Live 1/2- Table is full of bad players as usual,very passive w/ a ton of multi-way limping pre and off bet sizing post.

Hero is UTG +2 ($225) and opens w/ AQo (no) to $12
MP ($65) calls 12
HJ ($180) calls 12
CO ($125) re-raises to $35
BTN folds, blinds fold.

CO is young headphone internet type player, who seems to think he is table boss and can outplay anyone mainly by bullying, hes been caught bluffing twice w/ air and is down a buyin or two.

I decide to smooth call OOP (?)
MP calls
HJ calls

Pot ($143)

Flop 9JQ

Hero?

I usually always open preflop as well.

I fold to the reraise. There's 3 players interested in the hand and kid still 3bets. Sure, it might be a squeeze but we're OOP and possibly dominated. But even if it is a bully bluff, what are we going to do postflop when we whiff (which we will the majority of the time). Just let it go, move on to the next hand, and try to stack a fish; let's not get into a pissing war OOP.

I just check/eval this flop. If one of the shortstacks go in, we can consider calling, unless the kid comes along too. If everyone checks to the kid and he bets, tough decision; would he bluff into this many people on this board? ETA: Just noticed the kid has less than a PSB left, so pretty easy call if he bets; so I'd probably call any shove unless it goes shove/call?

GfoldingprefloptoavoidthismessG

Yuck. Really really sucks being OOP here. I normally wouldn't mind the OOP call of the reraise given the villain, but alarm bells have to go off when two more come along (although they well may be coming along because of the villain).

I check here and see who wants to bet. I may be prepared to call one bet by the CO if I'm convinced he's spazzy; he only has about $90 left anyway which is barely half-pot. Fold to any re-raise from MP or HJ. If MP or HJ raise first, depends on reads for those players, but 90% of the time i'm done with the hand here.

Completely disagree w folding pre to a V like you described. He has way to muuch air in his range whenever he cbets and good chance your AQ dominates his IP raising range. Pot is 70 when it gets to you. I'd actually jam it pre vs this villain.

As played, call flop reevaluate turn

I didn't realize stacks were so short; ya, I like this preflop line a lot more, especially if villain has 3bet light before.

Me thinks that because he is down a buyin or two his bluffs become less likely if he is competent (non-steamy). Or has he been firing on all cylinders even though he is down?

Calling is bad. I've got mixed feelings about shoving and folding.

Really think villain is slowplaying a monster here with how many callers there are and his small 3 bet bet sizing combined with the way the stack sizes are setup. Would put villain on a range of KK+ at this point and take note if he shows up with anything different.

How often has villain been 3-betting PF? Is this his normal 3-bet sizing ($35 is small for a multi-way pot)?

If he's been 3-betting often, then his range is wide enough to make a shove profitable here. I'm never just flatting to see a flop. Folding is really weak, especially if villain has 3-bet PF multiple times this session. Considering his stack size, shoving is probably the best play (assuming he's been 3-betting light throughout the session).

Villain's 3-bet sizing is too small to be a big hand, imo. AK or QQ+ would probably want to isolate with a bigger raise. My guess is villain is 3-betting because he thinks 3-betting in position is kewl.

As played... you should realize this is NOT a good flop for you in a 4-handed 3-bet pot.

I make it $85/call.

Normally i would size it where he could spazz overtop, however here I do not want to imply any FE at all so that if he squeezed with say 77, then he might fold it rather than shove it.

AQo is the bottom of my range for this spot vs this villain, but im quite sure villan a big chunk of time UNLESS this is an unusually small sizing for his normal squeezing.

Thanks for the feedback, very tough spot for me, I thought of shoving but all I could think about was CO having AK.
My plan was to hit A or Q on flop & bet/shove or fold a whiff and wait for a better spot.
Well, I bet out $80, MP goes all in (he's short) HJ shoves (crap!) CO FOLDS!
I got a few bucks left so I call planning on rebuying.
Turn River
MP turns over 2 pair, HJ flopped Str8, nobody has a
Got lucky

Sounds like you had the best hand going into this pre, so you were ahead...

I'm raising or folding pre, probably folding though. jamming is pretty close with how short/steamy he is and all the dead money. It's probably really close either way. It really depends if I have seen him 3-bet. Some spaz players postflop still have very tight 3-bet ranges.

Grunch

Jam pre. Lotsa dead money and our hand crushes CO's range.

As played, c/f. Seriously.

I just wanted to comment on V's 3bet range.

Based on Hero's description, I would put V's 3bet range from the CO as:
JT-AK, 77-AA.

Which is why I have zero problem jamming it back with AQ as AQ is ahead of his raising range.

Its just been my experience that V's like Hero describe 3-bet fairly wide, and why not. A lot of times players fold to 3-bets at this level and when they don't fold, they fold flop to relatively small c-bets when they whiff. So their wide 3-betting range actually isn't all that bad if they are at the right passive tables.

Of course, if you think his 3-betting range is different, then that impacts how you see this hand.

But given that Hero was the original raiser from EP and he 4bet shoves, that's going to have a lot of fold equity and if V calls, I still don't think our hand is all that bad vs this type of V's range.

Really hate calling preflop oop with AQ when you know you'll be up against 3 players in an inflated pot. This is the exact flop that we are destined to get stacked on. With stack sizes the way they are and with villain playing as you described I think you'd be better 4-bet shoving pre. You did raise $12 from EP so they have to give you credit for a big hand. The 2 callers likely fold and the 3 bettor might call with worse or a PP which we're not in terrible shape against unless he has AA (which he probably woulda bumped it up even more preflop with AA). If your not inclined to shove I think folding pre would be you next best option.

I had one of these headphone spaz guys at my table today. Was pretty funny to watch him try to bluff the fish at the table.

Opponent sounds like he is tilting and only has 125. I get it in

If they have massive headphones on I usually assume they think they r amazing

Raise>fold>Call IMO.

I would dare say calling is actually terrible.