The purpose of this thread is to help me figure out villains thought process in this hand.

Villain (MP):A young (early 20s) reg, plays almost every day at the casino where i am also a reg. He likes to shortstack, buying in for $100 multiple times until he builds himself a stack. If he gets too big a stack (like >$500) he usually either leaves the casino and comes back in a couple hours and buyins in for $100 again (lol) or cashes out and plays 2/5 DC with $200-$300 (1/2 is the biggest NLHE game available in our city). He talks wayy tooo much strategy at the table and taps the tank too much. He is probally a breakeven or slightly winning player but based on his game, I dont think he has enough grasp on the fundermentals to really be a big winner. Preflop, he is very loose passive and gambly (he has a omaha mindset and kinda overvalues drawing hands). He is willing to call of bigish portions of his stack fairly light. Postflop he is fairly agro and has some hand reading abilities but in general he is not able to make hero folds and does not value bet big enough.

Hero (CO): Also a young reg (honestly i think i look like I am 17). He sees me alot at the tables. I am fairly tight preflop (wayy tighter than him) and I also raise more than average preflop. Postflop he knows I am on the agro side but do c/f a bit with the incetive. He also has seen me make largish multistreet bluffs, maybe realizes that I generally bet bigger for value compared to as a bluf. He has seen me make hero folds in spots where other ppl probally wouldnt be able to fold (he might percieve this as weak and expoitable)

During this hand, the table was playing quite loose passive (it was like 1:00pm on a Friday morning). The table was also surprising young for a weekday morning with a few on the players being there from the night before including the BTN who was quite stationy both pre and postflop. The other player in this hand, the HJ was kinda stationy pre and was fit or fold straight forward post.

Stack Sizes
Hero:$450
Villain:$420
BU:$900
HJ: $250

Hero is dealt ATo
Villain is dealt 6d4d
1 limp, Villain limps, 1 limp,HJ limps, Hero raises to $17, BU calls, Villain calls, HJ calls
Flop is 862r (pot=$71)
checks to Hero, Hero bets $45
I normally c/f here 4 ways but have been c/f alot lately after raising pre so I wanted to change it up.
BU folds and comments: "That was expected" (refering to my cbet)
Villain calls, HJ tank calls
Turn is a T (pot=$205)
Villain leads for $55, HJ insta folds, Hero calls
River is a Q (pot=$315)
Villain quickly bets $110, Hero calls

I am curious as to what was Villains thinking here. Do u think it was just an unsophisticated "I think I am behind so let's bet". If he actually put me on a range, he should know that I dont have my 8x in my opening range (maybe 87 and 89 (very occasionally) and A8s, i do play a pretty tight game). Also did he really expect me to fold my overpairs/JJ/99. also if the purpose of his bet was to make me fold, y did he bet so small relative to the pot. Was he just thinking about the absolute betsizing rather than its relationship to the pot. Based on same strategy talk by him, he seems to remember the pot size during hands (he gives the excuse when he makes terrible calls and sucks out that he was getting x:1). Did he think that I am not keeping track of the pot size and the absolute betsize would have a ton of FE? What conclusion of my opponent should i take from this hand for the future (b/c i play with this villain alot).

Conclusions:
Villain is not as good of a handreader as you think. He put you on AK. Also, once he makes that decision, he's incapable of changing his mind based on the action. Also, villain has no concept of the size of the pot, which means you can bet less against him on your bluffs. He's aware of pot size when calling, but not aware when betting. He likes chasing, so always knows what it is to him.

Really, though, all he did was put you on AK. He's a terrible fish.

if he put me on AK, y wouldnt he check/call the river? Betting makes no sense b/c i would never call with Ace high and might bluff.

we can argue back and forth about what villain was thinking, but the only way to know is to ask him. take a note on how he bluffs and move on