Hero (900) Hyper aggresive image. More than 3 hours in the session and Ive been playing really tight since there is a crazy gambler in the table that calls everything. Have a lot of history with V1. He should have noticed that im playing tight this session. I usually try to avoid him
V1 (1500) Very solid TAG pro player. He practically lives in the casino. He plays very few hands per hour and he always shows extremely good hands. He can bluff ocasionally but he very rarely gets out of line
V2 (4500) Crazy gambler. He bought in for 14k and is playing almost every hand, calling all ins with gutshots. We are all waiting for him

OTH
Blinds 5-10

V1 button straddles to 20. Hero is in SB and has QhQd. We raise to 80. V2 (the crazy gambler) calls on CO and V1 calls

Flop (250) 9c8c2s

Hero decides to check this time to trap. Why didnt I bet out? The crazy gambler is betting almost any flop and can call me an all in even with a gutshot. Also if I bet and he just calls there are a lot of dangerous cards that can come on the turn, I want to get it in while im ahead

V2 checks, v1 bets out 150. V1 is a very dangerous player but can also be betting out with 9x, any 2 pair or sets. He can ocasionally bet out draws to balance his range but he might check it back since we have a maniac in the table.

I decide to raise to 375 to charge draws, V2 folds this time and V1 thinks for a moment and goes all in. Its 445 more for me.

From a balanced perspective we should call every time since he can have a lot of draws on this board. He can also have 9x sometimes since he has seen me make some crazy aggressive moves in the past, but this particular player almost always goes for the value range. He can very easily have 2 pair/set that is crushing us.

What is your opinion here?

If you are not willing to stack off on flop then you should not XR. XR folding this hand this deep would be a mistake so you have to call.

Xr size is as bad as it gets. You squeezed out the whale and that is a disaster.

Bet the flop. QQ needs protection and the whale is calling an absurd amount of the time.

Your logic is contradictory at almost every point in this hand history. You said btn probably checks back draws. Then immediately raised to "charge draws"

As for calling the jam, you can't fold after putting in half your stack with a flop value bet.

And why are you so short stacked? You're playing vs the dream opponent, put more on the table

X/raising just pushes out the fish and isolates versus the reg. Just bet the flop to get value from everybody. No need to take this FPS line.

After you check, I would call hoping to bring in the whale.

AP sizing is kinda strange. I think if you x/raise on this board it should be all-in. It would be a small overbet. Raising this small size allows Vil to play perfectly with his draws…you’re giving him great immediate odds and then he can only put money in on turns when he hits.

AP, V1 often has a set or 98s here, but you can’t fold given the price and possibility of flush draws in Vil range.

As played, you have to call, you’re actually relatively shallow with only 45 eff BBS with the straddle.

Just bet the flop and get the whale involved. Also the supposed pro you’ve described just sounds like a nit.

I don’t understand why you checked. Just lead flop, if he bets and you checkraise him and he folds thats also disaster. Make a half pot bet and hope V1 folds. Take V2 for 3 streets on most runouts. No need to play things weird vs a player who is bad.

My opinion is that what you say about your image doesn't make sense.

There’s exactly one good reason to consider folding here: if he’s good he knows that you should never fold after putting in more than half your stack.

If you feel like c/r is the play here, just put it in after his bet.

Make sure you are playing at least 100 bigs in this game. Also make sure you are willing to stack off light vs the whale.

I would open raise closer to 50 here but going bigger could be reasonable vs a whale.

3 ways it looks like we should be cbetting to charge all the trash in whale’s range but I don’t hate check/shoving. Any other raise makes future decisions impossible

AP we are beat a lot but some times he just has a very good draw, we are committed

If you read my past posts you would understand why I have an hyper aggressive image in this table. I only sayed that this session ive been playing extremely tight since there is a big whale that calls almost everything. V1 might have noticed that I changed gears this session

I bought in for 100bb but already lost one buy ine, If I drop below 600 I was rebuying. There is a lot of variance involved in this game

If you're playing a stack that's 30-50 straddles, you need to be very aggressive and accept sky high variance.

In raised pots with that stack size you usually make your decision for the hand on the flop. On one hand that's very convenient because you can't make any mistakes on the turn or the river if the flop was your last decision point. On the other hand that means there's no way to salvage the hand if you botch the flop. Putting half your stack in without knowing what to do next certainly qualifies as that.

From what ive read in the forum you are right. I should have directly bet out the flop and evaluate turn/river. I was a lil worried since Villain is very nitty and im not sure if we can ever find a fold the way I played the hand

you mean this shallow, we started the hand with 90 bb's so yeah anything other than calling after deciding to c/r to "trap" the gambler would have been a mistake.