V1 is a reg in his 40s. Slight losing player for sure. Lost with QQ against AA who played sneaky and flatted his 3 bet. I’ve seen him get a bit splashy at times pre, but not crazy.

V1 has $500
Hero has $375 and a tight image.

I open UTG with AQs
4 callers to V1 in CO who makes it $125
Folds to hero, hero?

You didn't include the original raise size, guessing it was to $10 or so?

A 12.5x size 3bet is ludicrously big, even more so when the 3bettor is in position. You do not need to defend against a raise this big with anything but the nuts. Just fold AQs here with so little money already invested and don't think twice about it. Maybe could do something different if you were incredibly deep with this player (you're not) or if he was a complete maniac (he's not).

I feel like weaker players make these sorts of massive raises with hands like AK and JJ -- premiums that are somewhat difficult to play post-flop. I've seen people do it with AA too, as dumb as that seems. Just let him have it.

I don’t think he’s nutted but this is AK alot, fold it.

Initial raise was $25. Normal for this table tbh. Lots of guys at the table sitting 1.5-5k deep. Crazy action table and match the stack.

So it's really playing like a 2/5 game, which a lot of 1/3 games do in the right room.

I always 'first' think that the larger the raise the weaker the holding, but this is only a 'pot' sized raise. The next question is whether or not he is aware of OP's stack or even his own stack depth and how it will affect the next decisions. What did he 3-bet to in the QQ/AA hand? Is this 'out of pattern'? Are you at the bottom of your perceived UTG range or does V even care at this point within the tilt/recovery range?

This is only a 3-unit shove at this point, which 'can' include AQs IMO. (It would in a tournament) It really makes no sense to flat unless you think that others will come along and help out your implied odds of hitting the Flop .. but then you'll have no FE, which may be good or bad for you depending on the runout.

See how things change .. Most would never even consider a 75bb shove with AQs, but the open makes it only 14bb/units and then the 3bet makes it only 3 units.

If you follow 'any' of the YouTubers vlogs this is an 'easy' shove/call off (except for maybe Johnnie Vibes). If your bankroll can handle it, then this is the 'new' world of cash game thinking. Pure flip here against 22-JJ IMO and if you can include some KQ/JTs/AJ/ATs to offset the AA-QQ coolers then even more so a flip. Your choice .. GL

This changes things a lot
How aware is vilain of your tight image? Because a utg raise from you should be perceived as fairly strong so he shouldn’t really be 3betting you light unless he is clueless.

Also these guys are raising to 25$ because they’re 1k bbs deep, you only have 125bbs , you should raise a normal 10-15$

Why don't you think he's nutted? The only other hand he's been seen 3betting with was QQ.

I assumed op raised 10-15$ and a huge 3bet coming from vilain which is usually AK or QQ, JJ

I didnt see op raised 25$ so yeah vilain could 100% be nutted my bad

I typically limp/evaluate preflop in EP.

As played, I probably fold. There's decent dead money, but we're a tight player opening UTG and (if I'm reading things right) it is unlikely this guy is getting out-of-line with 3bets. I'd be jamming with AK, but having AQ run into AK is just so crippling.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Yeah, the point is when we don't know we should assume he's nutted until we have info or reads on him that he likes to squeeze light, but usually in a 1/3 game unknowns who are middle aged with a $500 stack 3betting to 125 should be given a nutted range as a default right from the get go.

Oh, got it. That changes things. I agree with Answer20 that this is a jam or fold spot for you at this stack depth. So the question becomes - what does villain's range look like in this spot? You are not in great shape against TT+ AQ+ and some live players don't even 3bet that wide. Do you think he ever has bluffs or worse ace highs here? There is a ton of dead money in the pot and this is an incredible squeeze spot for villain. If you think he is 3betting AJ or like KQs or something like that ever, this could be a good shove spot. Even if you get it in in a flip, there is so much dead money that it's great for you. If Villain is observant though, he will know you are tighter, UTG, and (relatively) short, so he may not be squeezing light here.

I don't think folding can ever be that bad here, but with the big open, I don't mind a jam either.

I think this comes down to what “splashy” means PF. I think we all can agree this is a fold or shove situation. If you’ve seen him squeeze before with garbage or fold his 3-bet to a shove then I like shoving more, but if he’s more likely to 3-bet tightly and only RFI more aggressively, I lean fold.

I don't think the guy's putting in a quarter of his stack only to fold to a raise, and if we jam it likely gets heads up vs his AA, KK, QQ, TT or AK. Of course this is assuming we have little or no reads. At best we're flipping with the bottom of his range.