1/3 - Seattle area table full of regs, ranging from competently if predictably tight to dangerously aggressive.

Hero ($200) HJ - Plays venue every week or so but not as often as the others at the table. Been card dead, but I'm fairly tight anyway. I've been talking constantly to my friend on my left. Table surely views me as tight. I've made a few moves but haven't been caught.

Villain 1 ($300) Early - Winning young LAG. Been at table a couple hours.

Villain 2 ($180) Button - 30ish white guy. Extreme LAG but skilled. I've played him before at a 3/5 table and remember him well. He probably doesn't remember me. He has not gotten out of hand yet, but he hasn't been at the table more than 40 minutes.

Villain 1 limps from early. Hero looks down from HJ and sees 78 and raises to $12, consistent with other preflop raises. Villain 2 calls from the button. Blinds fold. V1 calls.

Flop - Q83
(pot $37)

V1 checks. Hero???

Bet/fold $22

agree. barrell any 8, 7 or club

Agree with b/f given description of yourself and villains.
If you were also laggin it up I'd be tempted to check back I guess

Edit: forget my post thought you were button

Hero bets 20. V2 calls. V1 folds.

Turn - Q

Hero???

Not a good card to see. I think we have to c/f. He can't have many draws on this board otf (maybe 9/10 for a gutshot or something), leaving mostly queens and a few decent 8's (which have you beat anyway) and ott, betting is just turning our hand into a bluff and c/c against an extreme skilled lag is going to result in such a tough river decision, especially as your oop. If you were in position, you could check it through, but oop in this situation, i believe its a fold.

Note that villain is somewhat loose but extremely aggressive. My impression is that he plays several times per week at the 1/3 and 3/5 levels depending on tables. He probably has no read on hero except for the fact that he is playing relatively tight. He probably also thinks hero has no read on him.

Does anyone think I am good here? I am first to act on the turn. What would you do?

Well I don't like a bet here as you won't be protecting from draws other than J10 or 910 for a gutter and you're not getting better to fold after the 2nd queen rolls off. His flatting range is probably something like Qx, 8x, 3x, mid pockets, J10, 910. I think villain fires all of that range if you check and your hand will be ahead of a decent amount of that range so I would check/call and reevaluate river.

If you're comfortable doing so, I wouldn't start the hand with less than 100 BBs; it's going to be so difficult to get the right implied odds to call any raises (for example, even calling a typical $12-$15 open is too thin for setmining with only $200, IMO).

The last thing I want is a skilled LAG to my left (or skilled anyone, for that matter). Seat change please.

I'd probably rather overlimp in this spot and hope others come in the spot. Slightly later position or less chance of others coming along / calling a raise then I'm cooler with the raise. FWIW, a $12 raise at my 1/3 vs 1 limper guarantees a 5+ way pot, so obviously your table differs.

I bet 1/2 PSB on the flop. I guess we could just let the LAG bet our hand for us, but the board is probably going to get pretty gross to make calling down OOP comfortable.

On turn, this is a great card for floaty LAG to bluff with, so I probably go into check/calldown mode against him (to reasonable bets).

GcluelessNLnoobG

The table was not typical of a 1/3 game even in frugal Seattle - it was tougher and more aggressive than the 3/5 I was playing early in the evening. (That table had a Canadian tourist.) Opponents for the most part were observant, and I needed to keep my table image from getting so tight that I couldn't get action with my good hands. You ever follow this approach?

Turn - Q
(Pot $76)

Hero bets $40.

I saw this as the least expensive way to end the hand or get to the river against this villain. The FD is backdoor. Thoughts?

You shouldnt be thinking about "getting to the river". You should be thinking about what happens when I bet versus what happens when I check.

If you bet, you let your opponent play perfectly against you. He's going to fold out hands you are already ahead of and call/raise you with hands you're drawing dead to.

Turn - Q
(Pot $76)

Hero bets $40. Villain calls.

River - 4
(Pot $156)

Hero checks. Villain bets $70.

Hero??? How would your answer change if villain shoved for $110?

check turn fold river, wtf is he drawing with that you beat

Agreed with all of this.

My thought on flop was he was flatting me to take it away on the turn. This was based on my read of villain and how I thought villain read me. When he flatted my turn bet, I still thought so but was much less sure.

I just cant see him taking this line with a weaker hand. Your read otf was he was trying to take it away but then he flats again, I think if he was going to take it away, he would raise turn. With his flat ott it seems much more likely he has a value hand as their can't be too many bluffs in his range by the time we get to the river besides some bizzare ace high hand that he decided to float 2 streets with against someone who is perceived as tight. I guess if you have a very strong read in game this might be considered a call, but the more I look at it, the more I feel it's a fold.

Yea the dudes not floating you two streets to steal on the river so he has some kind of made hand for sure on the river. I think all pairs smaller than yours checks behind on river and anything better bets for value so river has to be a fold.

Hero bets $40. Villain calls.

River - 4
(Pot $156)

Hero checks. Villain bets $70. Hero calls.

Villain flips over AJo, and hero scoops up a $300 pot.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I have been playing that one over in my head and trying to figure out whether I played that well or just got lucky. (In poker, luck is the slim divide between genius and stupidity.)

I had a lot of confidence in my read, but I probably shouldn't get in the habit of doing things like that.

Yay another brag post. Congratzz dude.

Not sure what I think of in this hand, these spots are like guesswork and game feel. If you want to know the truth, your hand is really poorly played or really well played, not in between. Villain floating 2 times and betting river shows how good/crazy he really is. If I got to river I am c/calling turn and river bets, or c/folding turn, your pick. The last thing I am doing is c/calling turn and folding river though. Your line imo was second worst behind c/calling turn and c/folding river bet.

Well next time you should mention if it's a lagtard/maniac or a good LAG. There's a pretty big difference between the two and a good LAG will never float 2 streets to steal on the river unless the dude's Phil Ivey.

You both most likely are right. I was somewhat surprised to win the hand truth be told. Villain was not that loose but had a crazy level of aggression once in the hand, not a lagtard or even a typical LAG for that matter. I am certain villain did not start the hand intending to float two streets. He may have misread my weak betsizing.

You are probably right that my line was not the best one. Would your analysis change if my high conviction read was that villain viewed me as weak/tight? (I thought this came across in my descriptions, but I was a little bashful about spelling it out.)

I really believe you played this incorrectly even though you won. You definitely could have checked turn and called him down. As previous posters mentioned, this is how to play LAGs on dry boards because you have them putting money in whether or not they're good - when you bet, they usually only put money in when they're good.

By betting turn and checking river, you make it competely obvious you don't have a queen. Agree w/ Daniel - Phil Ivey might make this play because he has a read that his river check will indice a bluff AND he has a read that LAG does not have a queen. You are making this play because you have no idea what he has or what he thinks and you're hoping for the best. In this case, it worked out but over time you will lose money playing like this.

You have said villain was extreme LAG, floating two streets and then betting river isn't LAG its spewtard aggresive. Versus a loose and aggressive player this is a fold, but against a near maniac this is a call.