2/3 live, 9-handed

Effective stacks $270

UTG limps, Hero in +1 limps with 6 6, +2 limps, blinds check.

The board is 9 6 8 / A / A

Hero has barreled flop and turn, only +2 and SB have called. River is the action card. Fills us up while completing the flush.

And now, SB leads for $65 into $160. He's a solid player. Haven't seen him get out of line. He obviously just made his draw. FWIW, he started with about $600 behind.

I can only assume this is a b/f from a flush. I played the hand strong and clearly wasn't afraid of the Ace turn despite the fact that it could have paired someone if they had the NFD. It should have been clear I had a set, and a flush should now be wary of the paired board.

So how do we maximize here? We have about $220 behind. My concern about shoving is that it might fold everyone out. +2 will be hard-pressed to cold-call a shove, and SB should finally get the message that I have a boat.

Sucks to just call, but it might pick up a crying call from +2 since he'll be closing the action. No idea what he has since it's hard to imagine there are two flushes out there.

Best play?

imo shoving only ends up getting called by a better hand. Flushes might be calling you here, but not if they're even relatively decent. Max value might just be calling.

I probably just raise because I often have a tricky image and I back myself to thin value bet a lot of rivers.

They will probably just fold this time but it will frustrate them and eventually they'll call me light on the river with a worse hand.

But if we call and we get raised, are we really folding with what we have behind? I can see a bigger full house (set of 9s, 8s, or A9 that didn't believe you), but I don't see a fold the way villains played this hand.

So we're not folding to a raise, but we're also not getting a better hand than ours to fold, sounds like a call, no?

I'm a little worried about A8/A9 but I must admit I'm influenced by OP saying villain obviously just made his flush draw.

I think I pop it to 145. If he comes back over the top I think we don't have an easy decision. Can he really do this without A8/A9?

My point is, its not just about this hand. I have a bluffy image (mainly because I routinely overbet the river when I think I have the best hand). I want to repop him so that eventually he'll call me light on the river in other hands.

I prob just shove and pray for a call. Villain will be getting 3:1, and might think he is priced in. If you think +2 will call for $60 and you think SB calls less than 39% of the time then calling is the better play.

I also think it is not necessarily that obvious to villains that you had a set on flop and turn.

Do you really think people play 99, 88 or even A9 this way?

Its conceivable SB could play A9 like this in a limped pot if he is worried about the 75 straight and sets.

Kind of weird for him to call the turn bet with a flush draw. JT?

We don't know bet sizing or too much about SB but I would think A9 would lead on the turn, maybe check raise?

He is mentioned as solid, and he could have A9 but hard to put a random hand (blind hand) on perfect, perfect.

I guess it depends on the read then. If we're not folding to a raise, and we don't think there is a bigger full house (which is not folding no matter what) then we really are just raising for value. At these stack sizes I don't see why we want to represent a strong hand by not going all in.

I still think a call is more prudent. Villain's line can be so much like scared money that can't lay down what they see as a good hand.

My point is its not just about this one hand.

With a conservative image, we should probably just call because they're not calling a raise with worse.

With a bluffy image, if we really think we have the best hand and we're good at extracting thin value, then we should just go ahead and raise. Even if they fold this hand, they will be suspicious and eventually they'll call us down light with the worst hand.

I shove. People will talk themselves into a call here all day ("Why did he shove, did he not want me to call? Does he think his 3 aces are good here?", etc.). And while the percentage of times they call a shove will probably be lower than the percentage of times they call a minraise or some other gay raise, we make a lot more money overall on the shove. As for +2, who knows what he'll do with a bet/call in front of him. If he has a nothing hand, he'll fold and we don't really lose anything. If he has a hand worth raising, he now has a hand that will consider calling the shove and he'll be in the same boat as SB.

For example (numbers pulled out of my bum):

SB will call a minraise 66% of the time and only call a shove 33% of the time.

.33 * $155 = $51.15 > .66 * $65 = $42.90

Plus, we have the added benefit of this being a tilt / confidence crushing play regardless of what SB does to the shove. ("Did I have the best hand? I might have to call next time..." vs "Ug, I shoulda folded. I'm such a donk.")

ETA: I'm taking OPs opinion that we are not behind here and that we are simply trying to maximize our win.

GshovingandgettingpaidoffmorethanIthought,eventhou ghI'mthetablenitG

shove, nothing else.

I agree. Even if +2 flats when you call, you would only need to get called 1 out of 3 times when you shove to show a higher ev.