$1/2 full ring game

Villain. 30 y/o white guy. Much better overall than the general population. Plays a loose, aggressive style (though maybe not a true LAG). He's capable of c/r medium strength hands on any street. He's capable of bluff-raising the river. He'll put people all-in if he thinks they're weak. He can also make big laydowns. PFR~35%, close to 80% from the button.
He played a hand with hero where hero Opened AJs from EP to $10. V 3-bet from the SB to $30. Hero called. V bet $15 on an AJ9ss flop and folded to a raise.

Hero ($300) - Villain covers. Tight to nittish image.

OTTH:
UTG (lots of pre-flop raises) raises to $10
V calls from EP
Hero 3-bets to $45 with AsQs
Only V calls

Flop:
$95
9s8c4h
V checks
Hero bets $40
V calls

Turn
$175
6s giving us the FD.
V checks

Hero?

check flop

as played check turn

i dont think you have any FE. this board hits a cold caller's range and misses yours. sucks to whiff but sometimes caution is better than valor.

also fwiw i dont like your flop raise in the first hand with AJs, you have the Ax blocker so you arent targeting much, plus you are in position, just call and let villain barrel.

Spr a little over 1 I jam turn. Flop decision seems close.

Pre: Looks good.

Flop: We won't be betting this flop often. When we do bet, we want to bet bigger, like $75. The in-between size leaves us in a weird spot.

Turn: We can take our free card and give up if we miss or ship it all in with likely 30% equity. However, I doubt V will fold a pair. This decision depends on if you like to gamble and brought multiple bullets or if you're trying to conserve. Personally, I would ship it. If you're the conservation type then the flop is an easy check.

Da kind of unicorn player is this? You can’t even describe “great” players like this in 5/10 and this is someone in 1/2? lol…

You’re basically prefacing the HH with the notion that this player is capable of being perfectly balanced and is a very good hand reader.

If this player exists in your game, you should either run away screaming or hide underneath the table in a fetal position. There is no way you have a chance against him.

with 35% pfr in a full ring game he's probably just an overly aggro whale that is running hot

Check the flop. This is a great board for him, and the last thing we want is to get check/raised. If you are going to bet, go bigger as if you are protecting or getting value from your over pair.

As played, I check turn and hope for an A, Q, or club. I just don't think betting accomplishes much. Heck, A high might be good.

I really don't understand posters who disagree with or just mock what OP writes and make comments that don't contribute to the hand. This is strategy. There are plenty of places in these forums for you guys to post non-strategy, useless drivel.

He is a unique player.

I was just describing his game. Most of his plays were failing . His big lay down was made against an inferior hand. His c/r bluff on the river was called by a full house.

He's a very thoughtful player whose chip stack was on a roller coaster.

I don't know what percentage edge the best player in the world has against me, but it's not enough to scare me in a $1/2 game.

Don't understand what? How exactly can you exploit a player who's balanced and is a good hand reader?

That's how villain is described.

No such player exist in LLSNL. Therefore this HH is already tainted with a ridiculous read. Whatever effort put in the discussion is just moot. LLSNL is about exploiting unbalanced tendencies and clearly either this player is a unicorn, or this is just plain bad read.

Villain description is an accurate based on observed villain play. It's not some imaginary character I created. I can post villain hand histories that I observed. I've never had a villain description questioned before.

I think the New Hampshire $1/2 games have significantly better players than Texas, Florida, New Orleans, etc. I play with a lot of very good players. There are two college kids who sometimes play the $1/2 who try to play as close to GTO as possible (obviously not optimal, but an interesting pursuit). You wouldn't think they'd play $1/2 either. It's interesting to listen to them talk about hands.

Another guy I play with has Aspergers, works in robotics, has a sky-high IQ, and plays brilliant poker. He plays $1/2 for the social aspect. People play poker for different reasons.

I can't believe you are unaware that there are some excellent $1/2 players. It's not like they're super common, but they're far from unicorns. There's so many good training videos out these days. People can get good pretty fast.

LOL. This is so uncalled for. OP gave his description, either go with it or don't. You have no idea who he's playing against. Give a strategy answer or stop posting in this forum.

+1.

Tanqueray, I generally like your comments. Not sure if you got out on the wrong side of the bed today, but they feel a bit vitriolic.