Background

Hero: Asian guy in his 20s, having a great weekend of poker thus far. Won nearly £300 on Friday night, and up nearly £400 last night at this stage. Playing a bit looser than usual, but still more or less sticking to a TAG principle. Got paid off when I had the hands, got away with most bluffs, and on the one occasion I got caught stealing, I got lucky with runner club flush. Currently sitting on just under £600 after buying in at max BI of £200.

Villain: Young Caucasian guy in his 20s. Seems to play poker for a living, certainly knows his stuff, often talks about playing in higher stakes tournaments. He is a classic TAG, doesn't play a crazy range, but always aggressive once in a hand, I cannot remember precise hand histories, but I have a feeling that I have a winning record against him, especially where I've correctly read that he was stealing. He has just moved to my table from a broken 1-2 game, and decided to cover my stack with a £600 buy-in. (200max, or matching current deepest stack on table).

When Villain sat down, Hero made a remark along the lines of 'Looks like I just got to avoid a big confrontation with you to make sure my night stays very good'. Within 10 mins of that, the follows happens...

Pre-flop
Game is 9-handed.
Hero is on HJ with AJ There are two limpers infront, hero raises to £10. Villain on the BTN raises to £25. Limpers and Blinds fold, Hero Calls.

(This is the 2nd time Villain has re-raised a raise from Hero, the first time Hero was raising light with low suited connectors, so folded.)

Flop (£53)
AJ8

Hero Checks, Villain Bets £20, Hero Calls.

Turn (£93)
7
Hero Checks, Villain Bets £50, Hero Calls.

River (£193)
4
Hero Bets £100. After a long wait, in which Villain looks visibly conflicted, he shoves, putting Hero all-in.

Hero?

Looks like a pretty easy call to me. You only lose to sets and 910/56 and he would have to be putting on a pretty good acting job if he has those hands right now. You are winning or chopping most every time in this spot. My guess is he is trying to put you on A4s semehow, then thinks he can blow you off that hand with a shove holding AK/AQ/AJ.

If he has a set, then does he really put you on 56 or 910. Why the vacillations? It can only be AA or AK IMO ... he has to know you have Ax (or set) the way you played the hand. I still stand by my 'win or chop' thoughts here. GL

Fold pre...aj isn't gonna play very well in a 3b pot oop. Otf ap I'd ch/r or lead pot...you have the top of your range when deep so you're trying to get more money in the middle (You block top and middle set so I'm more inclined to believe he has aq/k or bottom set).

I would be able to give you a more definitive answer as to what his hand was here if you had a tell on his small sizing otf/ott and then whether his river acting was genuine or not. It all seems quite strong but the V's idea of strong here could be a worse 2 pr or ak type hand or it could be a set at a minimum. This is one of those that you'd need to go back in your head to previous hands with V and figure out what doesn't add up.

That being said I really wanna say you're good here but honestly what half decent grinder type is gonna wanna shovel in 500+ bb with 1 pr otr. Fold

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Never bet oop without a plan. You value bet river for (which is very good call against most villian's). By doing this you created a big pot very deep stacked. Clearly this villian is tricky, so in long run I believe check/call the river is your best bet. You realley won't lose much value because if he has a hand like AK he is gonna bet it for you.

I would fold. Not knowing villian.
I do think I would have bet folded the river also. Not to many villians gonna make a huge bluff in this spot.

I personally like a check call on river given stack sizes.
Getting almost 2:1 it's not a horrible call but most regs will not stack off this deep with 1 pair.
I personally call as I see enough hands in his range that you beat, to make this call profitable.

i cringe call. Check river since that is the line u took the rest of the hand with villain showing aggression on every other street he most likely will bet again and not shove then you can be left with a choice of re raising if you think you are holding better or just calling alot easier then calling for stacks

Check / call river for sure since we won't lose value from any hand that calls our river lead, we get value from all his random triple barrels AND we can't get blown off our hand. I personally would fold as played and expect him to have 88 or 9t (or even jj aa) that he weirdly 3b

Would you really fold AJ to a 3-bet? In low-stakes poker there are plenty who would 3-bet with a wide range, especially on the button. In fact I called because I knew the Villain loves playing in position, and almost always raises if he plays from the button.

In hindsight I should have been alarmed by his small bet-sizing otf and ott. He normally applies more pressure (60%-90% pot) to put his opponents to a test on every street, the fact that he didn't should have indicated that he was sure he was ahead, and wanted me to stay in the hand. I missed this point at the time, and put him on AK/AQ, and thus deliberately showed weakness otf and ott to try to trap him.

In the end I got completely nutted by my own mind games, as well as the grossly unlucky situation. Villain actually had 88, he thought I was weaker than AJ because I was showing weakness, and thus he had no worries that I might've had AA or JJ. I called his shove because of the exchange we had 10 mins earlier, and I thought that he thought that I'd be afraid of stacking off against him. I also fell for his acting... At low stakes poker, most of the time, if somebody appears strong, they are, if I detect signs of weakness, they are weak. This pro villain obviously noticed that I was an observant player, and gave me a show that I bought. Finally I was a victim of my own hubris... I had an amazing weekend thus far and felt kinda invincible... putting in ~£350 to win ~£1100+ was too good to pass, even though I really shudda realised that no pro would shove that much with anything I can beat.

Ah well... lesson learnt.

Hi everyone, new to 2+2.

If he's a tricky reg, someone that's crafty and likes to mix it up, then he's going to be a very dangerous proposition OOP. I don't like the idea of calling the 3B pre with AJo OOP vs a tricky reg like this guy - especially when OOP AND the stacks are deep. You have no initiative and a RIO hand in a 3B pot. I'd be looking to actually change seats when/if possible (i know you said it's 9-handed currently), change tables or simply avoid him all together except for when you get some premiums. He's got position on you just about all the time. If you want to keep him in line, I would prefer min 4B this guy on occasions with say a 76s or some A/Kxs blocking hands. I can't think of many spots I like calling 3B vs him OOP. Even set-mining is poor facing a 3B because his range for 3B is widest on the BTN.

As played, I still fold the river... if he's a reg and decent I don't ever imagine him doing this with TP or worse 2P, he would just call.