1/2 NL. At the table an hour, hero has a solid image been playing aggressively and winning a lot of small pots vs. a very passive table.

Main villain is mid-30s reg, don't know him at all but he seems decent, has played pretty passively since I've sat down. Definitely some tight folds. Effective stack ~$300

2nd villiain LAG kind of spewy.

Hero opens UTG +1 w/ KQ to $8. Same size I've been opening since I sat down.

Spewy guy calls in HJ, and main villain makes it $35 on the BTN. This is the first 3 bet I've seen him make. Hero calls, HJ calls.

Flop ($108): KQ7

I check, action checks through.

Turn ($108): A

I check, HJ bets $40, BTN insta calls. I maybe should have re-raised here (?) to push HJ out of the pot but given how capped I have BTNs range, I'm worried I'm only getting called by better with AKQ on board...

River ($228): Q

Back door flush gets there, we make a boat. I would lead a lot here but I checked to let HJ take initiative. I check, he checks (there goes that), then BTN quickly makes it $100, with about $125 behind.

Is this a spot to just rip it in? Or call figuring BTN only calls me with better, and hope HJ calls behind? I also feel like I took a bit of a weird line (it was the first time I've played in about a month). Any feedback is appreciated.

If he has AQ so be it. Shoving now.

I would pick $10-$12 + BB/limper as your base opening size, not $8. $8 is simply too small for live 1/2.

Definitely bet the turn. The flop checking through sucks but that's a pretty wet board. I would bet $55 on the turn to charge draws and build a pot. As played, x-r to $200.

On the river you have to check after checking flop and turn. Definitely shove here for value.

I am not a big fan of calling the 3-bet from a passive villain. He's got something, and KQs is not doing well against his typical range.

You HAVE to bet the flop. Were you planning on checkraising?

Ditto on the turn. Bet the turn. The only hand you're worried about is AQ. Any other hand that beats you would have have checked the flop. Since you're only worried about AQ, I like a checkraise to $200 just like what sixsevenoff recommended. A lot of draws and you need to make them pay to make them.

River.....checking is great. One of the Vs made the flush and will likely bet. You have to raise all-in. If V has AQ, say "nice hand" and reload. V is never folding the flush for $125 more, which is more the 4-1 pot odds.

In a 3! pot I assume you are checking flop OOP with the intent to x/r since we unblock spades as well. Don't fault the flop check since this usually gets cbet or led into 3 way. We have to bet this turn though. It's even wetter now with 2 flush draws and the JT coming in. The way the flop played though I think we can still raise turn for value although flatting isn't terrible. Imagine a spade, diamond, J, or T river that doesn't boat us up though. Super tough to play OOP on so many rivers. AP, x/r river is fine. If we are worried about AQ here we also need to add AxK, AA, KK to that range. The way the hand played I think Vs range is wider than we think though. Only one $40 turn bet has been put in between the two of his opponents (less than half pot). V should feel pretty good about his strong Ax in a 3 bet pot, especially if he has any diamond blockers.

Also don't like the $8 open for my 1/2 live games. Maybe your games are different but this will just lead to a lot of bloated multi way pots where I play. It will also induce some squeezing where I really dont want to have KQ OOP against a 3! range.

Long story short, this is only close because of our super passive trappy, fancy line. I guess if he's really that passive and he's betting river for value when the flush comes in and the board pairs he should be pretty strong. Still hard not to raise here. How long have you been playing with V? 3 bet frequency can take a while to figure. I'm leaning towards a tank call here to try to induce a call from spew V behind, maybe we chop a bigger pot that way as well. I can't fault a raise though when we are this strong and only dodging 7 combos that beat us (some of which may be blocked by V2). Sometimes a V can surprise us and call as light as AK the way this played.