1/2. Saturday evening. 8 handed.

V1 (UTG +2) opened to 12.
Hero with 34cc on the CO called (not disciplined tonight but is my lucky suit).
V2 (BTN) called.

V2 is the effective stack with about 220. Hero had about 350 and V1 covered me.

Table image:
V1 is a tight semi-reg. White guy 35-40ish. His opening range and is tighter than ours. Low bluffing frequency. Not sticky.
V2 is an unknown, East Asian guy, 25-30ish. Tends to be calling too much with a loose passive image.

Flop (39): 335
V1 bets 30.
I called.
V2 called.

Turn (129): 7
V1 checked.
Hero?
And what is our plan for the river?

Thanks everyone and advise on any previous streets are welcome too.

I would have raised flop, try to get some overpairs to call, maybe some flush draws shove and we can start playing for stacks with our equity. I don't think a call is the play tbh. If V1 is tight he might just fold light so I think it's definitely player dependent but would still raise

Yeah I didn't like my play throughout this hand to be honest.

I don't play baby suited connectors often and rarely flopped a trip, hence have it posted here for advice. You are right raising flop would have made my life much easier with the following streets.

Preflop is a punt but it's your lucky suit.

Flop: I don't mind the smooth call, as we can always re-raise if V2 raises behind us. I especially like it when we have 43 because we have a blocker to the wheel draws and 76s.

Turn: with two FDs on board, I like a PSB or even a slight overbet. Yes we turn our hand face up. So what? Only FDs can continue. We're obviously in kicker trouble against the case 3, which is likely to be Ax3x. I suppose someone can have 64s, but at least we block one combo. Boats smoke us but we're getting felted anyway against boats.

River: we're probably going to have to x/cry-call spade rivers. Prefer a value bet on other (ds) broadway/Ace rivers targeting two-pair hands. Probably block bet heart rivers.

I found your analysis very helpful! During the hand I did not have enough time to think through the blocker part.

By my understanding of V1, when checking the turn, his hand can't be A3 or 55, and I doubt that he would open from EP with 46, so he is most likely on FD or has overpairs 99+. With V2, his range was still so so wide to me. He's the sort of player who would just call the flop with A3, 88 or even KJ, and of course any draws. And he had less than 1.5 SPR behind, so I struggled to decide on a good size to bet into him.

To me that's the most tricky part multi way and acting in the middle.

I fold pre but that's just me.

I also call flop, no reason to bet him off his hand spades is such a tiny piece of the puzzle to bank everything that they have a FD and we have to raise. Raising is also fine of course too.

As played bet around 65 and call in case he raises

PRE - 43s? Seriously? C'mon man. You're better than that.

FLOP - V1 bet 3/4 pot. Smooth call. Even if V1 bet small, with V2 behind, just call. If V1 checked, we can bet 2/3 pot and not be too far off optimal sizing, I'd think.

TURN - Must bet. Gotta be large. 2/3 pot ($90-ish), at a minimum, if not full pot. Wouldn't hate an over-bet. We'd love V2 to jam rather than flat call, putting real pressure on V1. If V1 over-jams, that would be awesome.

RIVER - If we get stacks in on the turn, we don't need a plan for the river. Otherwise, how we play it is going to depend on who calls the turn bet, how big the pot is, how much stack depth is left, what V2 did on turn following our bet, what V1 did on turn, what V1 does on river.

But...we started with $350. We've got $308 left on the turn. If we put $90 or more in, the pot is going to be at least $309 going to the river, and we'll only have $218 left. We're setting up for a river jam.

Maybe we can get away from our hand if V1 jams river from up front on a flush card or wheel-completing card, but otherwise, any non-heart / non-spade card above a 7, and we're going with it. Pray for an off-suit 4 or off-suit 6.

I think if V2 raises (he has SPR 1.5 ott btw), he's very likely to have a made straight, or a boat. Otherwise he's the sort of player who would only call, whilst raising or folding are better options. And because he has 1.5 SPR, if we bet 65 and he calls with 115 behind, on the river we could be an in awkward spot again with a bad river card and OOP.

I agree 65 is enough to get V1 off his potential spade draw or overpairs.

bet enough where you can go all in on the river for less than pot.

pf is too loose for me and probably too loose in general unless you are good at bluffing. i suck at bluffing hence i fold pre.

that said i dislike being a preflop Karen so w/e.

Bet like 60-70 and hope they both call

Pre is whatever, but it happens sometimes. Flop is fine. Bet the turn. Anywhere from $60 - $75 works.

I agree with most people here PF was a punt, but many thanks for saying it nicely.

I did end up betting in this price zone you said.

On the turn I bet 75, V2 called, V1 folded.

River came Q so back door flush got there.
I did block bet 50, V2 jammed which is just over 100, similar to a min raise. I cry called. V2 showed 68hh.

Later on V1 told me he had Ace front door FD. V2 told me he wouldn't fold the turn regardless the size of the bet because he had less than 200 left at that point and he was ready to go home.

My thoughts after this hand (welcome debate if you disagree):
1. I will reduce the frequency playing baby suited connectors in all positions, but I won't reduce it 0%.
2. Seems like both checking and raising on the flop are reasonable, with a loose passive player behind I am now inclined to raising, because v2 can call so wide and on later streets OOP I can't even find his hand.
3. AP on the river v2 only had 1/3 pot size left, maybe it's too thin to block bet. Probably check-call (most of the time) or check-fold (occasionally).

Misdeal. 7h is on board and in V's hand. Call the floor.

Block betting when he has 1/3 pot left is too thin. Check, let him bet, call it off.

I told you, you're better than 43s. We don't have to play every SC.

Haha you are right. V2 had 68hh. My bad!!!