That's such a bad 3b with AJs IMO. If you're going to squeeze an UTG raiser + mp call do it with the bottom of your calling range. AJs is too good of a hand to essentially bluff 3b in this spot IMO. I wouldn't really advocate frequently squeezing UTG raisers light at 1/2 anyway.

Also unless villain is terrible he will either 4b/4b shove or fold in this spot anyway. If he somehow raise/calls JJ or QQ in this spot you're crushed anyway, and I assume that if he's going to raise/call QQ utg he's not doing it to fold a low flop.

Also, lets say you raise to 40 and get called. What hands do you beat on 224? badly played AK and nothing else, unless you think you can take villain off JJ or QQ which in practice rarely happens at 1/2.

3bet pre is bad.
Re. flop.
I think theres zero FE if we bet here. And if we get c/r, I would be hating myself. Check by V1 is suspicious. We would think all AQ/AK hands would just cbet this flop.
Check behind. We have position and we can build the pot later.

+1

Betting flop is probably +EV, but checking is super trappy here and you have the potential of winning a huge pot with a disguised hand (if you bet you might fold out worse naked flush draws). You are probably behind at the moment, but you have a billion outs to improve - I'd elect to keep the pot small and see a turn card and gain more info from your opponents.

The check to me screams KK or a spewy preflop raise with 44 that smacked the flop. Can't see many other hands checking here. You have an AA blocker and 55-QQ would bet to protect nearly all of the time 3 way.

That being said, I'd bet 20, because you can still call a check raise if he goes to 60-70, as opposed to having to call closer to 100. If you hit the turn your hand is reasonably disguised, and he might have the Kh.

Then he bets 103 into 157 with 125 behind and he has to call your jam because of his boat and losing flush outs. Easy game.

Oh yeah, or you don't hit, or he has a boat... let's see what happens OTT.

Not sure this ties together.


For those advocating betting 20-25:
If villian calls and checks a blank turn to Hero, what is your play?

Disagree about 150 percent. I don't think ALL AQ/AK hands are going to c-bet this flop 3-way. WE WOULD. But not every $1/$2 player c-bets 100 percent of the time with those hands. And very few $1/$2 players are raising 44.

If it is checked to me on the turn, it depends what the blank is.

But, yes, I'm betting again. Again, if AQ or AK peeled the flop, they are going to give up here.

Personally if I was the pfr..I would NOT cbet that flop with AK/AQ.

you are giving the orginal raiser waaay to much credit. the op said that he had be raising pretty wide even under the gun. when you factor that in with how tight our image is a 3 bet here is great. plus as far as i know we haven't 3 bet at this table yet, so that should give this 3 bet even more credit. i don't expect the caller to call and i think we have a fair amount of fold equity from utg. once we cbet on the flop i think we're folding out better pretty often although there are time when we'll be called by 88-jj, but we're still flipping against most those hands anyways. maybe i play more aggressive than alot of you guys, but this play works. i always have the highest 3 bet percentage at my table, but i am a consistent winner

Can you explain why?

Besides KJ that doesn't seem particularly wide to me in a soft live game with 150bb eff stacks. KQo is maybe a bit wide too but AJ+, KQs+, 77+ isn't ridiculous at the right table imo.

Ok so I haven't ever done this, so here it goes:

Villain 1 (300) was a small winner on small stakes online cash about a year ago. He is TAG-ish but just lost a big pot with no showdown and looks to be playing spewy of late. Overall I am not impressed with his play today. He has a tendency to make larger preflop raises of 7-9bb preflop regardless of positon. His range does not seem to change relative to position. UTG raising range is wider than usual (KJsuited, KQ, AJ and 77-1010 included).

Villain 2 is short stacked with <$120. He is weak tight, and fit or fold for the most part.

Hero ($320) has a TAG image and hasn't gotten involved much recently. Villain knows I am a solid player after several hours of playing together.

Hero is on the button with AJ Villain 1 is UTG and raises it up to $12. Villain 2 calls from MP.
Hero Calls.

I know folding was just too nitty especially given the villain, given PF raiser is suseptible to being on tilt at the moment after spewing the very previous hand; therefore his range has a possibility of being even wider.

Pot $37
Flop comes 422

Villain 1 checks, Villain 2 checks,
Hero bets $25. Villain 1 calls. Villain 2 folds.

I am aware villain raises basically the same range from all positions from playing with him for the last 4 hours. I do not think he is capable or likely to check QQ+ on this board. I am immediately putting him on a likely range of KQ hearts, and 77-JJ.

I assumed this villain would be betting this board even with mid PP, but was much more likely to bet this board with big pairs than medium pairs. I am confident I am at least 50% equity OTF.

Pot $87
Turn card is the 5, giving hero a gut shot. Villain 1 checks, Hero??

Assign a range for villain and how do we go about our turn play.

its not a good spot for the pf raiser to cbet with air cause he's oop betting into 2 opponents on a flop that has missed alot of his range. theres a good chance of getting floated here and you're definitely getting called by pp and draws, but there is also a good chance you're getting raised

at this point, i'm probably gonna go ahead and check here. the flat looks really suspicious and you really have to consider 44. i think most villains that are betting are gonna cbet if they have a flush draw with 2 overs here. this just makes me think he might be trapping. so i think checking and making a decision on the river is the best play

Checking here again. We have Zero fold equity against any overs to that board with Villian checking back on the turn, I'm happy to take a free card rather than try to barrel him off a hand like 99 that isnt folding.

IMO im much happier playing this hand against 1 villain than two now.

I am not saying hes a total LAG with a range all over the place, but imo raising KJ and KQ hands along with 77-88 is certainly wider than the average 1/2 player from EP.

for all those saying check the flop fearing a c/r I would say if the original raiser is semi competent than cbetting into two players with AK/AQ type hand kind of sucks because no one ever folds on this board in a live game, you are very often getting called buy tons of small PP or small OP or just getting floated with crap because it misses your range.

yeah you can get c/r by and overpair here but it happens alot less than you think it is going to.

bet the flop 20-25ish

also anyone you have pegged as a semi solid online winner is prob going to cbet a strong FD on that board so I think you can remove that from is range somewhat when he c/c the flop.

I am somewhat tempted to just ship this turn though I cant really blame you for checking. his line is so weak and there are hardly any monsters in his range so semi bluff shoving cant be too bad

What is this villains tendency to float? Does do it alot? I mean, we're dealing with a semi-tilted TAG that just called one barrel on the flop, will he fold to two? I just dont think the 5 gives us ANY fold equity, but if he's willing to float with overs to try to 'catch' he might shut down to two??

Yes, he has floated oop. I don't know about often, but I saw it. He seems to be tilty... About 20 minutes prior he was the preflop raiser from the SB 3 way... flop came 2 3 10 and it was checked around. Turn was a 6 and he c/c a fish that bet the turn. River was a 9 and woman scooped with Q9 and was bluffing. That tells me he floated or had a draw.

if this is the case ship the turn all day IMO

What are we getting to fold here?

I think most internet players would bet this flop with TT+. I put villains range on 99,88,77,66,55,44, 33. KhXh, KhXx, and discount QhJh too.

Check this turn card we have picked up outs but still lost equity against his range. if he has a flush draw, we are gonna get paid if we hit. If he has a PP or a FD, he will prob check call. If we choose this option we probably have to get stacks in on the river.

One thing we can probably find out with a bet here is if villain has 44 or 33. If we bet 25ish again, he is certainly going to check raise with this hand on the turn.

Problem is, 44 and 33 are very discounted due to combinations and the fact that he 1) Raised UTG and 2) checked twice. Most 1/2 players cannot help but bet the turn with a monster fearing a check through.

I know people say betting for information is bad, but in 1/2 this player will seldom bluff a worse draw and will almost always check raise a full house.

I am probably 75% checking, 25% betting in this scenario (25ish). If you hit a A or J on the river I call a reasonable bet and/or bet river for value if checked to. If you hit a heart I prob stack off.

I think if we shove the turn...its a BIG overbet...no offense...

I'm really torn between checking and betting here...

If we bet and bink...gin

If we bet and miss... crap

If we check and bink and he bets gin

If we check and miss its a fairly easy walk away.

why do you think the villains range is strong here? you just said he is tilted and you saw him float OOP with A high, what hands can he call with here? I am not saying that you have to bet here but surely his range is not strong on the turn.

sorry mis read the stack sizes in the OP shoving is prob too big an over bet here, though I am still betting if this villains range is pretty wide there is a reasonable chance he is folding alot of his range.

After betting the flop, I think we should just check back and take the free card. I don't see villain c/c the flop and then folding this turn very often. I believe his range is heavily weighted to small to medium pp's.

I don't think checking back the flop is bad either, super deceptive and we're likely to get payed off if we do improve. I would imagine that betting the flop is certainly +EV though.