Posted this on PG&C, nobody reads it but me, figured i'd need some more than self-feedback on this one.

Villain is a LAG who overvalues one pair hands. Saw him get his money in a couple ******ed spots and noticed that he will always bet when senses weakness. He will not allow a street to check through and I saw him get caught bluffing.

1-2 Eff stacks 260.

V straddles to 5, hero is MP with AdAc.

2 callers, hero raises to 30, V thinks for 15sec and calls, fold fold.

Flop Ks9s5d (70)

Hero checks (I know he will bet his whole range but won't necessarily call with his whole range.) V bets 25, hero calls.

Turn Ks9s5d2s (120)

Hero checks V bets 45 hero calls.

River Ks9s5d2s7h (210)

Hero checks V bets 100. I hate this. I've left his range so wide as per my plan, but it may have backfired. I know he overvalues 1 pair and will barrel against weakness, so I begrudgingly call. V flips 57o.

Normally I won't post results, however I put them in here so you can get a better idea of the kind of guy this is.

Did I play this well and get unlucky on the river? I honestly feel like this guy will make the same river bet with Kx and busted draws.

Knowing this guy is aggressive and plays any 2 cards, that is almost more reason to play back at him aggressively IMO. Flush draw, straight draw, etc. I would continuation bet there but if you decide to check, I think you need check raise on Flop significantly and take control of this hand. When you raise pre-flop, these are the hands you want to get out of hu when you have AA.

You ultimately got unlucky with that River card but you allowed him to remain in that hand on his own terms. LAG players take pause when someone else is in control but if they are the aggressor, will run with it. You knew your opponent so should have put him on the defensive.

No, that's the exact opposite of what we want to do here. We're trying to exploit the villain's leak, not plug it for him.

I utilize slow-playing quite a bit but there is a time and a place for that. When I see flush draw, gutshot on Flop, I err on side of taking control and not putting myself in the situation where I may need to fold AA.

I don't understand why you decided to play this hand backwards.

I can't think of any situation where I raise pre and then play a hand like a bluff-catcher the entire way. Your line makes no sense.

You flopped the virtual nuts on this hand. You need to bet the flop. If you are concerned about folding the villain out, then you can bet a smaller amount. I wouldn't come out and pot this, but I would bet at least $40-45.

Once you decided to play the hand backwards, you kind of fell into the trap of not being able to fold which a lot of players will do at this level.

The only time I could advocate playing backwards here would be if you had a hand like A9 that is probably the fourth or fifth nuts. But then you are really just playing it as a bluff-catcher.

Your hand is not equivalent to the fourth or fifth nuts here.

Agreed. His betsizes were similar to what I would have made had I been leading. But leading allows him to fold.

I don't quite think I played this hand wrong. Is there a better way though? Maybe a way that defines his hand more while only sacrificing a little value?

If I lead the flop he calls with 1 pair and any draw. Bet the turn, he folds everything I beat but Kx and As,Qs,Js,10s + pair. SPR is too high at this point so i'm in another crappy spot on the river.

Maybe a check/raise on the turn to get value from Kx and high spade draws? Check/call non-spade rivers? With this guy i'm not sure what he folds and what he reads me as if I check/raise the turn though.

Villain never lets a street check through. I can't believe that the line here is even up for debate.

I've literally never taken this line before. Usually i'm the ultra-agro on the table, but I could see the leaks in this guys game easily. With my pfr size and check/call flop, check/call turn, I figured I was repping 1010-QQ to him. Is it wrong to bluff-catch with AA if villain will always bluff AND will always bet 1 pair for 3 streets?

Edit: AND will always bet Top pair for 3 streets

I think it is much easier to bluff-catch when we have position and we don't have a hand that is likely way ahead of our villain's range.

I am all for exploiting an opponent's weakness, but this doesn't make sense to me when we can get value from so much of his range.

If you swap out AA for a hand like A9, then I really like this line.

It's easier to bluff-catch out of position when you know villain bets his whole range when checked to, and that's precisely how we extract value out of his range. I'm not advocating this line in this spot against every lag or even every lagtard but when when the specific villain is literally as unbalanced as he could possibly be in this respect hero's line is optimal/mandatory. Results should have been reserved.

How are you OOP? Is he straddling on the button?

If it is true that this villain will bet every street when checked to but will fold to aggression, then you played it OK, I guess. However, if the above is true you won't be able to define his hand unless he has an obvious bet-sizing tell.

Yeah

This is something I was wondering about. I wasn't sure if the bet was bluffy or valuey.

I saw him take this line on the button with Q10 vs. the guy sitting next to me.

MP raises to 12, V calls.

Flop Q99

MP bets 25 V calls

Turn Q993

MP checks V bets 40 MP calls

River Q9937 MP checks V bets 80 MP calls

V shows Q10 MP shows KK

This is why you don't play hands like this. Don't slowplay. Especially against this V. I hate the flop check but if you do we must be c/r 100% of the time against this guy. He bets 25. You raise to 80ish. He folds you win a $100 pot instead of losing a $400 one trying to be tricky.

Bet 50 on flop or c/r to 80 or so if V is betting every time he's checked to

This is not the hand to bluff catch with. You have a monster. You need to get value.

You absolutely butchered it my friend. I think you know it too, hence the thread

Check calling this flop is bad imo, I'm betting with a decently wet board. X/c flop and turn you kinda of deserve to get sucked out on lol.

We don't want to define villain's hand. We want to play against his whole range.

We have a monster against an agrotard. We need to get value. When are we going for value then? Only when we flop the mortal nuts? Do we x/c that all the way down too?

Wait for a better situation to bluff catch this guy and get position on him

The mistake here was not check raising the flop. You gave the V the chance to catch up by playing the hand passively. Aces are only the nuts pre flop, after which it's only a pair of aces.

This reminds me of something an inexperienced player once said:

"I looked down and saw pocket aces and I said to myself how can I lose".

If you are looking to catch him in a bluff go at him with two pair or better, in position if able to.

Raise flop.

The idea that this hand is somehow an example of why we don't generally slow play AA is results-oriented. Why in the world would hero raise the flop and fold out a ton of hands that would have fired two more barrels way behind? This isn't 'playing passively' or 'giving villain a chance to catch up.' We are exploiting villain's massively unbalanced range on every street as his mistakes get progressively bigger. Sometimes he hits his five-outer on the river. Who cares?

Thanks for the input. Very insightful.

Ok, so we are on the same page here.

I still feel like I did something wrong.

Why do you think you did something wrong? Do you think you were wrong about how often he triple barrels his entire range? Or do you think he stations often enough for you to get more value leading with bigger bets on each street than he did?

Or does he like raising enough to give you an opportunity to click it back or get it in if you had led?

basically your question is, "did I make a mistake by letting my opponent catch up when I my hand was way ahead of him." answer: no. if you had flopped trips and lost to a gutshot straight draw, would we be having this conversation? or if the river brought an A and V turned over 34o? bad luck happens.

but you seem to over-value AA. your board showed flush and straight possibilities against an opponent whose range is wide and, in this hand, totally unknown. you should protect yourself in these situations by betting at an earlier round. you may lose value but that's balanced by possibly inducing a raise (allowing you to shove with the best of it).

by the turn, most HE boards offer plenty of potentially horrible river cards for single pair holdings. if you're not comfortable losing with top pair at showdown, avoid that situation by betting or folding.