V: best player at the table. Very aggro but smart. He has 500 to start and is on my direct right

h: v probably thinks I’m okay. I should have a weak image at times but overall looks capable of folding but TAG overall

OTTH:

MP opens to 15 v makes it 50 OTB

I make it 200 in SB folds back to v he calls

415 flop is As8s5d

I bet 50 he raises to 200 with 100 back

Ugh..

Check flop. Live players dont look at 1/4 pot bets as GTO size. They look at it as weakness. You have a bluff catcher. Im folding to 95% of live players but maybe he is making a move sensing weakness

when you guys are all in you'd have to risk 250 to win 1015. Because of stack size I'll pay to see his Queens or AQ. If you guys were deeper you could fold or call if you have the K of spades.

Fold. But look at your bet sizing. I think PF 4-bet is too big (make it $120 instead--rule of thumb to make 4-bets 2.25x size of 3-bet to get same results. You're not super deep so are still on track to play for stacks), and flop bet is too small (make it $100 instead--still small, but not "WTF" small).

But either way: bet + get raised on flop = buh-bye

Unlikely that anybody turns his JJ/QQ into a bluff here. Also you block AK really hard. Also it seems to me that raising a ln A here does not make a lot of sense. Its a strange spot to be in and seems like a spot where meta game comes into Play. He probably knows that you Just 4 bet AK/QQ+. Vs this range AK has the Most Combos and he should Not really bluff this. Unless he really reads your bet as weak, but I would not think a good player would do that. So I'd just give it to him this time.

The key decison in my mind is preflop. To be at least able to bluff this and give V some Rope just 4bet 2,5x. Alternative might be a shove to make it look like AK and induce callst by 99+.

4bet size too big given stack depths, villain's range very strong due to bet size, fold now, because he's underbluffing spot.

Oh and i just realized that you bet 50 into 415. That somewhat changes things, because that sizing is awful and screams weakness. Another reason to 4bet less pre.

Having said that, as played bet 105 or 110 which is more standard.

Smaller preflop raise sets up easy bet-bet for stacks on non-A flops and more room to fold on A flops.

I don't see a reason to bet 1/8 pot unless you were trying to induce a spaz raise

Betting more puts you further in the blender against a raise.

Not too worried about draws, so I'd check

As others mentioned before your bet sizing is way off. What was your reason behind the sizing you chose?

Tiny c-bet on flop definitely opens the door for V to blow you of your hand with almost any 2 cards.

I think your pre flop size could be better but its not terrible. you got it heads up so it for sure accomplished something positive. you bet too small on the flop, I would say minimum bet 150-180. I would say the A on the flop is a good thing since it decreases the combos of AA, AK, AQ available to opponent and you help block AK. So you'd have to put him on a specific hand. He has JJ, call partner! Or if you put him on a big hand fold. But you are getting great odds to just get it all in. If I was in grind mode I could find a fold and add on etc. But if I was in shark/gamble mode I would call and say "show me your jacks" and be shown a set of 8 hahah. In game reads are important.

Yea echoing what others have said here. Pre you have to go for a smaller raise or jam. I hate sizing smaller pre but $125 feels about right all things considered. It’s 1/4 of your stack but frankly anything bigger you’re damn near pot committed on any flop or in just a horrible position (as reflected here).

As an aside to the rest of the players here, what would thoughts be on check jamming flop should V bet. Repping AK. It almost feels suicidal but I think against a thinking player they may read this as AK for sure (especially since we block that) and consider a fold with an A….. am I dreaming thinking that’s possible?

So realistically I understand what people are saying about smaller pre but being results oriented we got V to call 200 pre when we have the 2nd best hand in poker…

True but now you take away your capacity to navigate future streets.

Pot on flop is 420 you forgot the BB.

Assuming we are getting it in on turn anyway , we have to call 250 to win 1020. Which means we only have to be good less then 25% of the time.

Which means we can’t fold pretty much ever after making a tiny little scared bet that just screams please raise me. We put ourselves in this awkward spot by our bet sizing and I think now we just have to call. We should have at least 25% vs V’s range.

If I was v, I would snap fold QQ/AK to your pre sizing. All you've done is narrow down his range so much he only has hands that beat you. I honestly think his most likely holding is AA because it's the only thing that makes sense pre.

Also V: calls a 4bet to 200 with 300 behind.

This doesn't compute, at least not in my book.

Results?

Once in a while you’ll find a person creative enough to turn QQ into a bluff here, but those players are rare. This is almost always AK, and most of the rest of the time it’s AA. Fold.

I also agree the preflop sizing should be much smaller. $120 is fine. You don’t want to go much above $150 given stack sizes.

AP, I don’t have problem with the flop sizing though, as long as you are balancing it with AK taking the same sizing, it seems fine. It is very hard for you or villain to have a flush draw given preflop, so this should be treated as a dry/static board. 1/8 pot bet should be fine given the low SPR

So we folded (and apologized to the table for taking so long ~1 min in the tank)

He said wow I didn’t think u would fold with so much money in there.

He said he had AQ (could be true/ v shouldn’t have a reason to lie. Not a reg and he maybe plays once every few months)