Playing 3/5-500 spread limit holdem at Casino Arizona last weekend ran into a hand I think I maybe should have played differently and could have lost a lot less on.

To set it up I have been playing about 12 hours at this time, have a fairly aggressive image and am down maybe $200 for the session at this time with a stack of approximately $1400 in front of me. Have been straddling every hand for the night and been up and down all night with a few significant hands. It is around 11:00 in the morning and the weekend regulars have started showing up to play in the game. The Villain in this hand is definitely a regular and is giving me a lot more respect than I deserve in some hands based on my image. Villain has a stack of approximately $1150.

I am UTG and straddle (as I have been doing all night), action folds around to the button (Villain) and he makes it $35 to go. SB calls, BB folds, I look down at JJ and decide to pop it to $150. Button calls, SB folds. Flop comes TJQ. My initial range for the villain pre flop after my 3bet is AKo maybe tens, but leaning towards AKo. Don't really think he's going to cold call with a pair stronger than JJ in this position.

On the flop I think about checking to see what action he makes, but I really don't like checking, giving him a free card and seeing a K, A, or 9 peeling off on the turn and just being completely froze. I decide to lead for $250 and he quickly raises to $750, the max raise. He only has $250 behind, so here my only decision is fold or shove and hope he has tens, maybe KQ or some random straight draw.

I decide to throw up, shove, even though I think he has AK a huge majority of the time. Villain calls, turn river blank blank, villain wins $2200 pot. I think a lot of people would just say cooler here, but I think I really misplayed this hand. On the flop I think I should go with my read check to him, let him bet, then smooth call his flop and turn bets, when the board doesn't pair, muck the river??? Not sure, any advice on this hand would be great, really bothering me.

You're looking at the wrong place to see if you could have saved money. It is pf. When you 3bet to 150, you said you wanted to play for stacks. If you wanted to save money, that was the point to do so.

On the flop, there's $800 in the pot and essentially you're having to spend $1000 to win $1550. Given his range, easy call.

His pf calling range is 99-JJ, AQ, AK. I think you can bet/fold $175 on the flop. AQ calls, 99 might. TT sometimes calls sometimes raises. AK raises. If you think he raises 99 and AQ then this doesn't work, but if you think he mostly only raises straights then the line is fine. Even if he always raises TT and AK, there are 3 combos of TT but 16 of AK....

depends what you think of villain, does he 4bet AK and QQ, what your perceived range, is there a chance he puts you on pair + gut shot, and finally how wide is he calling pre, does he call KQ i know alot of ppl call KQ vs straddler here he is getting almost 2/1

I agree with Venice. If you are looking to keep the pot small, pre-flop is where you should always start. Specially in this spot, since you will be out of position the rest of the hand AND you already have the straddle in which cuts the effective stacks in half. Once you 3-bet that hand oop and get raised on that flop you have to go with it. It would actually be a mistake to fold here given the equity you have. IF he turned his hand up you would HAVE TO CALL!! You can do all the math yourself but you're going all-in for roughly 750 at that point to win about over 1650 after he has called the rest of his stack that's about 2.2 to won which means you only need to have about 30% equity to profitably call here. If he is only calling with 10's or better and ak and giving you as much respect as you stated, I would rather reraise any 2 napkins in this spot over the 2 jacks as it is surely at the bottom of your range as far as the villian thinks and would allow him to play his hands perfectly in this spot with position the rest of the hand.

Side note: One thing you could do if you REALLY had a read is lead small here, bet maybe smaller then the 3bet(you have to keep this sort of play consistent with the times you are looking to actually induce a raise) bet maybe 120-160. His stack size however doesn't allow this play because if you bet 150 you'll still be getting way over 1.5 to 1 which is still a clear all in to me. Now if he had you covered and effective stacks were lets say anywhere over 1500 this would be a helpful play. You could probably profitable find a fold here getting right at or less then 1.5 to 1. That's knowing his hand and not factoring in the few percentage of times he would play other hands this way.

If the pot ends up as $2200, then he only had about 1080 and not 1150.

Assuming this is correct and assuming he has to have exactly AK or TT and will play all AK and TT the same way here, then you have 44% equity and risking about 900 of the 2200 pot. You only need 42.5% equity in this spot to get it all in with those numbers.

If you had the pot wrong and not his starting stack, you are risking 1000 to win 2335 which still needs only 43% equity to get it all in.

You are priced in after the flop no matter what you do.

Assuming the stated final pot size is correct and he shoves if you bet out $175, then you will have to call $755 into $2200. This is a call even if he flips his hand up and shows you AK (though barely). If the stated stack sizes are correct and the final pot is actually larger, then it would barely be a fold, but add in him having TT any amount and you're back to it being a call.

Agree.