2/5 NL

Villain: Guy has recently jumped up in stakes. He often will sit at $1/$2 and if he does well he jumps up to $2/$5 to take shots. He plays a bit scared sometimes but still puts it in. I wouldn't say he is a deep thinking player. he is definitely "sticky" and tends to stick in there with TPTK. He donks a lot if he hits and is easy to read. Calls a bit loose to raises.

He probably views me as LAGgy but I don't think he really cares much. He is mostly Level 1 thinker that if you put $$$ in front of him will try very hard to think Level 2 but has not been paying attention so he falls short type guy.

Eff Stack: Mine which is about $500.

Pre-Flop: 2 limps including V who is UTG +1. I raise to $20 on BTN with Q9. I get 4 callers.

POT= $100
Flop:: J94
c,c,c, V donks $50. I call... everyone folds (mistake? Should I raise here - I know that's one line. My reasoning was that I did not think I could get him off of his J or maybe even his 9 with a raise so I had no fold equity with my semi-bluff. We do have a strong draw but I was maybe trying to entice others to come in).

POT= $200
Turn: 3
V checks. I bet $75. V pretty much snap calls.

POT= $350
River: A

He checks...I think and think if I should bluff here... should I?

Other than that decision...how would you have played the hand differently and why?

What is the flop?

LOL...sorry..I edited it...should be correct now.

The flop was:

J94

I probably just check the turn. He bet the flop into 3 players. That's a pretty strong action to take. You said he is sticky post flop, so it's highly unlikely that a $75 bet will get him to fold on the turn. If we have a majority equity in the pot, it's not going to be by much. With almost no FE, I'd just check it back.

If you can apply the word "sticky" to villain in any real way, he's probably someone you want to take off your bluffing list. The way to exploit these villains is through value betting, not bluffing. When you have J9 or A9 on this board, then you can expect this guy to pay you off more than most. Bluffing these Vs usually leads to pain.

In agreement.

But What I was thinking was that I likely had a full 14 outs. I felt a small % of the time he might fold if he had a pair less than Jacks. And some of the time my 9 might be good.

Rest of time, if he had the Jack I am a 2-1 dog on this hand and betting $75 gets me 2.3-1 on a strong draw, and my hand might be good with the 9 if he does call with like 88 or something. Is this spewy reasoning?

Once the river hit I felt like I could bluff the ACE but then I did not think he'd leave his JAck and the above "stickiness" reasoning" kicked in.

Isoing pre against 2 EP limps with only 100bbs seems spewy.

On the flop I'm raising to charge OESDs and flush draws and to get some better hands to fold like better 9x and a weak Jx. Make it $190 to put the pressure and make him decide if he wants to play for stacks with a medium strength hand.

Turn bet is ok but the logic behind it is poor. He's not folding anything better for a 1/3 PSB but he will call with draws that we have beat at the moment. So I think it's more of a thin value bet more than it is a bluff. Also I think his check discounts AJ and KJ.

River is interesting. If your read is correct that he's scared money then there should be a ton of FE here with the intention of getting QJ/JT type hands to fold. In my experience though ppl tend to hero rivers with a much higher frequency when the front door draws miss so I would just check back and hope the hand is good but would value bet KJ+.

Textbook spew.

If raising pre, should've been more like 35 with two limpers.

Position is a beautiful thing. Take the free card.

If you have a tight image, you can also raise flop to $150 and shove any turn.

Reason 1, Your turn bet was so small that you only make him fold hands that you are already beating(pocket pairs), you give him an opportunity to shove and deny your hand alot of the equity that it has, and you get called by all jacks probably TT and k9/a9, so you put money where if you get called you are probably beat. I'm not against a bet here, I am only against such a small bet

2. Very spewy reasoning to think that betting a small amount when you are behind is some how giving you odds. you are only giving HIM odds. Also your Q isn't exactly a Live out when you bet so small, it brings in alot of draws(KT/T8/QJ)

3. Again, you have the right thought to bluff the Ace, but not the right actions, you took a pretty weak line and shoving the river looks like a missed draw. If you had bet the turn bigger it sets you up for a river shove that makes sense (ie. you bet big on turn to not price in the draws, because you are bluffing that you have a big made hand)

First q9s is the worst possible hand to iso v w seeing as we
Make him extremely smart to stick w AQ tptk.
And if we're possibly getting 4 callers the hand is busto

2c

ISO is fine to me. But now continue the aggression post- you flopped the world. Raise flop big. Donk bets are rarely monsters, put the pressure on.

Raise flop; shove turn.

Edit: If your $20 pre-flop bets are getting called by the entire table, then you need to raise bigger. Raising Q9s, from the button, in a five handed game is super standard, IMO.

I think it's quite likely that aces/kings are "outs" if you check the turn. But now when you bet the river it doesn't look so much like AK anymore. Why would you bet small with AK or AQ begging for a call on the turn?

If he calls the flop bet how is the 3d going to scare him on the turn? And now if you bet the river your story may work, but it doesn't make sense.

So, I would have checked the turn.