Hero (£250) in BB. White middle-aged guy dressed like a banker, probably viewed as a reasonably solid regular.

Table is reasonably aggressive for £1/1. There are two or three people that love to attack what they think is 'dead money'.

Villain (£200): In MP. Complete unknown. He only sat down about three hands ago, zero reads.

I'm in the BB with A3. It's a straddled pot (£2) and half the table limps; I just complete in the BB.

Flop (£12): 5 2 4

I'm first to act. I've flopped gin. I know that betting out here into a gadzillion people looks kinda ridiculous, and I could reasonably expect some of the LAGs to attack what looks to be a ripe board, but I want to build a pot since I know I'll still get callers. I lead out for £8.

Five people call

Turn (£52) 5 2 4 7

I bet out £40. Folds to villain; he confirms the bet with the dealer, thinks about it for a few seconds, then calls. Everyone else folds.

Villain didn't raise preflop and hasn't raised me here, so I dismiss big pocket pairs. I also think sets and two-pair hands would raise, so I put him on some sort of draw.

River (£132): 5 2 4 7 3

Villain has a little over a pot-sized bet left. I am debating a bet/fold, check/call, or check/fold.

Hero....????

check/folds.

Given that many $1/2 players don't turn hands like 2p or a set into a bluff on the river, I think this is an easy check/fold. In addition, it's likely villain has some sort of pair+draw combo on the turn. On the river, every pair+draw combo just got there.

No value in betting. Doubt 2pair or a set are calling on this river.

Was the opponent the first caller on the flop?

I'd check and call a smallish bet. I think they have an ace here more than they have the 6 or flush.

No, villain was in MP; there were two callers on the flop between me and villain.

Check, with a fold to all but the smallest suck bets. Bet/fold doesn't work because the hands you beat fold, the higher straights call and the flushes raise.

At low stakes I wouldn't discount a chopped pot, sets, two pair or an overpair entirely. Those hands have been played passively though and are not going to start betting now.

I don't think you'll be getting bluffed too often in this spot. Check/fold is the line. You're probably against 86 (double gutshot) or 76. Both of which I'd expect to be played this way and with that kind of question on the turn.

grunch

OTF-villain could have called with almost his entire range.

OTT-by the turn when V calls, his range probably consists of a lot of TP, overpairs, straights, FDs and OESDs. V would probably have raised sets and 2 pairs so you can probably discount those hands.

OTR-The 3 completes a lot of draws. You might get value from V's sets or 2 pairs but it's hard to imagine V having that hand since he would probably raise the turn, except for a set of 3's. You might also get value from TP and overpairs but V might even fold those hands on this board. I would check. If V bet, I would fold. Most V's won't turn their sets, 2 pairs, overpairs and TPs into a bluff. I doubt they will even bet their wheel for value on this board.

Preflop looks obvious.

I like the flop donk cuz I'm guessing there's a good chance this gets raised, where we can then bring the hammer down. I would simply bet more though (pot it).

I also bet more on the turn (again, pot it). There's a zillion players in the hand. Someone has enough to call. Also sets us to shove river without overbetting.

Sucky river. I'm a firm believer we can never bet/fold with just ~PSB left, although others disagree. This is the worlds scariest board, so I highly doubt we can bet for value cuz like almost nothing worse than us pays off (except for a weirdo Ax hand, like A5/A6/etc). I check and probably fold to a bet.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Looks like everyone likes the check/fold line. That is indeed what I did.

Hero CHECKS, and villain hollywooded for a minute or so then shoved. I thought about it for a bit just going over the hand, but every single possible draw got there on the river, and at this point my hand is purely a bluff catcher. With zero reads on villain, I assume river bets mean what they look like (shove = da nutz) until I have reason to think otherwise. I folded and of course cursed my luck to flop the world and get runner-runnered, but felt better after Villain showed me 6 before mucking his other card. I assume he had a hand like 56s or 67s.

I'd bet pot on the flop or even overbet it to like 15. Nobody is going to give a crap. Turn is good and river is a check/fold.

Bingo. 15 on flop makes a fair difference to final pot size. I would actually do this with a massive range from the BB as this is exactly the type of board everybody calls the flop and folds to barrels.

Agree 100%

And Ash I like how he gave his hand away by hollywooding and showing the 6h...2 more reasons why live poker is easier than online