Hi guys played an interesting hand the other day at a 1/2 NL table against an aggressive villain and would like some feedback on the way I approached this hand.

Villain and I are both sitting on 100 BB.

MP1, MP2, and Villain in the CO all limp. I raise to $15. MP1 and MP2 fold and Villain calls.

Flop comes: J 4 8 $37 in pot

Villain checks. Hero bets $20. Villain raises to $50. Given that villain limped pre-flop his range consists of Jx suited, T9, Ax suited, 44, and 88. After given it some thought I ended up just calling because if I 4 bet I am only getting called by hands that beat me and folding out hands that I beat.

The turn brought another J Villain checks. In this spot would you shove the turn or check and let villain see a free river and then bet the river on a blank card?

Thanks for the feedback in advance!

$18 pre. More on flop. Shove flop. This is not a 4bet. Board is wet, 100bb, V range is wide, take his money.

You have 33bb out of 100 in the pot. That spells commitment. But .... that J is ugly.

I'm checking and will fold R if the FD gets there, calling otherwise.

wj- are you always stacking off on the flop when check-raised in this situation at 100BB eff?

This is a frequent enough spot that occurs at 100BB eff where I'm actually not quite sure what the right play is.

Yes

You raised $13 into $11 .. not too bad but the opening bet is always table dependent. How long had you been playing with them and what was the typical opening bet? Perhaps just a touch more since there were so many limpers involved.

The $20 Flop bet is just small enough to induce some bluff c/r here. With the flush draw out there I probably would go a little bigger to reduce the Turn 'stress'. Notice that if you had gone bigger PF then things fall into place for the Turn even without his raise.

By calling his Flop raise you leave $135 behind a pot of $137 ... This is a shove 3-bet IMO as I dont like ppl to draw on 'their' terms. Again, with bigger bet sizes PF/Flop this is an easy shove. I guess it's ok to see if the flush hits the Turn but he is less likely to call your shove now since there is only 1 card to come. Get him to commit to his draws with 2 cards to come unless you are more interested in pot control.

AP I check Turn a lot and call most non-flush River bets. This is a 'radar' hand .. If your radar is going off, then fold FACE DOWN. If your radar is silent, then shove Turn and fade River. If he is going to call a bet, he will call it all off, dont go cheap if you do bet since he wont pay you off on River if he misses. GL

Board is very wet and there are a ton of worse value hands and semibluffs in villain's range. Get it in on the flop.

I agree with shipping the flop. Given the villain is aggressive and can have draws here, the stack sizes make this an easy jam. (Against other villains a fold might be better though.)

As played check and eval the river.

Raise more pre. AP, 3-bet shove flop as others have said. Board texture isn't just about flush and straight draws. We also have to look at whether better made hands like sets and 2-pair combos are in our opponent's range. We heavily discount JJ and 2-pairs as holdings unlikely to limp/call pre. So while V may have 44/88, there are way more combos of draws and JX hands c/r'ing here.

Check

You gave no description of the villain other than "aggressive." That's kind of important information.....

Without knowing anything about the villain, in a vacuum, make it $15 pre, bet $25 on flop, $30 if one of the limpers calls PF too. Shove over his Check/Raise. You're only 100BB deep.

I suspect you didn't even have a plan for the turn after you called his check/raise. Probably just called and hoped to get to showdown cheap without seeing another diamond or jack.....

I think I'm as confused now as you were back then.
I'm guessing you're on the button - since V is in the CO.
You say he's aggressive, yet he did not raise pf... you did.
He did not re-raise you pre-flop (especially after he sees that it's going to be HU) so we can probably eliminate premium hands from his range.

In our 1/2 games - a half pot bet is often as effective as a full pot bet HU. But on a flushing board, 3/4 to full pot is always best.

So I don't know if you've induced a raise or V genuinely has a monster hand.

For most (especially in our 2/5 games), a check is a sign of weakness.
But in our 1/2 games, a check can be the ultimate sign of strength - and it's a trap.
If he had 2 pair (like J8) or a set, he's now got a boat - so he's can allow the flush to get there and still win the hand.

I think the smooth-call on the flop was good. But now, I'd check the turn.
Think about it... what are you protecting your Kings from?
A Flush? A str8?
Would V check-raise oop with such a draw? IP it's done a lot.
OOP, this seems suicidal.

But it depends on YOUR reads on this V. What hands has he shown down previously? How has he played his big hands before? How has he played his draws? If he's so aggressive, why didn't he bet the flop?
What hand does he put you on?

I don't know why you're so content shoving at any point in this hand.
Even if V has a weak Jx, you're now a huge dog.

I'd check it here. And unless you improve, even c/f the river.
Unless you've mis-represented your hand (and i know even less about your image than your V), I've got to believe you're beat.

Easy 4 bet AI, very few villains are going to c/r fold a flush draw in this spot. Get it in 100bbs I think he calls more than the range you give him

Re-raising a raise after a single bet is not a 4bet.

OP, lots of players will stack off with naked flushdraws, top pair, OESD etc on the flop, especially once they've got aggressive with it.

By calling, you are purely targetting an extremely narrow part of his range that would raise fold this flop. If he folds AJ, A8, A4 then it is better to jam now anyway than give him a chance to realise his equity for free.

When you got dealt kings you were looking to get your stack in the middle, now you have the chance, against an aggressive villain on a drawy board. Come on.

Get it in otf

This OP. Don't mind anything else you read. Only this....

And 18-20 pre is better.

The optimal line is to shove given the low SPR unless you are in a leveling match with a VERY familiar reg who you play with every day, and in that case you are lighting just a little bit less money on fire than doing anything else besides shoving.

If I shove the flop I am only getting called by hands that have me beat and folding out worse hands...

$15 is the threshold at this table. If I make it more than that I will get no callers so a raise to $15 is the correct bet size for this table... I understand that if I make it more pre-flop and on the flop my decision to shove would be much easier but I won't make it that far betting that much at this table because I will get no callers.

Your last statement is not true sir ... My plan was to call his c/r because shoving would only fold out worse hands and get called by better ones since villain can still get away from this hand given the pot size and his remaining stack size. If the turn was a blank and it was checked to me I would shove then. If bet into on the turn I would evaluate. If turn is a scare card such as a diamond or a J I would check behind and evaluate river.

More pf and shove OTF easy game

any diamond draws are making the correct call if you shove, which seems to make up a large portion of v's supposed x/r range. even 3d2d is 33% against your hand so a call is in order for V. any A hi draw is flipping with you and T9s is actually ahead of your hand.

Disagree. Nobody folds a flush draw or TPGK on a FD board for 100bb.

More interesting is with the awkward stack sizes on the flop, if you bet turn and get raised, do you still have to call knowing V could be doing this with other flush draws? Seems suspicious he just checked turn, if he had a draw you would think he would continue applying pressure and if he had Jx he would continue betting to get value from hands hero has (QQ-AA)