Been playing for few hours. Have LAG image, won few showdowns with junk after raising pre. Also 3-bet folded once. Most villains are loose passive except for villain who is mix of 'fit and fold', stationy with TP or MP, can even throw raises with them, can turn hands into bluff. He is raising 30% and limping 50%+. Doesn't fold to 3 bet. Btw villain is Asian in late 30s early 40s I think.

This hand. Limp fest. Villain is to my right and limps in HJ, I call with A8s in CO, button folds. Total 6 ppl pre. Pot 12

Flop AT9 rainbow.

Checked to me. I fire 9, folds to villain who calls. We both started the hand with around 350. Pot 30.

Turn 3 (brings club draw). Villain checks. I make it 25. He calls without much thought. At this stage, I think his range has small Ace, would have raised big ace and even small suited ace pre decent majority I think. We can throw in some two pairs, any T and some 9s. Also straight draws where he may raise some time and call some time.

Pot 80
River A (FD doesnt fill)
Villain bets 37 into me. I quickly eliminated folding as an option (happy to hear thoughts). Debated a fair bit to make it 80-85 as if checked to me I was betting between 50-75 mostly. However, was not sure villains like this will call a raise here with worse often enough. Also, a 3 bet from him would be yuck.

Comments?

if you think he is raising AT+ pre then i think there is some value in min raising this back. think he would lead larger with a strong made hand so you should be ahead here.

getting 3b isn't all that bad since you can instant fold and not feel bad about it. he's never 3b as a bluff.

I think either flat or raise/fold to a 3bet is fine in this spot, personally id flat most of the time since $35 into 80 pot def seem like for value. and if i raise, id raise to 85/fold.

What do you put him on otr? just call, your line is strong enough that villian is gonna fold Tx or worse unless you have a read that he is spewy/calling station.

I also just overlimp multiple limpers preflop with Axs and try to hit a hand postflop and get paid off.

At tables where a lotta people can check TP, I might just check the flop behind. At more ABC tables where everyone bets their TP I'm cooler with a bet/fold here.

I probably also bet the turn as well. With everyone folding the flop in front of him he might be looking us up fairly light here. Stacks are also such that we're never getting near pot commitment.

In game time I probably just weakly call the river, but perhaps I am missing value by a worse A. I think better made hands get more money in on the drawy turn, so if he's not bluffing with a busted draw, then it really does look like an A, and wouldn't AT/A9 be getting more money in prior to this? And bigger Ax hands might raise preflop. I rarely do a raise/fold, but I think this might be the spot for it? Say $120/fold since a raise doesn't come close to committing our stack?

GcluelessNLnoobG

for everyone who raises this river, do you raise river on a deuce?

[x] Limps A8s from the cutoff
[ ] Played hand like a LAG even though that is the claimed image of IP. If you are limping hands likes A8s from the cutoff and someone else is raising 30%+ of pots directly to the right of you, there's no way you really have a LAG image, IMO

Raise for value pre in position and to isolate the fish.

River could be a raise/fold if you think (a) he is raising A9+ and TT-99 pre, and (b) he would actually call here with a T or 9. Remember you are chopping at best with any other ace on this board, so you targeting his ability to call with 2nd or 3rd pair. I think that's awfully thin and I would check it, IMO.

There is no value from a worse A - we would both be playing AAAT9

not sure it is the same thing. With A on river, it makes it less likely that I have ace. So, if villain has T he might think he has best hand. 37 is overall a good blocking bet there as it looks value and not fishy and thus most would not raise with a marginal hand there.

I didn't say I played this hand like a LAG but that had a LAG image as was caught with junk few times. So, the ideal way to play is not LAG then as I have not much FE. Also, there is no isolating fish. There are all fish. And the last hand where I was caught with junk (had 36s) and was called 4 way and hand checked all the way river given the board texture was super ugly/connected and I won with pair of 6.

I don't mind throwing a bet even if I'm chopping as it reinforces an aggressive image.

I think you're overthinking it a little. LAG != spewy image, which is what you are saying you have.

Even with a spewy image, if you can get this pot heads up vs the fish, a raise is a must, IMO.

Probably call here but you will lose more than win IMO .. the rest chop of course. If he put you on a draw then he could bet some 10s but not many, perhaps J10. I think he had AJ and hoped you didnt hit your kicker .. GL

Whoops, I totally missed this. So a raise is only attempting to fold chops, which I normally don't try to do. I would just call.

I'd call, as it is possible you are beat by a slow played A9 or A10. But more often than not will win/ chop given the action and description of the villain, who will more likely be firing a missed draw (JQ or 10 8), any ace or a 10.
As if you did raise it's highly unlikely that a 10 would call the raise on the river though so the only merit to raising would be to fold out chops. However given that you said the villain was stationy he may even make a crying call if you did raise the river. Making it a pretty standard call IMO.

Effectively you'd be turning your hand into a bluff, repping a house by raising the river as opposed to going for thin value.

na thin value live. I'm calling here. Trips have liabilities. Its probably a split. I dont see worse calling you anyway. And most people will call trip aces for any amount.

if you raise
a. he folds a weird draw, or 10 (unlikely)
b. he calls with low ace (split with more rake)
c. he calls high ace (wins unlikely with action still possible)
d he reraises and your like wtf boat? or same hand as me?
e. he folds his trip aces (maybe like 5 percent of players)

I'm raising here. A loose player throwing in a $25 bet when a flush draw comes looks like he's just trying to see a river card and get it over with.

I doubt he has Ax and I also doubt he is ever folding his hand.

He prolly has Tx so bet a size that Tx can call

Thanks all. I ended up calling as most people suggested. He said two pairs and I won the pot. I'm trying to improve on thin value betting ie rivering second pair and betting when I think villain has 3rd pair and so on. Of course I get value owned sometimes but it has worked a decent % of time. Think this spot is more difficult as most villains are passive and bet fold is easy. Given our stack size, think he would hardly turn his hand into a bluff. But at the same time not sure what percentage he calls with worse there.

Given most people think it is a call, if we take a spot where we dont have A, is raising as bluff profitable there if we think villain doesn't have many As in his range?

I think this is a great spot to raise on the river. Villan's bet looks like a blocker bet. You are beat by Ak aq aj a10 a9 a3, beat a2 a4 a5 a6 a7. ak aq aj are less likely since most would raise with those preflop, A10, a9 and a3 look unlikely the way the hand played out.

A great reason to raise this is not only because I think you have the best hand in this spot, but also for image and deception. If you do get called by a 10 or a weaker ace, everyone will see that you don't have to have the nuts to make a big raise. This could payoff in later hands when you do make a big raise with a huge hand. If you only call in this spot, your image will suffer as you will be seen as more straightforward and conservative.

Anytime you find a spot where you think you can get value in the hand and also help you get value later you should take it.

You don't beat a2-a7. You chop with them.