This was played at a local casino. 1/2 with a $300 max. I think the minimum is $60 but I have never actually seen players play short stacked here. most buy in for $200, sometimes just $100.

V1 ($300) Older Man 50s. Not a super Nit but he is probably a fan of Phil Hellmuth back in the day. Seen him play fairly ABC, fit or fold mostly I didn't recall seeing him in any big pots. Biggest read I had was that I saw him open for $5 previously with KK.

V2 ($200) Tall skinny guy with a cowboy hat. Looked a bit ragged with a scruffy beard. He had a very large stack when I sat down. Had 600+ but lost about 550 in a couple fairly big hands. he did not spazz out and tilt jam afterwards. About 30 minutes later he went to the bathroom and added on another $200 when he came back.

V3 ($750) Loose Asian player. Most of his stack came from the V2 Tall skinny guy to his right. He made some big calls with questionable hands but I did not see him raising a whole lot. Definitely likes to put money in the pot.

V4 ($450) Bald Mid 20s. Beats headphones. Fairly talkative but not about strategy. He talked about players' hands but he was not condescending. Seems like he just read Power Poker and was trying to make sense of LLSNL stupidity.

Hero ($350) Mid 20s. No poker flare as far as fancy headphones or backpacks go but definitely acts like a grinder. Shuffles chips constantly and talks to most dealers. Has a reputation at the room but none of his enemies are at this table.

Preflop: V1 opens for $5 from UTG+1. Ranged him at 55+ up to and including KK/AA and Ax. V2, V3, V4 call. SB folds. Hero calls from BB with 68.
Closing the action getting 4 to 1 is nice. I fully understood that I was first to act and the plan was to cooler someone on the correct board

pot ($25)
Flop: 6c 7d 8s
Hero lead for $30.
I figured that if V1 did have an overpair I could GII with him. I anticipated that if he shoved everyone else would fold and I am probably ahead. I also thought that this table was very passive and they were not likely to shove with a Pair + Straight draw. This might be too metagame but I thought if someone flopped a straight on this rainbow board they will slow play and just call a bet of this size so I can still get to the turn. the plan then was to just check and hope they continue to slow play. I thought only overpairs and sets will ship
V1 calls.
V2 calls...
V3 ... calls. what?
V4 hates himself and reluctantly calls for pot odds.
At this point I think there is an 89 floating around for Top Pair/straight draw, and maybe a 56, 58 for the pair with a draw to the bottom end. If V3 or 4 has an overpair or set this action might scare them into just calling. I actually think I am good so my turn play aggravates me.

pot ($175)
Turn: 3c (puts a second club on board)
Hero Checks
At the time I decided to pot control. It was a very confusing spot and I just did not want to step in it. I thought that if I fade the straight I am good. There are a lot of players in the hand but there are still only so many draws. I want to just fade a 4, 5, 9, T or 7.
V1 checks
V2 checks
V3 bets $55
This sizing had me baffled. He was not a very aggressive player while I had been playing with him but I also never saw him show down the nuts. He was always just calling and getting there. This felt like a value bet if he did have the nuts. Someone with 89 on this board probably feels very confident and wants value. but this is 1/2 so value bets tend to be very small.
V4 flips out and folds.

Hero calls.
Think I had the implied odds to call here. If I boat I only need him to call a pot sized bet on the river.
V1 calls and I am baffled yet again.
V2 folds

pot ($340)
river: 5
Hero checks
V1 All in
V3 call
hero vomits.

Thoughts? I recently read an article where Kristy Arnett states that the best advice she ever got was "when I doubt choose the more aggressive option". After this hand I think I will definitely try harder to adhere to that.

I like check raise on the flop here rather than donking. This flop will very rarely check around in a such a multiway pot.

You will get to see how much everyone else likes their hand first without showing the strength of your hand. For example, if there is a large bet and a raise, you can consider folding. Most times you will pick up a lot of dead money that people put in with weak hands (pairs/draws). If you check raise and get shoved on, your decision will be based on stack/pot ratio, where you are calling if you are getting the correct odds to draw for your full house vs a made straight.

If your check raise is called, you should be continuing with a large bet on turns that aren't 4/5/7/9/T. If the turn is one of those cards, I'm checking and making tough decisions based on opponents action/bet size.

As played, river is obvious fold.

Valid, I think if I check raise I'm never getting odds to call if I get shoved on. Check raise does feel more and more like the new cbet since its almost always nuts at low limit.

I think a difference between me and other live players is that I don't mind riding with the draws. Especially a spot like this it's hard to have combo draws because I have pair blockers and it's a rainbow. So only 79 has 13 outs where everything else is about 10 or 11.

In my experience low limit players donk with draws, or check raise with nut draws. but if they are checked to in late position they tend to check for the free card. and if they have the draw in position they tend to just call. So can't we donk for value at low limits to get calls from draws?

Once the turn bricks though, after all that weakness I should be happy to shut it down I think

Your thought process needs work.

Flop seems like a pretty easy check with great relative position on the preflop raiser and an ability to play for stacks with a raise on the flop. We were playing this hand to hit gin and we did, easiest way to get the most money in the pot is c/r.

The turn is a terrible spot to pot control, on a 3 straight board most people with nutted hands would have raised the flop with so many left in. We're supposed to be playing for stacks, remember the plan?

Turn and river should be pretty easy $110/all in.

As played just shove turn when it gets back to you after the bet so we don't have to make a river decision and to charge draws. Small bets like that are usually trying to buy the pot or a cheap showdown.

Grunch

I'd just fold PF. 86 sucks. You're facing multiple opponents while OOP and as this hand shows you can get into trouble in spots like this, even when your hand hits. It's not even worth calling the 3 dollars IMO. I'd only play it in the BB if I could check the BB and see a flop without paying anything extra.

I'd probably just check the flop and see what everyone else does first.

C/f river is fine.

Closing the action and getting such a good price, and for such a small amount relative to implied odds, I'd call the $3 all day.
OTF, I like going for the check raise. I'm pretty sure that this hand is nothing but reverse implied odds, and c/r should win the max and end this pot on the flop, which is a good result for a big blind special.
I had the same hand in the bb recently. Same flop. I checked, action went bet, raise and I folded. Raiser had 87, better two pair. Not to be results oriented, but with two pair that's not top two pair, and on a very coordinated straight board, I like check, re evaluate, planning to check raise but ready to fold if someone gets frisky.
The $5 open means that this is basically a limped pot. Opponents can have any 2 cards and your hand is v unlikely to improve.

Once I consider relative position on the preflop raiser c/r is better IMO

chk raise turn awwwl innn

+1 for check raise flop instead of lead.. but I usually just bomb into people here

This hand shows a clear RIO example where flops like this get us into a lot of **** when we flop 2 pair OOP to this many people. Even though I don't mind calling pre, it is not the ideal flop we want to hit. Check/raising the flop is total spew unless V3 or V4 make a questionable move after V1 doesn't cbet and we suspect a fold from V1 and V2. Even then it's questionable. I'm pot controlling this hand all the way through, I can see your merits to leading out but we are in the dark now when everyone calls and are forced to not fire another barrel.
OP - how did V1 respond when you led out on the flop? This is an indicator right here, the quicker and more confident the call - the narrower his range is (and bad for us). He could have a cautiously played set or 99 and we're in terrible shape against that. Your lead out represents 2p+ and straights so we're expecting 89 to be the worst hand we're against. For a passive table we might expect to be up against hands that beat us more often even though the flop bet was only just called.

I don't like Check raise if I think the draws are going to fold. Like I said, I have blockers to the pairs so I don't mind GII against the draws. but this table seemed fairly passive, fit/fold so I might only be getting called by better. That is why I figured I can donk and get called by worse (the draws) and if I get raised a large amount I can evaluate but it is hard to flop a straight and its hard to flop a set when I have a 6 and an 8.

He didn't fist pump or anything but he didn't tank much either. It felt like Top pair that didn't want to give up or PP that didn't want to raise and just hoped everyone folded behind.
We are actually not in terrible shape against 99 though. 99 only has 8 out to the st8, 7s, and the turn card to pair the board for better 2pr so its a flip probably 50/50

also, yes I agree its not the ideal board for 68. I wanted to immediately check but I stopped myself and then I thought if I bet a large amount I can get some calls behind and see what happens. I think there's merit to a "value donk" at low limits but this is probably not the right spot. and the "see what happens" amounts to betting for information which is never a good reason IMO. I can probably find out the same info from checking as I can with leading, and the pot stays smaller.

Your last paragraph makes sense. The rest of the content above that is too optimistic.

^ Thanks, I don't think I played it optimally. I may have gotten a little defensive in replies but I was mostly curious if my reasons made any sense. whether or not they were applied at the right times is debatable lol. personally I think this is an interesting spot. Its easy to say RIO and get away from this but I don't think we are as far behind as one would usually think.

So you are check calling down assuming there are only bets and no raises behind you? Are you just folding if any scare cards (4/5/7/9/T) hit? It feels like you are giving up too much control here with what is going to be the best hand a huge majority of the time.