/turn, which may be used to apply pressure from the BTN.

I'd be more inclined to 3b the CO if he were the raiser.

With your image and CO capping his range I really want to 3b but at this depth it will leave us with an SPR 2.5 or less. That's not a lot of wiggle room post flop so I probably settle on flat call. Both options seem fine.

Flat looks best. Raising is overly eager against an opponent who probably isn't squeezing. Folding isn't terrible but it's a good chance to see the flop from the button for a reasonable price.

Why is CO range capped? People flat with JJ+/AK all the time first to act after the PFR these days, especially if they're seen as tight and 3b would turn their hand face up. I'm not saying CO has it here, but range definitely isn't capped IMO...

As for the hand, I'd 3b this to $90-115 about 30% of the time and flat 70% of the time. Kinda depends on reads/stacks/fish in the blinds/etc. I tend to not 3b light vs players that I'm readless on until I've seen what they're raising with.

He's a good, agressive, thinking LAG, probably not seen as tight. I doubt he is passing up an opportunity to 3b for value here with premiums. Also OP's read is he capped his range by flatting.

CO is absolutely capped here. None of this description applies to him.

As far as the rest of the discussion, it seems to be based on call or 3bet, with the prevailing belief that this hand is good enough to call with but 3betting could also be good. If calling is good, why would we 3bet? I seem to recall awhile back in the forum there was a good discussion about "cannibalizing our calling range". Do we think this hand is not good enough to call, or is that idea relevant here?

to just win the 47 dollars now

to play a huge pot in position with a decent hand.

Call

Call, let's see a flop.

Just post what you did. pre is pointless and has been covered 100 times. It's a mix of people keeping this in their flatting range and people adding it to 3b range. No reason to start another argument since both are some % valid and irrelevant to discuss and try to sway people.

Eh, I guess you have a point. I was actually sort of curious if anyone would make the case for folding here (even though this is a PAHWM so we all know I didn't fold).

I do think it is close whether calling is good, which to me is the reason why 3betting is a valid option--if I did 3bet I would consider it a semibluff.

I chose to call here. I thought this hand was just barely good enough for a call, because 1) I'm suited, 2) I'm on the button, and 3) I have a chance to win a good pot off the LJ, who I know is seeing a flop with me if I call. I don't think this is an obvious call by any means, but I didn't like a 3bet against the guy who raised. (As someone else mentioned, the CO not being the raiser hamstrings me here, though I may not have 3bet even then.)

Effective stacks are $800.

Preflop ($7): One limp from EP, one limp from LJ, HJ raises to $25, CO calls.

Hero is on the button with KQ.

Hero calls.

Both blinds fold and both limpers call.

Flop (125 in pot, 775 effective stacks): 9 7 4

Everyone checks to Hero.

Hero...

Now before we get into this spot, I should share a live read that I remember having--even though the CO checked, I got a read that he was interested in this flop. But seeing as how he acted after the raiser who also checked, I found this confusing.

Anyway, Hero's action?

Folding pre is asinine. Bet 60-75 on flop.

I'd 3b pre, limpers are almost always weak and the CO lag never ever has QQ+, AK here or even AQ.

AP i think I like a check on the flop, given read on the CO. Limpers can still have all the sets, 97, and it's pretty weird he seems interested in the flop. If we didnt have that read I think it's close, but it also sucks getting raised here since I don't really think we can call a huge raise. K high also has a lot of SDV if turn goes: limper bets, everyone folds, you call. I'd rather bet FDs that have no SDV like 108ss/65ss/Q10ss and that dont care getting raised.

I like $70 on the flop half the time and check half the time. You have over cards and a good draw so betting some of the time. But this is a wet flop 5 ways, somebody probably has another draw or a made hand. Betting here is partially to buy a free turn card because that is mostly what hero will be doing if the turn doesn't help.

Bet $35 & shove over co’s inevitable raise

Pre-flop I agree with the above posters who advocate mixing it up here, IMO, I prob call here 80% of the time and make it 125 the other 20%.

on the flop, and with your live read I would check back, I like betting here normally like 50 bucks (or whatever you normally would with 9xTx to deny equity from overs. I think it is prob close so with the extra tell I check back.

You can probably bet bet and win a lot

Yes have to take initiative and keep it.

im 3bet pre soooo much dead chips i want them.

AP, i just check to get the free card. so many people that can c/r us or even just call which isnt great either..

All the non-paired high cards missed. The HJ raiser didn't show any aggression. The other limp callers could frankly have anything. Worst case scenario they are slow playing sets or 2p type hands, but those beat us just as much as pocket 22 or A-high, so I'm not going to worry about it.

I agree with the preflop call. I probably bet something like 90 on the flop. But if I miss the turn, I check if it is checked to me. If I miss the turn and it is bet, I do direct odds math with the assumption that I am only winning with a flush.

I agree with the call pf since you have the button. On the flop, I'd discount someone having a made hand with the FD out there. LLSNL players almost uniformly will bet to protect TP plus. I'd bet around 80 and see how the table reacts to that. If someone raises then we can put them on a strong hand or the ace high FD and fold. If they call, I'd auto check the turn if checked to me. Betting the turn after calling a flop bet is a signal of strength and would fold unimproved.

So since you brought this up...

I felt in this spot that if I bet, I could get raised by either of the two limp/callers, if they flopped big, or the CO (who is not checking to call a bet from me). If I bet and the CO raises me, what sort of range should I give him?