2/100 SL Game on a Sunday Afternoon. This is the "big game" in town, and is a pretty solid lineup of players. I'm a moderate winner in this game, but certainly am not breaking the bank.

I hadn't played with the villain in this hand before two weeks ago, but we've played quite a bit since then. He's a solid very aggressive player. He'll raise at any time from any position with any cards, and is capable of anything at any time. A couple examples:

Example 1: We had a hand last week where he straddled, I raised in LP, and he called with 63o. He check-called a flop bet with a gutshot, hit it on the turn, then check-raised me on both the turn and river. (I paid him off with my overpair, thinking his line made no sense. And perhaps I should have checked behind on the river...)

Example 2: Probably 15 minutes before this hand, he limped in early position, then reraised after an MP raise and three callers. I don't remember how the action went, but he ended up taking down a nice pot with K6s.

These seem pretty lagtardish, but he seems to make the right play at the right time, and is overall very difficult to play against and is a solid winner.

He probably views me as pretty solid, but that I probably call a bit too much on the river. He knows I'll open up my game in late position, and can open and three-bet light in position. He also commented that he's seen that I've been running bad lately (which I have). On to the hand...

Hero ($550) in CO with KK
Villain (covers) is UTG+1

UTG straddle to $4. Villain calls $4. One other EP caller. Hero raises to $22. Folds back to Villain who raises to $102. EP folds. Hero raises to $202. Villain ponders and calls. (NOTE: Each street has a maximum bet and three raises, so villain is not able to reraise me. He can only call or fold.)

Flop: A Q 4
Villain checks. Hero checks.

Turn: 2
Villain checks. Hero checks.

River: T
Villain bets $100. Hero calls.

Man I chickened out. Even though I saw villain limp-reraise trash earlier, I felt he would have folded preflop to my reraise with his garbage, so he definitely has a hand. I felt I was WA/WB, so I checked behind on the flop. Perhaps the pot was already too big to go for a pot-control line?

On the turn, I was prepared to bet until I realized I had the NFD. Thinking back, I still should have bet. I'm either way ahead, or I have 8 outs to the nuts. That was a bad check behind there, I think...

On the river, he has to know that I have KK or JJ here. Getting 5:1, I don't see how I can fold. I figure this is a pretty easy call, but I guess I need validation.

Thoughts on all streets appreciated.

It does seem like villain has a real hand here because he 3bet you without any callers in between, in other words, it was not a squeeze spot.

You are WA/WB on the flop. I think a check is right. Pot control does not really apply in this format, because the max bet is 100. The pot will not increase exponentially like it would if someone was betting pot on each street.

Should having the nfd on the turn make you more or less inclined to bet? I think more, because you aren't afraid of being raised. If you had red KK, you would hate to see a 4th spade, but you can't protect or get value much by betting 100 into 410, and you would hate to get check raised. You give up about 1/5 of the pot by checking, but I think that is less than you would lose by betting.

That being said, if we bet the turn, we are never getting better to fold. Are we getting worse to call? Maybe he can call with KQ/QJ but it seems unlikely that he plays them that way pre. A queen has 5 outs, JT has 4, an underpair has 2. Seems like WA/WB again, so I would check.

The river could have made TT or KJ, but couldn't really have helped him otherwise. It's true that your hand is faceup, but you are at the very top of your range here (except for maybe TT if you 4bet it pre). It's hard to say what his 3bet/calling range is pre, especially since I have no experience with this spread limit format, but it's probably very value heavy. He is probably betting all of his value hands without a spade on the turn though, so that takes out of his value range on the river. He is getting great odds to bluff here though.

It's a tough spot so I probably just go with game theory. He's betting 100 into 400, he only needs you to fold 20% of the time. Assuming your range on the river is KK/JJ only, then you should call with KK all the time and JJ 60% of the time. People don't bluff as much as game theory dictates though, so I probably call with KK 70-100% of the time here. I expect to lose a lot though.

In spread limit there is no way he is checking an Ace or set twice so I bet for sure on the turn once checked to again. You likely have the best hand w the nut flush as back up.

My guess is he showed up w 10/10, hence the thread.