$1/$2 NL

I've been at the table for about 90 minutes; the villain has been there one round. I've been playing a tight, aggressive game (at least in terms of the hands I've shown down). Villain has been loose and passive (e.g. limped twice with small pocket pairs then called large raised pre-flop set-mining).

I'm in the SB with about 5 limpers and raise to $18 with red AA. BB (villain) calls. All others fold.

Flop: 4c 5d Jh

I c-bet $25. Villain calls.

Turn: Qc

I bet $45. Villain calls.

River: 5c

After the turn call, I was fearful of a flopped set of 4s or 5s or a suited A5c.

I check and villain bets $100 into the ~$180 pot.

Whaddya do?

River i would bet for value and fold to a raise. 55-70 ish,
ASP Sigh I base it on villain w your info loose passive fold, But you said he is new so your read could be off, So i could convince myself to call. I keep saying this today ITS CLOSE

I would have be the flop and turn a little larger. And I would have bet the river.
Bit of a tough spot as played. I probably end up calling it off. There are some straight draws he would have missed. And you can beat QJ now.

You need to include stack sizes in your posts. always.

And we can't put any faith at all in reads at this point because he has been at the table 1 orbit.

You beat QJ, so you call.

The thing is you don't seem to think 5x is that likely, so the 5 is a decent card for you. There's not much value on the turn though, arguably I wonder if you can just check the turn and get 1 street of value vs Jx on the river if he checks back.

As played I'd say standardish call, although it might be different if you think he plays 45 and A5s like this often (call pre, flop, and turn). Which is like, not a super common tendency.

Checking the turn is really bad imo. We have a very strong hand and there's no reason to believe he will fold Jx. We can't check just because he might have QJ.

LLSNL is all about value betting. Let him figure out what stupid hands he is going to call with. But he almost certainly is going to call with enough to make this a 3barrel all the time.

i bomb/fold the river

I'm not sure what you mean by "bomb" but I think this is a rare spot where a smallish bet is actually better. I probably would have bet around the same $100 as he did. The Q was a pretty bad card for a lot of the hands he called the flop with, especially the ones we are beating.

I may even bet a little smaller than that.

Call AINEC

Your river check is fine because it induces a bet/bluff. A lot of the range I put him on(6,7 or any J) can't call much or anything but will bluff the scare card(flush).

You checked river, you are now way under repped and QJ (always), any Q sometimes, any AJ(occasionally) will bet for value

Add in a bunch of missed draws(6,7) that will occasionally bluff
And obviously his value bets FH(definitely some) and backdoor flushes(rare IMO) You feared Ac5c- well that's out now so what flushes does he have?

That's a huge range that bets here and you are getting 1.8-1 so you need to win only 35% of the time.

If you're posting because you called and were beat here, too bad, so sad, but I would call here with this line 100% of time barring some specific read.

So well played if you called.

^agreed this spot is best for small value, if we bomb say 120+ not much calls that we beat

A little more info and clarification then I'll post the results:

* If it matters, villain is a woman.
* Starting stack sizes (about): Hero = $275, Villain $250

@jack492505: I hated my bet sizing after posting this. I agree with you.
@Sol Reader: I did think A5 suited was within her range, thus my pause when the river 5 hit

He's basically never turning Jx into a bluff here. Which is most of the reason we should bet. Because he will call with that enough and probably isn't bluffing the missed SDs often enough to make up for it.

Remember she can't have 5cXc anymore so its super unlikely she has a 5.

True, true. Much easier to see the hand from 30k feet then when you're in it.

Anyway, I fold. She rolls over the 67o like she's Mrs. Phil Ivey. She is in the 1 seat and me in the 10. She threw the cards in front of me if you can believe that.

At the end of the day, which for her was only about one more orbit, I felted her. So at least there was some validation for my poor play I guess.

If you check the river I don't think folding is that bad. But don't ever check there IMO.

I appreciate the critique. Definitely see now river check was bad.

Turn check is not because we are worried of QJ, but because we don't get much value from their range. If villain has KJ, it's far more likely he would pay off a bet-check-bet line than bet-bet line, and basically never call vs 3 streets. vs GOOD regs b-c-b line looks a bit stronger, but lots of players will be afraid of overcards and fold.

THIS IS THE EXACT REASON WHY WE BARREL OVER CARDS. BECAUSE THEY FOLD.

It disguises our hand very well. This is just basic pot control 101. In any case, betting 3 streets is okay too, but betting turn but checking river is almost definitely bad. If you only want 2 streets of value get flop and river, unless there are more reads/dynamic.

this should be a classic b/b/b line and prob should be bet/folding on the turn and river. so I am just b/f the river for value here vs described player.

I'm curious why you checked the river was it to induce a bluff or were you just hoping to see a showdown??

How exactly is A5 in their range here? They called a pre raise and flop and turn bets on a board that had Q (on flop) and J (on turn). I don't see loose passive V calling that often once you fire the second barrel on the turn. Passive 1/2 players aren't in the business of defending 3rd pair to aggressors that often.

Draws and Queens are so much more likely there. I would have called as played. If they have a set or flush, nice hand.

And bet more than 1/2 pot on turn here to chase/punish the draws.

I call here. The flush is the only hand I'm worried about. With 2 aces in your hand and two 5s on the board I'm never putting v on A,5.

I'm in the b/f group.

I would not have expected a female villain to be bluffing there either. But I agree with all previous posters, b/b/b is your line here.

Talked myself into her having a set or flush really. Thought I made a hero fold and didn't. I'm still learning the NL cash game. I generally play Limit mixed games or NL tournament poker.

You guys are getting me thinking. Thanks.

Don't check the river unless you'll instacall that bet from villain. Villain has not shown any aggression postflop, so continue to take him to valuetown. Bet a callable amount for him OTR like $90 and fold if he shoves.