I wanted to post a hand that a friend had @ 2-3 (100-300 BI)

I have been trying to repeat in my head and focus on "can I get called by worse" when deciding PF action. It sounds fundamental, but sometimes I caught myself going on auto pilot…..

I would just like some feedback on what you guys think about my thought process…

-We're in SB w/ Jd Js $375 stack

-Villain is in CO $380 stack -->look to be decent enough / straightforward player..haven't seen any spews or anything major of note at all (3+ hours w/ him)

-Fish is on BTN and has short stack $80

-Villain open raises to $12

-Fish calls on BTN

My thought process to decide between raising or flatting is…"Will worse call?"

-From the Fish it's 100% yes.

-If we feel like there is a decent # number of times the villain calls with worse, we are 3betting right? In my thinking, we are doing a couple of things w/ the 3bet….We are maximizing value PF…And if the villain calls, we are narrowing his range significantly. So if a over card comes, and we make a cbet and get called, we can be pretty certain what we're up against….Making the hand easier to play by narrowing the villains range..

-My case for flatting is simply that we are OOP….but if we flat the $12 and it goes 3 ways to the flop, are we just okay check folding if a over card comes on the flop? Obv we can call a cbet and see what happens on the turn…..

—>>Assuming we flat from the SB<<—

Pot= $30 FLOP comes A J 5 (with 2 clubs)

-We check and villain bets $15…..Fish folds

-This has to be a raise, correct? The hand started at 125bb and our goal is to maximize value…..I figured to put in a raise to $45-55….Sizing??

Thanks for any feedback….

Because we will be OOP post flop, I'm not against flatting Villain's bet, because with a super short stack on the button this is and could look like a squeeze play to get V to fold and get HU with button. He then 4bets and we are in an ugly spot, OOP, playing for stacks if we call.

Assuming we flat from the SB, since we have no prior information about him because of lack of reraise pre, I'm alright with checking to the raiser here, not so much for V, but to maybe string along short stacked button. Villain bets out, Button goes all in would be ideal, but button folds.

Villain needs to realize that his bet on the flop, has a HUGE chance of being reraised by Button. That adds more strength to his bet, as I don't think he'd lead out to a pot with a short stack behind him without the intention of getting it all in. That means he has a piece of this flop (which we want) and we should let him continue his "lead".

With that being said, I'm okay with flatting again and seeing a turn. You're ahead with a straight and flush draw on board with no backdoor draws in your hand. His range has probably hit this flop or has some equity in the hand. KQ/AK/AQ/A10/Q10/K10 (hard to determine suites without knowing which cards on flop are club) type hands with two clubs or even one are staying in this hand and calling smallish raise. Check/call is fine. Raise just bloats pot and could make for very awkward turn and river cards/bets since you are OOP and have to check any club or card that completes a straight draw.

** Also ** You're post flop play has to do with your image and how you are perceived by the table. Are you a player that would raise light here? Would you raise a draw or are you only raising sets or two pairs?

I think a 3bet is better to possibly get HU with rec player.

I would rather put in a 3bet pre, but as it was called ... Ideally, I would rather lead the flop with a bet in hopes for a raise to then bet/shove. No more fugly decisions (scare cards/action/hand killers) on the turn.

Villain's range is fairly wide here even with fish on the button. Having said that, Villain certainly isn't playing total junk in this spot and the flop has more than likely hit the majority of his range given the SS BTN.

To me, 3bet pre would be pretty standard given you're certainly ahead of most of villain's range and you have the fish's range crushed.

On the flop, if he's the type of player that's going to 3bet light because he has the betting lead then I like a lead, 3-bet, shove. Otherwise, checking with the intention of letting villain keep the lead and hoping the fish shoves would be a more ideal line.

As played, I'd play this fairly straightforward and start building the pot by making it 45-50 on the flop. Depending on that action, you should be able to better narrow down his range and look to get value from the bottom part of that range on the next two streets with the intention of being AI on the river.