Caesars Palace $1-$3

Hero BB with AhAd and $400 behind
V is MP with $500 behind

Folds to V who limps.
Folds to H who makes it $14
V calls $14.

Flop 6c 7h 9h
H bets $20, V calls $20

Turn As
H bets $45, V calls $45

River 3c
H checks, V bets $180
H???

Shove. I think you are up against sets of 6s, 7s and 9s way more often then a made flopped straight. But with no reads on V, easy shove IMO.

why did we check the river?

AP, at worst at least call, probably the better play is to shove.

My thinking was I'd get more value from checking given V's range. I can't think of any hands V can hold here where he is both calling a bet from H OTR but isn't leading with his own bet OTR if H checks. However, there are hands that V is going to BET OTR if checked to that he will otherwise FOLD to if bet to. Thus, checking seems higher EV than betting.

Demonstration:

Situations where H is indifferent to betting vs checking river:

V has a straight - probable outcomes:
H bets OTR, V calls/raises
H checks OTR, V leads out

V has a lower set - probable outcomes:
H bets OTR, V calls/raises
H checks OTR, V leads out

Situations where H has MORE potential value from checking river vs betting:

V has pair + missed draw (e.g. T9, 89) - probable outcomes:
H bets OTR, V folds
H checks OTR, V probably checks but might stab

V has missed heart draw - probable outcomes:
H bets OTR, V folds
H checks OTR, V might check or stab

I don't see V having a hand other than the four listed above. You can suggest two pair OTF or OTT but V would be unlikely to simply call the flop or turn bets with two pair here (especially since it would most definitely be a low two pair given 3/4 of the aces are out. Also the board is draw-heavy which again necessitates defending his two pair).

I'll point out something I'm not seeing posted. V limps then calls two streets against an opponent who has showed strength preflop and on both streets. The river completes a straight with 4-5 to the 7. At the level you're playing, it's unlikely V is making a move. 4-5, especially suited is worth calling down on a flop like that. And it's worth a large value bet where V likely assumes an overpair is calling and anything else folding, possibly looking like a play when he had the nuts.

There's no information on V or Hero but I'd guess this to be the case.

So are you folding or making a crying call?

The way you played, I'm making a crying call. Had you bet the river and he raised it's an easy fold. Your check signals weakness and he may think his pair is good. He may have the straight but he may also think you missed a flush. There are too many hands in his range you can crush not to call. If he shows 4-5 he hit a 5:1 dog with improper odds (unless it was suited hearts).

Shove AINEC, at the very least we are making a solid call here. (even though this is in a vacuum).

V is never showing up with a straight, probably a set or 2P putting you on AK. V has now committed half his stack, I doubt he's folding to a shove.

I really don't like the river check. This is the safest river card aside from the case A. Bet again.

Meh. I think sets are actually raising you flop bet a good amount of the time. The excessively larger river bet (relative to the previous three streets) make me think it is either a straight or air. I think just calling is fine.

Not thrilled with the check on the river, but not sure what I'd do if raised. Do you know anything about V? I'm definitely calling river, but I might push depending on reads at the table. I know a lot of people who love to play 45 and 8T, and not sure a worse hand is calling unless it's a set.

Shove river, calling is MUBS

Im torn between checking or betting on the river since a large part of his range missed with his draws, like you said. Checking gives him a chance to bluff. Very real chance that he could have a flush draw, 89, 109, 8x, 9x. I wouldnt assume that he folds a pair of 9s on the river because ppl are bad, but I agree that he folds most of this range to a sizeable bet. I'd probably end up betting the river since people can make surprisingly bad calls sometimes and can even show up with other pairs. I'd wanna target 9x and bet 60% of pot.

I had been playing with V for only about 15 minutes. He was an Asian guy, probably in his late 30s. He was getting involved in lots of hands and had made a similar huge river bet earlier to another opponent which didn't get called.

I had also just gotten rivered by an all-in preflop AK against my QQ in a $200 pot literally two hands ago and he may have thought I was tilting.

I am a white guy in his late 30s and I think I give off a "good player" vibe to unknowns.

This doesn't make sense. If he's reading my check as weak and he thinks his pair is good, why would he overbet the pot on the river? No matter how bluffy it looks I'm never calling a massive bet if I can't even beat his middle pair.

When I'm a V and I do this, I am hoping your AK tries to bluffcatch my 2p or set.

Exactly, this move makes sense with a set, but according to the post I was quoting, V is doing this even though he is putting me on less than middle pair.

Outcome:

H calls $180, V shows 8d5d for a flopped straight.

I hope you checked to induce a bet from the ton of missed draws in his range. Now shove and if I get snapped off my erection would be so large that it might break through the table which would result in me being 86ed from the casino and spending a night in jail for indecent exposure and money/chips being confiscated. Is this what happened to you? So yea it's a lose/lose. Tough beat OP.

Played river bad. Correct play would be to go broke.

Walk out of casino with empty pockets turned out, head down, and massive erection

Any reads on Villain?

If Villain is super tricky / aggro / etc., I would sometimes just check preflop and let him spew postflop, especially since this is going to be HU. But mostly I would also raise here. I like the smallish raise here to keep a higher SPR where we can probably just bet/bet/bet (to fold if raised) and not play for stacks.

I'm fine with the 2/3 PSB on the flop. Lots of worse hands / draws can pay, and yet at the same time we don't want to build a hugenormous pot OOP.

I don't like the turn bet sizing. At this point we've turned a monster hand on an extremely drawy board where we are crushing most other monsters. At this point, I want to try to play for stacks. I would bet a PSB on the turn, so ~$70.

Again, reads on Villain would be nice. If he's a non-bluffing "I missed" calling station, then we should be bombing the river ourselves (to get value out of the hands he hasn't missed with and might call a bet with but would check back himself if given the opportunity). However, if he's aggro / bluffy, I like the check. All the draws missed, so let's give him a chance to bluff at it. Another option would be to bet small and hope that induces a raise, but I think it is much easier to induce a bluff by checking than betting. Villain has really bombed it, overbetting the pot. We're definitely not folding with our ~nuttish hand and the draws busting, so the question is whether we just raise or call. I think I would shove as there are definitely worse hands that could call (sets, perhaps two pair), although admittedly these hands probably would have announced themselves on the turn; if we get shown a straight, sigh, nice hand I suppose.

ETA: I missed the fact that 54 got there, so this *might* lean me more to just a call, but admittedly that might be MUBSy.

GcluelessNLnoobG

I actually think you played it fine. Just got unlucky. I am somewhat torn between calling and shoving on the river, but would probably go with calling. A shove would probably fold any two pair hands and you would either be up against a straight or a set, but I think most sets (and two pair hands) would have raised the turn to try and fold out/get value from drawing hands. I like checking the river. As played you are more likely up against a missed draw than a hand that would call a value bet.

Villain has put 65% of his stack in the pot. He's not folding the remaining 35% to a shove with 2 pair or better.

A check all in raise on the river in this situation is really strong in a 1-3 game and will fold out two pair hands a decent percentage of the team. Hard to say without any background on villain though.