5/T/20 straddle game. ~2425 eff.
Have played with V in earlier sessions.
Maybe late 30s white guy with buzzed hair.
Kind of chubby.
Friendly enough.
Kind of laggy and have seen some calling station behavior and bluffs on later streets. But not what I would classify as frequently.

CO raises to 80.
Folds to Me in BB who calls with JcJh.
Straddle raises to 225.
CO calls.
Hero calls.
Flop (~675) 6s 4s 2d

I check.
V bets 375.
CO folds.
I think for a minute then raise to 800.
V goes all in for 2200 total.
1400 more for me to call.
What do?

What would you do on the flop if you think my raise to 800 was horrendous.
Thanks all.

Hard to think that V is spazzing with TT here. It always seems unlikely that someone will get AA or KK in the straddle but it happens and it smells like this is one of those times.
Flat calling $80 preflop against a raise from the cutoff seems a little passive. Wouldn't have minded being the three bettor there, and potentially folding to a four bet from the straddle.
As played, you've under repped JJ but I don't think your hand is good. I think the worst hands he can have here would be AKss, AQss, maybe AJss, ATss, or AA, Kk, QQ.
Preflop, you played it passive, and we're set mining. OTF, you didn't hit the set. Check fold.

One thing to consider with your check raise is that it was basically a min raise. When you check raise the min, some players feel shamed, and obligated to continue. Sometimes, they call, sometimes, they get stubborn and ship it. I don't know if that's a factor here or not. But a bigger check raise can allow an opponent to fold and save face with the rest of the table.

I'm not saying this makes sense. We all know ego shouldn't be a part of the game. But if you min check raise someone, they might feel embarrassed and they might feel compelled to continue. Shame and embarrassment are factors in the game. Pop psych sessions aside, I don't know if that's a factor with this guy. But, people don't want to feel stupid, they don't want to be embarrassed in public. If you check raise more, you kind of give him permission to fold. When you check raise the min, you might shame a rec player into making a move on you.

This thinking may not apply here. But it's something I think about when I'm making a move. If I check raise, and if I'd rather my opponent fold (maybe I'm making a play, maybe I don't want the variance, maybe I'd rather they give up whatever equity they may have in the hand), I size it big enough to 'give them permission' to fold.

Might sound silly. I dunno. Anyone else think about this concept?

This is hard to evaluate because of hero's fairly passive line preflop and then near minimum raise on the flop. The preflop line disguises hero's strength a bit but that also means villain may be putting hero on a worse hand then hero actually has. The small flop raise could be all kinds of hands but it is usually representing great strength in a situation where it's hard for hero to have a big hand. Villain may think hero is on a spade draw or has a small over pair. Villain could also have those hand, but has a much wider range that includes big pairs, sets, possibly even straights.

This is a situation where you really need to tell us what villain's range is after the small flop bet. Could he have a weak hand trying to shut out draws? Could he have a draw himself? Does he always have a big pair+ given the action?

This is a classic mistake of changing strategy in the middle of a hand. Pf, you decided to play your hand as a small pair. On the flop, you decided to play it as a big pair. Choose one and play that way to avoid getting in these situations. If you played it like a small pair, you would have considered that you missed the flop and would have never raised. If you played it like a big pair, you would have bet the flop, not checked.

As played, you have to be good 28% of the time. If he can do this with TT or a FD, then call. If he can't, then fold. You've played him several times already. If you don't know this, you should look at moving down in stakes.

I think you butchered your hand when you decided to raise the flop. I'd 3bet Pre flop or just check / call.

As played you pretty much priced yourself in to call. He could have QQ+ but also TT or AKs or just air.

Since he straddled he probably likes to gamble so his range should be wider than AA and KK.


I think the raise to $800 is really bad BTW and really does nothing but bloat the pot since you still don't even know where you are at and put in a huge raise