1/2, so most of the table is loose passive, though a little tighter than usual since some limpers actually fold to medium raises pre.

V1: UTG+3; ~$130; young guy, loose passive, doesn't seem very competent
V2: HJ; ~$300; young guy, only been around 3-orbits, but seems TAG, usually raises limpers big when coming into the hand, but that has been rare so far. Haven't seen him show anything down yet.
Hero: SB; ~$200; image should be solid, but a bit on the aggressive side

V1 limps, think there was one more limper, V2 raises to $16, Hero has TT and calls, V1 calls, all others fold.

Pot: ~$50
Flop: 4TQ

Hero checks, V1 checks, V2 checks.

Turn: K

Hero bets $25, V1 raises to $50, V2 goes all-in

This is a fold, right? I don't think either of them ever has QQ or KK, but AJ is possible for either player and V2 can't be bluffing, yet I doubt he is valuing worse than TT... unless he has some sort of combo draw (but don't a lot of those c-bet the flop?).

Still a bit green in cash games, and folding a set still doesn't sit right with me.

Pre I'm fine calling to set him.

Flop, OMG, bet! This is a dream flop. You should be betting 35 on the flop. Play it like you have KQ.

Turn, ugh, AJ possible. I don't care if V1 has it as he is too short for us to fold our 10 outs for the possibility he has that exact hand (and not two pair, AK, etc.)

It's V2 I'm worried about. That is such a massive shove. We have to call 160 into what will (presumably) be 375 (if V1 calls behind which it's hard to see him folding for 1/2 his stack with his raise).

We have to be good 30% of the time here to call for odds. 10 outs is a little thin if we really think he has a flush.

First, I agree it would be crazy for V2 to have checked KK or QQ OTF. And it'd be odd for him to check with KQ or AQ, too. A true "TAG" would never check that flop with a real hand - set of 4's, big pocket, TPGK, etc. He's likely to bet a nut flush draw in position, too, and maybe KJ. K10 is hard to put in his raising range unless I know more.

What would he check with? I think he has AJ here a ton of the time and he checked to hit his gutterball. He's trying to fold your flush draw out. Only other hand I could see played here is AK and he thinks he's protecting his AK.

I think I find a fold but I don't feel great about it. I could certainly be convinced to call by others.

Your line is bad, though, you should have been playing for stacks on the flop with a made hand against that many draws.

I don't donk much, but this is probably a decent spot for it.

Still, I don't expect V2 to check back all that often here, though maybe I have the wrong read on him and he is a bit more passive. I would expect him to c-bet most of his draws here and all Qs. With pairs on QQ I can probably get a bit of value from him on later streets.

In a vacuum yes its a fold.

I think you are getting over all ~2.5:1 to call here considering the fish will be AI on the turn no matter what. $370 pot vs your remaining $159. You need more for a boat.

The thing is you completely underrepped your hand and your turn bet says "please dont raise me" @ 1/2psb. So you kinda screwed yourself by not betting that flop and betting weak on the turn.

Thus their hand ranges might be wider considering who is in the hand.

if V2 doesn't have AK and V1 KT/44 I'll be way surprised. Pretty sure you're crushing both ranges, fistpump ship it.

EDIT: I'm never folding a set with 100bb, even if my opponent flips AJ in my face

Do not check the flop

Also, I think you are beat here and V2 has AJ a lot.

I can't imagine you being ahead to often.

If he has gotten his opponents to put money in with a wider range he has not "screwed himself"

And I wouldn't fold here.

Bet flop is a must,
ASP I am not folding, your hand is very underrepped and your reads on v2 can be wrong since he is new so this widens his range. cry call

When you flop a set, bet it into the pre-flop raiser.

I don't understand why people call that a "DONK" bet?

Doyle Brunson has been betting out into the raiser for years when he hits a hand hard and how much of a "DONK" do you think he is...????

With the amount of over aggressive slobs playing poker now days, why not bet into them when you flop a set and hope they re-raise you.

Then just flat them.

As played, I believe the original pre-flop raiser has pocket queens or kings and has spiked a set.

A/J is also a possibility. Also, this is $1/$2, maybe his favorite hand is J/9. You do smash K/Q and A/K though, which are also possible hands.

I'm on my phone with no access to poker stove atm, I think I puke fold this set.

Lot kq probably isn't in his range if he checked flop.

Bet flop, All-in as played.

You're right, scratch that from his range.

Betting flop is results oriented thinking. Villain is going to c-bet this board very often and it's one we can comfortably c/raise since it's draw-heavy enough where we'll get action. I'm not folding OTT as played.

Or

We could lead out light with $25.00 hoping to induce a raise or have villian draw thin with A/K to 2 overs and a gutshot.

Leading out with a monster into PFR creates other opportunities as well.

It's not terrible, but I think you'll get flatted a lot or he'll just fold his junk and there are a lot of bad turn cards and an awkward stack size to get it in. I'm expecting a c-bet so often that it's worth c/raising IMO. If you want to lead, you should pot it though.

Potting it gets him to fold his junk, leading light hopefully gets him to raise us with junk.

If he's got a made hand, he's flatting or raising either way. (And we're not folding. So it's just going to build the pot.)

If he gets to draw at a gutshot with A/K, we've still given him improper odds and can blow him off on the turn if we want when a blank hits.

I agree 100% that it could be played for a C/R just as well.

As played though, I think it's a puke fold.

bet flop

Problem I have with betting $25 or betting the flop at all is that I think it's impossible to get stacks in by the turn without a very aggressive villain. It's also possible other villain bets out when we check. If I were villain sitting there with KK and hero bet our $25, I'd raise/call, but I don't know if we have those reads on villain to say similar. I'd also probably be c-betting much wider than I'd raise.

If you absolutely have to bet the flop and you don't want to pot it, I still think $25 is too small. If we go $35, I really don't think he folds anything he would call for $25, and we can b/call OTT or bet/bet/shove. I just like c/raising because I think he bets this flop a lot (or other villain does which makes it an even better situation), and we can c/raise/shove turn.

I actually did end up calling, V1 folded (still curious about what he had but w/e) and V2 had AJ.

I tanked the call. It was pretty tough readless (or mostly readless), but probably this is a fold unless I have actually seen this guy spaz out before. Otherwise what could he possibly have that I beat? Most combo draws are inconceivable (AKdd bets flop, no? Same with QJss).

Also, I'm now pretty convinced, especially at 1/2, I should be betting out (also because I am Young Guy in a Hoodie), but there is always something in the back of my head that is telling me "You are never bluffing here! You aren't balancing ranges!" as if any of these 1/2 players are really thinking about that.

Everyone is right about betting flop but no-one (I think?) has explicitly said why. In a raised pot 3 ways QT4xxy is likely to connect solidly with expected ranges. Is also allows us to get 3bet and to shove when villain has AQ/KK+. We should be expected to have a variety of hands here from something like QJs/o to sets to combo draws to maybe just NFD w or w/o a GS. It's a good range balancing play imo.

Another reason to bet the flop is that any 9/J/K/Xd on the turn makes the hand messier/more difficult to play (those cards comprise 20 cards and come ~40% OTT...less if we assume they hold any of those but w/e). We need to bet for value and protection.

Preflop is somewhat close imo, we are calling 8% of our stack OOP with a hand that doesn't flop terrifically and we will be playing something resembling the guessing game on XYZ flops where XYZ<10. We have decent implied odds but they really aren't great.

Calling or folding on the turn is also close imo but should be a fold. We have the 2nd worst pure value hand (KQ is perhaps a value hand still). That being said I don't know how either villain check KQ/QQ/KK on the flop ever. I still fold, the card really does hit them hard and both AJ/J9 may check flop.

Given read on villain, I can't really fault the flop check. I probably would have done that too, looking to c/r. This is a flop that rates to get bet at and most TAGs would.

I would c/r here with the NFD, KFD, combo draw and pair+FD, so to balance that I would c/r a set or top two.

Check on the flop isn't that awful is it? I think I would've checked here about 1/2 of the time as well. If I read that V was an agressive player I would probably check and let him Cbet...

On the river, tough spot. V1 could very well have KQ, V2 smells like AJ to me, though I think he shows up enough with inferior hands enough to make a call. If you were deeper than 100BB I would fold, but you've already but a good portion of your stack in and have 10 outs to a boat if V does have AJ

I think a competent cbettor will check back here more so than most other board tectures. Before checking the flop ask yourself if this board texture is likely to be cbet by the skill level of your preflop raiser. We really don't know what his cbet range is with so few hands but if he looks competent then I would not assume he auto bets this flop. If this is possibly one of the 20-30% ck thru situations then bet out since he will be fairly strong if he hit the flop anyway (and wasn't going to ck). Hopefully your playing style can rep a draw hand here.

Since there is some good chance it gets checked through and some very good chance the flop has hit strong draws, its better to lead out. Its pretty bad if it gets checked through as it becomes tougher and tougher to get the money in as the hand goes along without a bloated pot, scare cards, etc.