7 handed.

250 effective stack.

All fold to hero.

Hero: hijack KhQh raises to 15
All fold to bb who calls.

Flop, AhAsjh

Bb: bets 25,
Hero: calls.

Turn: 9h

Bb: checks.

Hero:?

What is considered too nitty here? Should I check it back? Should I bet? How much?

When a player donks into you on a board that’s so much better for you they are probably a huge fish. With a hand as strong as yours I think we can start getting large value. Pot is a little over 80 so I would bet 60 and another chunky 150 on the river

What was your plan if checked to on the flop? I'd have been thinking bet flop, bet turn, give up river (you'd have got rid of smaller pairs by then) but not sure if other lines might work better.

Anyhow that's all redundant, flop bet might be an Ace or it might be a confused underpair or it might be nothing. Either way you have a royal flush draw and calling seems fine. Now that you make the nut flush I'm pushing hard on the turn, targetting an Ace but hoping beyond hope that he's got a flush. Don't expect him to put any more money into the pot with a pair or air.

Bet a size that keeps in all weak Ax. Of course, we're factoring in AJ and A9 as possible holdings into this. I'd make it 60, meaning that the pot will be 200 on the river with 150 back

What I was thinking is that if he had any A or he had any draws he would probably call an all in from me, if he had an A or a heart he may call thinking even if I had him beat he could draw out on me on the river. I also think it might have looked like a bit of a bluff to over bet the turn.

Of course it also means if he had a full house I just committed my chips to a losing hand unless the 10h hits the river.

I would spread it out over 2 streets, it would be a disaster if he folded turn with an ace.

It also leaves more bluffs in our range on the turn from his perspective.

I bet around $60 on turn. If he raises, you have a decision to make. That's a tough one. Some type of read on the villain would be nice. If he bets river I probably call depending on size and read. If he checks river I just gii for the last $150. It will be difficult for him to fold an ace.

Please put pot size on each street.

Hmmmm... interesting spot. The value ranges are so narrow here, and the bluffs so hard to find. I think maybe it's best to check back, or if we bet, take a really small sizing, like $30-$35. We're not deep enough to bet big and then fold to a raise.

It looks like he has Ax, and donked flop to charge our flush draws. There's a remote chance he boated up with A9 and is sandbagging, but most likely he's just playing pot control now.

V isn't folding trips if we bet small, and might raise with his boats. If he donks river huge, I might find a fold. Otherwise, I think we can bluff catch river if V bets on the smaller side.

You think if you were to bet 30-35 dollars on the turn he would just call with trip aces given that if I had a single heart I could draw out on him for cheap on the river?

I would think if I bet small and he has an ace he may raise me on the turn bet, has it been your experience that a weak ace here would just call a small bet?

I open limp here but that's me (obviously realizing that raising is "standard").

Reads?

I think I also just flat the flop with all my equity and see what happens on the turn.

Next time post pot size on each street so we know what we're dealing with. Looks to be about $80 in the pot with $210 behind. A $60 bet would setup a safe river shove of $150 into $200 which seems reasonable. Most players don't donk boats, so we're really only behind A9 here. Could actually size up the turn as no one is folding Ax on this street.

GcluelessNLnoobG

This is a hand where reads are important, but he's most likely donking out with Ax and not AJ/JJ so I'm not too worried about a FH rn. I'd bet 40 so we don't fold out weaker Ax's (since there's also a 3rd heart, bigger bets will jus scare him off).

Good questions.

I think if he was worried about you being on a flush draw on the turn, he would have continued betting. It would be weird and unusual for him to check, if he was scared of you being on a draw. I'd expect him to barrel here, for value, with trips, and boats, and often some worse flushes. MAYBE he slows down if he has A9, to get trappy.

We're starting $250 eff, there's $80 in the pot, and we've got $210 behind. If he's just going with his hand, he might barrel for $60 or more, and if he's worried about you calling a bet that size, he might over-bet. I would think his boats just want to keep betting, just small enough to keep you in the hand.

If we bet small, when the board is AAJ, and the turn brings in the flush, I just don't see him raising that much with trips. We could have a boat, or better trips, or the flush. He might raise with a boat, but otherwise, I think trips just calls the turn, and hopes to boat up on the river, or that we check back on a brick, or that we bet small, so he can call without losing his whole stack.

There's always a chance he spazzes and jams trips when we bet small, and we have to figure out if he's jamming a boat, but that's poker. I would think boats are going to just flat call at least some of the time, to donk or check-raise river. Like, if we bet $30-$35, and he jams for $210, he's got to be at least a little worried we might fold. If he's going to raise with a boat, I'd think he's raise a smaller size.

Lets say we bet $30-$35, and he raises us, but small, say, $100, leaving himself $110 behind. There'll be $210-$215 in the pot, and we'll have to call off another $70-$75. At that point, I dunno. This might come down to our reads on V, trying to figure out if he's more likely to be milking us when he has a boat, or hedging by betting small for protection, mostly hoping we only call, or just fold.

Kind of reminds me of a hand I played last week - I raised pre from the BTN with AsTc. V called from the BB. V x/r'd my flop c-bet of 1/2 pot on Ah9s8s, but took a somewhat small sizing, less than 4x. I've played with this V before, and seen him take some unorthodox lines, such that I thought he'd be more likely to donk bet 2P or a set on this board, not check-raise.

I had TPGK with a blocker to the NFD and the NSD, and a BDFD/BDSD of my own, and thought he was likely tilted from losing a big pot right before this hand, so I couldn't fold. The turn paired the 9, and he barreled, but down-bet slightly, only leaving himself a 40% PSB behind.

His line didn't make a ton of sense for a flopped set or 2P that turned a boat. But it didn't NOT make sense for a boat, either. I could see him taking this line with A8 that got counterfeited on the turn, or a combo draw, or just a worse TP that was protecting against a flush draw, or even possibly a better TP that was slow-played instead of 3B pre.

I didn't know what to make of it. I just realized that if I called the turn, I'd be getting around 3.5 to 1 on a call if he jammed river, and probably couldn't fold. I didn't see the point in jamming, because there was a chance he might give up and check, or go for a check-raise, and I could just check back, or bet for value if I somehow boated up with a miracle ace from space.

He ended up jamming river on a brick. I called. He said he was bluffing on the flop and got there on the turn, before rolling over Kd9d. My read was right. He was definitely tilted making that play on the flop, and just got lucky on the turn. I think he knew his line didn't make much sense, which is why he could take it for value, knowing I'd have to pay him off.

I could put him on a boat for value, and a lot of worse hands I beat. I could not put him on turned trips, second kicker, in a million years. But once I called the flop, the only way for me to get away from my hand would be if he jammed turn. Once he down-bets, giving me a price, I was never getting away.

It's hard to figure out what to do in spots like this, where the SPR drops off rapidly, the value ranges are super-narrow, and the bluffs hard to find. I think at these shallow SPR's, we're just not getting away from strong-but-possibly-second-best-hands.

Don't know if any of that helps. Hopefully it does.