1/3, 7 handed

UTG fold
Next guy in UTG+1/LJ limps ($500 stack, rec)
Next seat, Hero ($550) in HJ raises to $20 with AQ
CO ($200, fish just reloaded) calls
BTN ($350, TAG old guy who hates giving a penny to Hero) calls
V in SB ($550) calls
BB folds

Hero makes a big raise pre to get it HU at best but the idea fails...

Flop ($86): J 5 2
V checks, Hero ??

I usually don't like to cbet in >3 way pots but factors that are tempting me to bet here are:

a) Board is pretty dry and Hero has a tight, winning image and Vs will peg him on overpairs.
b) CO is probably an ABC fish on tilt who will play fit/fold.
c) BTN has mostly got PPs upto QQ and AK/AQ probably and is absolutely folding anything but QQ/sets here, therefore again fit/fold.

The only reason I'm worried about cbetting is V in SB who is a crazy thinking super LAGGY 25-year old guy in a hoodie who is capable of floating, checkraising/peeling very light, taking away the pots on overcards and doing all sorts of things.

The first hand I sat down on the table I picked up AA, some rec in MP ($125) raised to $12, V ($170) called in CO, Hero ($300) made it $40 in BB, OR called unwillingly and V insta-shoved 95ss for $170 into both of us thinking I must be FOS. And I won. So he's very LAGGY and capable of making moves. He must be itching to play back at me. He's caught great hands in last 15 mins and is up to $550 because nobody believes him.

Should we cbet given such an opponent exists in the hand? I'm pretty sure that if I don't cbet here and the flop checks through, he will fire his entire range OTT and take it away. It's also possible he may just c/f his garbage hands given how I showed up with AA last time.

Against a very aggro LAG you need to cut down your c-betting some, but you can't give it up entirely. That lets the LAG control the game too much. This is a mediocre situation to c-bet anyways you have two over cards buts it's 4 ways and your OOP against 2 of them. Making this worse, the LAG gets to see what the other two do before acting.

Normally I would throw in a bluff c-bet around 15% of the time, so I'm betting this about half the time when you include hands where I had a pair to begin with or hit the flop (say it was Q52 or A52) or have spades. With the LAG, drop down and bet 5% to 10% of the time.

I can go either way here, but with described V and two others still in the hand, I'm fine checking this flop. Pot is bloated (~$80), so we'd have to risk more than we'd like, and I'm not continuing if SB raises -- or anyone else calls and we don't bink something on the turn. Problem is, a bink on the turn could help someone who called on flop (AJ, QJ, spades, etc.). Yep, I'm fine checking. We don't have to win every pot -- and lets you check when you smack the flop, too.

We have a good image. But against 3 villains.

We are oop to 2 of the 3 villains and the one we have position on is tricky. There is a flush draw.


If cbetting we absolutely would have to be committed to barreling.

We have bd broadway and wheel draws and 2 over cards so we certainly have ok equity for barreling vs Jx and FDs. But the stack sizes could get us in an awkward spot with an SPR<3 against the tilted fish.

I don't like our chances for a delayed Cbet here on anything but a K turn and SB is likely to lead into the field on a lot of turns when flop checks through. So if we check here we are surrendering with a high frequency.

If we do c-bet and get it heads up we will either have position on the LAG or be oop with one of the fit or fold guys. When oop it will be hard to know if spades are bad. So not only can we not rep front door spades but it will be tougher to value bet an As, Qs or barrel ks 3s or 4s.

I probably go ahead and check here and re-evaluate my options after the flop action.

Nice attempt to narrow the field with a bigger raise; sometimes it doesn't work. With the shortstack fish behind plus the tight button, I'm cool with coming in for a raise because I would expect it to narrow the field between us and one or two of the loose players we have position on. However, if the table was super loose and I thought I'd have a hard time narrowing the field or perhaps end up OOP to the difficult players, I'd be totally cool with overlimping this hand.

I think you make good points for betting. But I just can't see how a cbet with air into 3 players is going to be profitable in general, so I would almost always check here. I think if the board didn't have the flush draw I might be tempted.

GcluelessNLnoobG

Yuck. Check. Even moreso with a LAG in SB. Save your spew monies for more exciting spots IMO.

Please give approximate ranges for all three preflop and we can answer your question quite convincingly.