Friday night in a 2/3 game. Effective stacks $200. Hero is CO. Villain is an unknown who has been at the table for only a couple of orbits. Had bought in for $100 and then doubled up against a maniac with a pocket pair against a draw.

Hero looks down to KK

Preflop: Three limps to Hero. Hero pops it to $25. Fold, fold. BB calls. Other limpers fold. Pot is $62 less $5 drop or $57. With this call, I put Villain on a range of weak A or a PP.

Flop: A85
BB checks
Hero bets $25.00
BB calls $25.00
Pot is $108.00

What does this c/c line mean? Am I correct in thinking either a flush draw or weak Ace? I know that preflop, my PSR is less than 4 which should make for a pretty easy shove, but I am not a big fan of needlessly burning money.

My next move? Is it worth taking a stab and repping something like a strong A here (which probably means another bullet with a PSB)? Against an unknown, is it better to gather more information and choosing a better spot?

its unlikely villain folds an A here, especially given its a 3bet pot. I would try to get to showdown here. We have a decent hand, and villain might have something like 89/78 suited or a pair of Ts or something (People live sometimes limp these hands). If turn goes c/c and villain bets river, I'm gonna lead on the side of folding, since we only beat a bluff (I don't think he value bets worse than an A, and if flush gets there, it puts more value hands in his range).

Thanks prof.

Villain checked turn. Went with my gut and checked back. River was 2. BB shoved. Hero folded.

If you think his range is weak aces and PPs, why c-bet the flop?

I'm in position with a hand that has some value - maybe not a lot post flop, but, IMHO, enough to still put a c-bet out there. If I don't bet, then the guy's next move on the turn will most likely be to lead into me and almost force me to lay down what might be the best hand.

Looking back now, I realize one mistake I made was not betting enough on the flop. I gave him odds to call on his flush draw.

The point is, you've giving villain a fairly polarized range so you're way ahead/way behind. Assuming he never folds ace-rag to a cbet and you don't want to turn KK into a bluff, there's not a strong reason to cbet other than range balancing / metagame.

If you're not worried about many draws, what's wrong with checking behind the flop and calling the turn (or betting if checked to you?)

When you cbet, he folds a lot of weak PPs that you could get value from on the turn, and he calls with all his aces.

Thank you for the explanation jean. Hmm. Now you have me thinking.....

+1