2/5, 6-handed

Villain in BB has about $500 and is super fishy, will call light and sometimes jam light with weak top pairs on drawy boards, or with draws himself
Villain in CO (about $650) is tight and competent, haven't seen him get out of line or do much if any light 3-betting

Hero is in HJ and covers both, solid tight image but still been pretty active

THE HAND:

Hero opens to 20 with Ac9c in HJ, CO raises to 60, BB cold calls, Hero decided with the extra money from the fish in the pot we can call.

Flop (180): Qc Qd Js

Checks around.

Turn (180): 7c
BB bets 35, Hero Calls, CO Calls

River (285): 3c
Great, we hit our flush.

BB bets 45, Hero... ?

Hero raises to 275 planning to call if BB shoves and fold if CO shoves, despite the good odds we'll be getting. JJ (and one combo of QQ) are definitely in CO's range, and I don't think he's often if ever shoving AK/KK/TT etc.

CO does indeed shove for 500 total, but then BB calls for a little less

Now hero has to call 225 in a pot of about 1500.


Can we still fold this? Normally the call from the BB would make it more likely we're beat, but in this case the BB could well have any Q and any flush; it's basically just dead money in the pot. I'm quite certain the CO is showing us JJ just about always, but we need to be right only 13% of the time. I'm putting him on a tight range, but might he ever show up with KcJc / KcTc ? I was gonna say Jc9c Tc9c but we have the 9c so I guess it's probably just those two combos.
It's just a gross spot; I knew the CO would sometimes have JJ here and we'd hate having to fold, but it would be disaster to fail to extract the maximum from BB just because we're afraid CO will shove over us. I did not consider that CO might shove and BB then call.

Your river raise is good, we need to go for max value against BB. I don’t think co has many flushes and might not jam them anyways. It’s a great price, I don’t blame you for calling but I’m having a hard time finding any hands we beat besides kamikaze bluffs. We also have to beat BB which is less concerning but still could be a boat. I think we should fold.

This seems like a fold, unless you assume "tight and competent player" decided to choose this moment to become a spazzy button-clicker.

I think it's a clear fold preflop. Even if the fish had been the one to 3bet, you generally don't profit from fish by deviating so far from correct play preflop. I struggle with this myself but the mantra i repeat is don't play like a fish to beat the fish.

Ugh. Such a great price, but it is hard to believe that CO is ever bluffing here unless you spazz out sometimes. It seems like a clear fold, but it is tough to make.