V 20-something kind of learning the game - seems to play too many hands, but not afraid to bet his made hands aggressively, but haven't seen any type of bluff from him

I'm raising pre, and having a big night by getting paid off in a couple huge pots

V has 325, I cover.

3 limpers, I raise to 18 in SB with AK, 2 limpers and V in BB call.

Flop (65) T73

I check, V leads for 40, I call

Turn (145) J

I check, V bets 75, I call

River (295) 4

What's optimal here? A check might let small flush/set/2pr check back. A jam might let him fold those, so I went with a value/"blocking" bet that he might come over of 75.

I might have gone slightly larger that $75 OTR, but otherwise like the line a lot.

4 doesn't change the texture of the board enough to bet so small on the river. I don't like it. Whatever he was betting two streets with is calling almost any sizing and folding to almost any sizing, depending on whether it was air or not.

If he's going to come over top he's going to come over top regardless. He already increased his bet sizing from 40 to 75, so it's only logical to assume he's going to do the same on the river if he actually has a strong hand. I would never make this less than $145 as I think that's likely what he was going to bet with a strong hand. Why would you bet the nuts for less than what he likely would have bet himself? It's like you don't want his money.

I can't for the life of me figure out why we're checking this flop. It basically corners us into one line of c/c, c/c, c/c, which is the nut low. Villain can't even hold the Ah to have a good blocker to shove over our river donk line, which means we only extract from hands that we would have stacked anyway (like Q-hi flush).

Just b/b/b, for chrissakes.

This..... Lead flop for $40. Nobody puts you on a flush as the preflop raiser.

As played....either shove...or check-shove river....we want all the $$$.

Just ship. He’s not folding a set or a flush.

edit: shouldn't have said "bet into" in title - though I was IP at first

I agree with above assuming he's very strong with a flush, but what about his non flush hands - like JJ-KK, trips,2 pr, even Tx hands? Why not let him bet those hands to lock in at least 2 streets of value from them? AND we can still get his stack when he has Q high flush.

I'm not so sure preflop result is great (will get a lot more difficult if we just flop TP which will be a lot more likely than flopping the flush or a flush draw).

SPR is about 5 so can easily play for stacks in 3 streets with smallish bets. I'd just cbet, probably largish to start building the pot ASAP and hope someone has something. Checking around could be a disaster (much more difficult to play for stacks and a heart could kill the action). As played, against a guy who's learning the game and not bluffing, I build a pot now before a scare card comes and raise.

Again, same thing applies to turn as it does to flop. I just donk out. As played, way too many scare cards to kill action now, so I'd raise.

I'm really not a fan of how we got to the river at all but we got very lucky and it worked out. We only have $192 left in a $295 pot. I just shove and hope he puts me on a busted draw. Doing a blocking bet that is still relatively large and expecting him to raise is really ambitious and simply won't happen hardly ever unless up against nuttish hands (heck, the best hand he can have here is the Q high flush and my guess that calls a blocking bet >>>>> raises).

Gnotafanofhowweplayedthis,imoG

Interesting spot- played a similar hand a few months back.

I would play it a bit different personally. In my eyes we just want to stack him, the odds of him having more showdown value is insanely low. I check the flop, then min re-raise him hoping to lure a shove- then try again on the turn, then shove the river.

It comes down to player preference, but if the V is aggro and defensive, I would do anything I could to get more money from him in this spot.

Im going to guess he called the river bet here?

Is he more likely to bet hands like JJ-KK, or call a bet with them? And if he does bet them, how do you leap to the conclusion that you've now locked in two streets of value from them?

In fact, are there any hands at all in V's range that will bet when checked to on this flop, but would not call a bet? You block literally all the good bluffing combos.

River jam is obvious with nearly 100% of your range here.