1/2. V (260) is limping and calling a lot. Hero has a tight image and covers V.

V in UTG opens to 15. Two callers. Hero raises to 60 on the button with AQhh. V calls. Others fold.

Flop (142 after rake): KcJc9c

Checks around.

Turn: 7d

V bets 60. Hero folds.

Fine as played.

There is an argument for going $75 pre, but I don't hate $60 given SPR.

Flop check and small bet, like 20% pot are going to give similar EV. You can definitely bet any K for value at this spr, and you will a ton, so in theory this is probably more of a bet than check. But we don't get to bet our entire range on monotone boards, and we are probably giving this one up on the 7d turn. If we checked back turn, river came a club, and river checked, I think we would have a nice exploitative bluff.

Only thing is, on the flop, I think Villain’s range is going to be very condensed and have a lot of calls from Kx, Jx, and anything with one club. And you block some of the combos that might fold flop like QQ no club, AQ no club, AT no club. But you do get to bluff and possibly realize equity for cheap.

V is limping and calling a lot and pops it to 7.5x from UTG. Your AQhh is likely at the bottom of his range or at least bottom half. Guys who limp and call a lot hate folding preflop so add that all up and 3b does not seem optimal.

Once you get it heads up (best outcome you could hope for with your 3b other than taking it down) this is about as bad a board as possible to cbet bluff on. I still would for $40. It needs to work like 20% of the time to be profiable. And in practice I think you get folds 30-40% of the time. If he always peels flop bets or almost always Id play it how you did postflop.

id just call pre. 3betting sets you up for commitment vs a range that beats yours.

+1 to call pre. A serial limp/caller open raises UTG, that's usually a very strong range. Let's not bloat the pot and instead just play a hand in position.

For this type of player, the only thing he likely 4 bets is AA/KK. With his call I'd range him something like AK, AQ, KQ, QQ, JJ, TT.

We're doing horribly equity wise against that range on this flop, so I think it's a pretty trivial fold on the turn, given I doubt we have much fold equity by bluffing.

I don't like it but that's just me. Just call pre, don't become a buttons presser, instead think of what his range is first and foremost, and then decide if you're squeezing or flatting. If he's weak passive, what do you think he decided to raise with from UTG? He has at least a big PP tens plus, and can easily re raise us as well (consisting of 89% of his range).

Stacks are too shallow to be doing this anyway, we only have 200 dollars behind if he calls us, with alil over a psb left and we're definitely not hitting any flops so what are we doing then? Any bet otf commits both of us. We're in position with a great multiway hand anyway that can make the nuts with unlimited implied odds, just call pre. Deeper I would always consider 3betting but not if UTG is a passive limp/caller unless I had aces or kings myself.

Calling pre would be a mistake, especially with the cold callers. Vs this villain as described, if you get 4bet you have an easy fold and may have been in an awkward spot where you lose a huge pot if you make your hand anyways.

Even if villain is tight, 3betting a hand as strong as AQs is the only play here. To not 3bet really undervalued the importance of aggression and playing pots heads up in position.

When you call and it goes multiway, your EV is going to be a small piece of a small pot. When you 3bet and it goes heads up, your EV is going to be a larger piece of a bigger pot.

Calling pre would be a mistake with AQo, but it's fine to flat with these stacks and with an UTG raiser who's nutted by default. It's fine to flat AQs, initiative and aggression won't mix too well if he re-jams it. Yes, we can easily fold, but we could have also seen a flop for cheap and play the hand for the value it has pre in a big multiway pot (I would rather raise/fold a **** hand like AJo or KTo, it would suck to have to fold to a re-raise there).

The consensus is to call pre because V has less than 150 BB and his 7.5BB open UTG indicates a strong hand. Is call the best course of action because hero is on the button? If hero had AQs in the HJ, would anyone besides me and Mlark favor a 3bet?

Basically any pro I play with would virtually never just call pre and I am pretty sure that is because calling is a mistake, less EV than 3betting.

To reiterate, aggression, betting lead, and position are key.

Villain can still call you with hands you are doing very well against, KQs, KJs, KTs, QJs, AJs, ATs, AQo. A rec is also likely to still flat with KQo here. You are flipping vs JJ, TT, 99, etc. He can cold call with AKo and you can realize your equity or get him to fold a better ace high when he whiffs. You can get him to fold weaker hands in general when good boards come out like JJ on a K high board. But all of these advantages shrivel up multiway. Your equity and EV go way down. I get that we should make exploitative adjustments vs someone with a wide limp calling range, but there are so many other hands we could take out of our 3bet range. A5s, A4s, suited connectors, QJs, JTs, etc thst night mix in 3bets we can just muck. But to flat eith AQs is straight up OMC behavior.

Flatting with AQs after multiple cold callers in this spot betrays a tight-passive rec mentality. It is less variance to flat, you lose less big pots, but you will also win less.

If you are sit really quiet at night, you will hear Doug Polk whisper in your ear that you should always 3bet AQs in this spot.

You are only flipping vs JJ, TT, or 99 if you get to see all 5 cards.

Which you will get to see a lot more often when in position as the preflop 3 bettor, and you can often get all of those hands to fold when overcards come out, particularly a K. Vs multiway we have to fold a lot of flops we miss and/or don't get to see the river cheaply, and we have to dodge at least 3 times as many hands, more if blinds come along.

This is squeezing 101. Again, do you want your EV to be a small chunk of a small pot, or a larger chunk of a larger pot?

Plus, what about all the other hands we can be up against?

If we're not comfortable 3betting AQs here, maybe we need to work on our postflop game as the IP 3bettor.

Yeah, in theory, but when I'm up against a tight UTG opener in a 1/2 game (who I would range as having AK, QQ, KK or AA which should make up round 85% of his range), and a stack of only 260 (so if he's continuing he's probably just jamming), I would elect to flat a good multiway hand instead of facing an all in decision pre while knowing I'm crushed.

If I knew his range was wide in that spot, I would always prefer to 3bet vs flat here but that's just me.

id literally sq this hand in this exact spot every single time


even with a nitfish raising utg


the only way i wouldnt sq is if there was a moby dick type whale in the blinds and we are both 300+bb deep