Hero - Breakeven session, neutral image, no showdowns so far
V - Winning session, loose passive in general - does not seem to ever raise bets post-flop, but bets frequently in raised pots IP when checked to

8 handed, 950 eff stacks

V limps in HJ, BTN and BB limp behind, Hero raises to 85 in straddle w/ K 10 expecting to take down the dead money most of the time. Wrong. V and BB call.

Flop (265) Q J 4

Hero bets 85. V calls. BB folds.

Coming out of straddle w/ marginal holding, I plan to barrel off when flopping this sort of equity when my image isn't bad, but conscious that this flop smashes Vs preflop calling range. Smaller sizing here and turn to set up better river SPR, but tbh no idea if this is optimal semi-bluff line vs a larger flop sizing w/ turn barrel and then give up vs V range if called 2x and don't hit.

Turn (435) Q J 4 6

Hero bets 175. V calls.

When he just calls here I'm having a hard time ranging him. He feels super capped not raising with all the draws out there, but I'm blocking a lot of draw combos he could be calling with. Possible he's staying passive with a monster like a set(44)/2pr(QJ) -- maybe he's just that bad. I'm thinking passive AQ pre (seems really bad) or a rare combo of KQ even though I'm blocking? Maybe the obvious is just A X I'm allowing in w/ small sizing.

River (785) Q J 4 6 Xx

Hero w/ 605 left.

Looking for (1) critique on my flop/turn sizing (2) what sort of range do you have V on after turn call (3) what are optimal river actions for various runouts (brick, fd flush, bd flush). Plan was to jam all 9s and As, even when fds hit because of spr, but that might be bad on a river vs V range... but I'm also thinking since I have K that I can rep flushes when I brick. Obv clean nutted rivs are shoves for max value, but without a good sense of range that's prob just wishful thinking too. At the same time I guess I'm just shoving every river, which is definitely just spray and praying. I put myself in no-man's land and feel dumb about it. I can just check option preflop but working to expand playing style to be more difficult and create future exploits for better win rate. A lot of contradictory thoughts here and trying to clean up my thinking. Appreciate you.

Hate to do this cuz it’s more or less what I post in 70% of LLSNL posts that I bother to post in but i just can’t see a world where squeezing pre is better than taking a flop in a limp pot out of straddle.
Especially vs a V described as loose passive. If it was suited, sure, but it isn’t. This runout is a good example of why it’s just going to get you in trouble more often than not.
All these postflop questions are irrelevant to answer imo because you shouldn’t have this in range to begin with.

Preflop is fine if you think a raise folds everybody or gets you heads up. If you expect multiple callers then just check and see the flop first. The straddle has already inflated the pot and inflating it further with a marginal hand isn't going to be that profitable.
Flop is ok.
Turn needs to either be bigger or a check. I prefer a check because the turn card really reduces the value of your draw.
On the river your really in an awkward spot and checking is best unless you catch a straight. You have not put any pressure on to villain yet so his range is very wide. You don't know where you stand against the range and you only have 4 clean outs. It's not a good situation to bluff because your mostly folding missed draws you beat anyways while getting called by his good hands. You need to be watching villain on the river so you can see his response if a spade or club hits. If you think he liked that card play it cautiously and check/evaluate. If he didn't like the card go ahead and shove, your stack makes a bet/fold nearly impossible.

I think the turn was the time to slow down here. The turn card really leaves you flying blind and lowers the value of your draw. The odds villain actually has a flush draw and hits is small but it's easier for you to catch a straight and not get paid because it was a club or spade.

I would pile the river - think he has a lot of spades given how the hand has played out, and what Qx does he really have? If he raises pre with KQ, raises somewhere with QJ/sets, what's the top of his range QTs? You also bet small OTT so you priced in a flush draw seeing a river. I just think there's a lot more flush draws that call that turn bet than Qx, and if his Qx is capped this is the perfect spot to pile it in.

Pre I would just limp behind. Your hand is too trash facing 3 limps. If you did want to iso, you went too big pre imo. 4x+1 straddle for each limper. I would go $70 with my iso range.

Flop is a weird spot multiway. I would be checking a ton of hands multiway personally. The only hands that make a lot of sense to be betting at higher frequency here would be JJ and QJ. I don't think you would iso 44. JJ unblocks top pair, and QJ is just a good hand beating all other Qx. QQ is the quintessential trapping hand. KK probably wants to bet more than AA, but both are behind QJ and 44 and are going to have a lot of uncomfortable turns and rivers to deal with where you will need strong hands to call with.

That said, I don't think your hand is a terrible one to bluff flop. It is just you will have so many potential bluffs. 16 combos of KT, 16 combos of AK, 16 combos of AT, maybe T9s.

Not sure if you have QJo here, but personally I am looking at QJs and JJ for 6 clear value combos on the flop. Heads up I would aim for 18 about bluff combos. Multiway I know it should be less, maybe 9?

KsTs, As5s, As4s, KcTc are probably the most obvious bluff candidates on the flop. KsTs is not really a bluff since it is an OESFD. Lower kicker nutflush draws are better, as is As4s which had a pair and blocks 44. KcTc is open ended + a straight draw. Then we have hands like AsTs, AcTc, KhTh, KdTd, AsKx, AxKs which all have very nice properties to mix betting and checking. AsKs I would probably lean a little more towards checking since you have the highest showdown value, 2 overs, and block the nut and 2nd nutflush draws.

At the point where we have KsTx in our range here, it honestly seems like our betting range has too many bluffs and/or we are going too thin for value. Which really goes back to preflop - we don't need to iso this hand here facing 3 limps.

If I were betting multiway on the flop, my default size would be small, like 1/4 pot. The random A highs without flush or straight potential are going to fold to a smaller bet anyways, and I want to maximize bluff fold equity on future streets by having more chips behind. Which again goes back to preflop, the iso was too large. If the pot was smaller then 1/4 pot would be a smaller bet, and you have more fold equity on turn and river.

Turn is just messed up for all the aforementioned reasons. Now that it is heads up, your value hands are probably not going to want to be taking a sizing smaller than half pot on the turn with 2 flush draws out there.

Let's say you went $70 pre. Flop is $212 and you go $50, V calls, BB folds. Now turn is $312 with $830 behind. Let's forget your exact hand and the river and just think about the lines you could take with value and bluffs. You have some decent options. You could go half pot turn, jam river for a little more than pot. You can go 75% turn, 75% river jam (probably the line that makes the most sense with a double flush draw turn). You can check jam the turn. If turn goes check, check, you have a lot of options on river. You can check call with some stronger made hands/traps and specifically with KsTs, KcTc, Ts9s, Tc9c thay would have equity to check call.

Anyways, as played, I think it is the wrong mentality when you say, "I guess I'm just shoving every river."

It's true, we need to be prepared to go 3 streets and empty the clip sometimes to get the job done. But we should bluff the most on earliest streets and give up most of thise bluffs on later streets. So we should be evaluating if this is a hand we want to empty the clip with or give up.

How many hands for value are you actually going to go three streets for, with the first street being multiway and then jam the river? Let's say it is QJs, JJ, and 50% of AA and KK for 12 combos total. Then if we are shoving river 77% pot, we only want about 5 bluffs here. KdTd, KhTh, AdTd, AhTh, are going to probably be the most obvious choices since they unblock flush draws and can block some Q and J in villain's call range. T9s also coild be in there depending on whether you iso that hand or limp behind.

Now, we would want to give up turn at some frequency with some of those hands, so I would probably next dip into KcTc, Ac5c, AcTc type hands. They have backdoor clubs, so they aren't ideal, but better than spades. AK without spades or clubs also can make some sense at some frequency.

The last hands I want to tripple barrel bluff are the ones containing spades as they represent most a lot of the hands that go call, call, fold. Your hand is a good bluff if spades get there, but not so much so when spades brick. As such, I would probably be giving up this hand as played on the river.

Also, I want to note that I think we can have plenty of offsuit hands that give us bluff potential on flush runouts. AKo and AQo alone can provide tons. Lower pocket pairs also make a lot of sense. By rivers, don't want to be overbluffing, so I think this is another argument for why we don't need KTo in our iso range. If spades did come in, you have up to 3 combos of AsKx and 3 combos of AxKs. That's likely all we will need.

i absolutely hate every decision made here but especially the post flop sizing.

i would have checked the straddle obvi. as played, the flop smashes your large PFR range, the SPR is 3.6x, and you've got an OESD + BDFD + overcard to the board. i would bet 200/265 and GII if raised. if one caller, you can ship turn for a PSB.

as played x/f river or bet small (again) like $275 and hope he folds a missed A-hi draw. a river jam makes zero sense for a value hand given the way you played flop and turn. i would never take your line with a value hand -- you're betting 30% on flop and 40% on turn on a soaking wet board multiway.

there are 21 combos of AA/KK/QQ/JJ/QJs.

AA/KK is never a check on this flop at this SPR 3-way.