$1/2

V1 - 45 y/o black man. Really bad LAG donator. Raising 40% of pots pre. Knows hero plays ultra-tight and tries to avoid giving him action (2nd day we've played together). ($150)

V2 - Shortstacked nondescript rec player ($47)

V3 - Gambly Asian guy. 50 y/o. Plays any two suited cards. Made nice hero call with A-high on the river against V1. ($200)

V4 - British tourist. Tightish-passive ($80)

Hero nitty image and covers all.

Pre-flop
V1 raises from UTG+2 to $12
V2, V3 flat
Hero calls with 55 in the CO
V4 calls on the button

Flop ($60)
544
Checks around

Turn ($60)
J
Checks to V3 who bets $10
Hero raises to $40
V4 folds
V1 folds
V2 goes all-in for his remaining $35
V3 folds

Thoughts?

Here's what I was thinking:

Bet flop, try to get more money committed OTF, lotta guys will float you here. Check turn, call if there is a bet. Hopefully there is enough more in the pot to make some of them sticky OTR, bet at least enough to cover all, see if gamboools will hero call you here....

BTW, would make flop bet $35. I don't care if I lose shorty, but either way, I don't want him to be a factor anymore in the hand.

Also, if V1 floats the flop, after our turn check, we can almost guarantee getting at least some more of his stack.

I think you can still bet the flop. Your goal here is to get hands to call cause you are beating essentially everything. I'd bet something small like $20. People with any kind of equity (OESD, sneaky overpair, any 4, two big overcards even) can call $20, especially if they're priced in (i.e. V2, V3).

Then keep going on the turn and river, small bets but ones that can still mean something (I'm thinking 1/4 pot bets), I think people find it difficult to find folds against small bets in multi-way pots with any kind of hand. You might even induce a raise from mr Lag. Remember also, every 4x is drawing dead except if quads come.

Also, you found out the difficulty with re-raises... people can fold single pairs to re-raises. It's a case for raising the flop small, and continuing small with turn + river.

this situation comes up all the time. I think the best play is bet the flop. You have to build a pot here. Bet small enough to get as many calls as possible but get them throwing money in the pot so they can get tied to their hands. Maybe bet 10 on flop? Maybe bet $2 on flop! Probably half the Vs will call for $2 but maybe you get lucky, someone sees your tiny bet as a chance to steal and raises you and you can create some action.
If you bet ten OTF, lots of typical Vs will call with just over cards, and then when they catch the turn, they're invested in the pot and can stack to your hand.
As played, have to just flat the turn bet and hope everyone gets on board the value train. Flat looks super scary here, though. But no getting around that. It's either flat or min raise. But you can't make it 40. Only hands with a J or overpair can call that bet and short stack has already signaled, hey, I hit the Jack. If you flat, any hand w an ace, K or Q might call trying to spike the river.

Bet flop.

As played turn raise is fine.

Don't listen to 1/2 pros.

Turn sizing is terrible imo. Make it $25-$30 max praying for Jx/FDs/SDs to call. Anything bigger will scare a lot of hands away with the exception of 4x, because your line becomes very transparent.

Preflop is cutting it close.

Flop check through is fine. You smash this board and it's a bit dry.

Turn raise is debatable. I prefer just calling.

He bet $10 into a $60 pot. We have the effective nuts. Gotta make a legit raise here as played.

Bet flop. Like $20. The pot is huge and it looks like you have a small pp trying to buy it. Then you can check back turn and maybe get action on the river. Checking flop then bomb-raising an lol turn bet is not optimal IMO.

Your image is the only reason not to bet the flop. If V1 has made a bunch of comments about you being a nut-peddler, then I think you're stuck checking behind.

That said, this board doesn't particularly scare anyone and it creates a bunch of draws. I like the idea of betting ~$20, inviting everyone with broadway cards or a straight draw to gamble on a turn card.

I'd raise to ~$25 or 30 instead of 40. You can't just call him on the turn, because most of your profit is going to come while people are still drawing and praying. But a smaller raise can still leave decent J's thinking "maybe he just saw that was a weak bet."

Honestly, I'm not sure if there was much more money to be made against these villains, with these holdings, in this hand.

The reason I didn't bet the flop is that everyone who acted before me would have bet if they had anything. V1+V3 would have bet gutshots, OESD, pairs, and probably ace-high. V2 would have shoved anything decent. I was fairly certain no one had anything.

Based on the hands that people had, I'm nearly certain that everyone except V2 would have folded to a $20 flop bet; especially with my image.

This is results oriented, but:

V1 had complete garbage and wasn't putting in another dime with hero in the pot
V2 had AK
V3 had QJo
V4 had JT

If I had bet the flop, V1, V3 and V4 would have folded for $20. V2 probably calls and puts the rest in on the turn. ($10 less than the line I took).

If I had just flatted the turn, V2 and V4 would have called. I may have gotten an extra $20-$30 each out of V3+V4 on the river (with their Jx) although V2 would have folded if his flush didn't come in. ($10-$40 more than the line I took).

Bet-bet-bet probably would have been the best line not knowing what they had.
check-call-bet would have maximized $ knowing exactly what they had.

I agree that raising the turn turns my hand face up and is a reason to build a pot by betting the flop. This is an old limit HE habit that still creeps back from time to time.

This is one of those spots where you flop a monster but no one is exactly strong so you are not going to win big. With your nit image I consider flatting turn and leading river. I also dont like what everyone is saying about leading on the flop. Only 4x is calling. Maybe an overpair if someone holds one.

straight draws, 4x, 5x, and pocket pairs will all call flop.

That is an extremely narrow range and 5x is not really calling a nits bet if they are paying attention, besides we know were 3 of 4 are. 4x, yes but also quite narrow. I do agree with straight draws but you are generally only getting one street of value from a draw on a pair board so once again letting a turn card come off is better then leading out.

Bet $30 on the flop. Start building a pot now to get stacks in by the river. If they fold, there wasn't money to be made anyway.

Point 1 & 2 are very valid. You'll get looked up by all sorts of BS versus these villains.

Point 3 is the best advice ITT.

Nobody expects you to fire with the overfull, so bet the flop. The turn is where the more truthful bets come out, so naturally they got scared with one card to come. OTF, these villains will peel with overs, a 4, over pairs, straight draws, BDFDs, you name it.