Villain is my own coach, very high calibre player who's able to pounce on any signs of weakness.

Blinds £1/2, Live full ring

Villain opens UTG+1 to £7, I flat on UTG+2 with KQo, MP (Fish) flats. Pot is now 24

Flop: K J x Rainbow.

Villain checks, I bet £20, Fish flat, Villain Flats.

Turn 8, off suit, no FD.

Villain checked, I check, fish checked.

River a 3, Villain bets £85.

This hand is really bugging me because I know he's capable of firing out here given I checked the turn, what really confused me was Villain's x/c on the flop which at the time caused me to slow down as I didn't think I would get value out from worse, but at the same time, this present an opportunity for him to blow me off a hand exactly KQ as I played it.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Fold Pre

Bet turn

Its 85 to win 170 or 1:2. I doubt that 2/3 of his range is AK, KJ, 33, 88, JJ. J8, etc. Easy call based on your description of villain as "pouncing on any perceived weakness." If you get lucky, fish may even overcall with a hand as weak as AJ or something.

I face decision like this all the time where I often miss value on the turn a lot due to pot control, my coach tells me to bet turn more than I do now, but on this kind of board, I just can't see what worse is calling here, I understand I have a fish behind me, am I folding to any action after? If i bet turn, How should i proceed on the river? bet a blank again? if so how much?

I think fixing this kind of spot can definitely put my win rate higher as I am simply not betting turn enough.

thanks in advance.

"Its 85 to win 170 or 1:2. I doubt that 2/3 of his range is AK, KJ, 33, 88, JJ. J8, etc. Easy call based on your description of villain as "pouncing on any perceived weakness." If you get lucky, fish may even overcall with a hand as weak as AJ or something." Yeah, I do think that given I checked the turn, I should lean more towards calling on the river.

KT, K9, and QT most likely call. AJ might call one more as well especially if the fish is a station.

Villain should not have AK too often here. QT, Jx are more likely for him to c/c

You have top pair good kicker. Don't think about it. Just bet and fold to a raise.

You don't know what fish might be calling you with? Board is K J X. Fish may have a weaker King, a Jack, or even an X. Yes, even if X is a duece a fish may have a deuce in this spot because fish are horrible so just bet bet bet for value. (not to mention the straight draws)

If you are heads up on river vs your coach you may want to check back if you are unsure of his hand ranges as he is less likely to call with weak holdings. However, vs fish just bet.

I'm often surprised with the hands fish call me with.
.

Last night I tripled barreled with TT in position vs super fish in the BB. Game 2/5nl, eff stacks $500. I raised preflop to $20, fish calls.

Flop(50) Q 4 3
he leads out $20, I raise to $75, he calls

Turn(200) J
he chks (visible signs of hating his hand), I bet 125, he tank calls

River(450) K
he looks seriously pained and chks, I bet $200, he tanks and sighs and flicks his cards and almost mucks then says, "You're good, I call."

I turn my TT over in disgust and I say, "I guess I couldn't get you to fold your weak Queen."
He looks at my hand, looks at the board, looks at his hand laughs, and then tables 77

WTF

so yeah, fish are gonna be way fishier than you can possibly imagine, so bet your value hands in spots like this. You will be amazed what calls you down a lot of the time...

FWIW, Duke is spot on in this thread...

Yeah, I guess betting the turn would definitely make my hand play a lot easier.

Thanks for the help guys.