1/3 No-limit

The table is pretty tight/loose/passive with another TAG somewhere in the landscape. Standard boring 1/3 table except for two villains, one who folded pre in this hand.

Hero, $350 is playing ABC-TAG so far. Won a big pot getting it in against villain with KK pre; won another big pot with an overpair and has taken down a couple pots with the bread-and-butter raise pre/cbet ragged flop. Bought in for $125, so I have a winning image.

Villain, $650 is a TAGmaniac with a huge ego. He plays smart, straightforward poker until he loses a big pot any possible way -- he gets sucked out on, coolered, overplays his hand -- and then he gets pissed off. After that he'll overplay every hand, check-raise bluff randomly, station any piece, etc.

He bought in and quickly doubled me up when I had KK, then spewed 2 full buyins in a couple orbits. (This happens most of the times he shows up, but it usually happens after an hour or two.) But he's hit a decent run of cards and has chilled out. I don't think he's quite even, but he knows he has to play smarter with a big stack so he's treading more carefully.

He and I have a lot of history and play extremely aggressively against each other. He's always been especially pissed off by the way I play. At the cage he once told me: "You continuation bet a-lot." He used to check-raise me all the time with any pair; I responded by widening my value range, took some big pots off him, and he backed off somewhat. He and I get along amicably, and he respects my play, but he just gets fed up so easily.

Preflop

Villain limps in MP.

Hero raises to $18 with TT.

1 loose-passive pre fit-or-fold player calls from the blinds, he calls.

Pre, he raises strong pairs (77+, although he limps 77 and 88 sometimes) and strong broadways (AJ+, KQ) to $12 or $15, and he limps speculative hands like JTs, 33, A7s, 86s, etc. Then when we raise him, he calls with the good hands while finding folds with the raggedy suited connectors. So his range is pretty much 88-, QJ-, A9s-.

Flop ($50): T96

Checks to hero who bets $40.

ABC folds, villain calls.

Turn ($140): T96 3

Villain checks.

On the flop, villain would often check-raise me with JQ. Almost always with straights and sets. And he doesn't play J8.

Hero ???

At the time, I couldn't figure out what I was betting against and how much I should bet.

120. Why do you buy in so short?

I normally buy in for $100, then add $100 after an orbit or two, and top off after that. I bought in for $125 this time because I had just busted from a $75 tournament and had that $25 burning a hole in my wallet. Then I got above $300 within an orbit or two.

Bet. $90 here looks good.
Esp if you have a history of double barreling.

He can call down light or raise a hand like 98s and 67s as a semi-bluff.

Why though? Under rolled, no cash on hand, etc.? Just curious. You should be playing at least 100bb and topping off accordingly.

There are a lot of really smart competent players who buy in shorter when they are new to a table to asses the table to start.
Then top off as needed/required.

I'd probably bet $100. I don't see why we should check here.

I'd bet anywhere in the ball park of 90-110. He's playing this like a pair with a gutshot and based on your read on him he probably is holding just that.

I understand that, but I think 33bb is bad for any stake. Not trying to berate OP or start a fight, just curious.

Agree with $100ish bet.

I bet $75-90 and expect to get called by top 2 (T9s) or Pair+GSSD (QT)

We'd better be playing well against more than that, because those hands are such a narrow part of his possible range. He will call big bets with any ten, but we kinda block those.

He will also call with any pair + gutshot hand. I'd estimate his range for those is like: T8s (1), 98s, (3) 97s (3), 86s (3), 76s (3). He'd probably call a big bet with those 13 hands on the off chance that A) he might be good and B) he can suck out if not.

(He never has top two pair here fwiw. He would get that in against me on the flop.)

I'm including only suited hands because while he has a spew factor, he is pretty tight and straightforward pre, not calling with trash very often.

Turn: Hero bets $80.

Villain calls.

Normally when I bet the turn for value I'm thinking about the hands he called the flop with and how much he will call. So for example, if the turn is an overcard I'll bet smaller. I was really lost here though so I made a straightforward just above half pot bet. He knows I can double barrel.

River: (300) T9637

Villain checks.

Hero ???? (about $200 behind)

Villain will check an 8 here (he's pretty much checking everything on this runout), and if I bet he might spazz raise me with strange one/two pairs or whatnot so I think calling a shove would be necessary and maybe even profitable overall. I could be wrong about that since this villain is playing more carefully, but if he shoved there would always be a probability that he's spazzing and we would have to call. He might call a shove with two pairs as well, putting me on aces and not many 8s in my range.

The way you describe it, this is a tough spot.

I don't know if this is right but maybe a bet of $60-75 would be a good idea here. 1) You said he can get spewy here, and this kind of bet just invites him to ch/r bluff you for another $125. 2) If he decides in this spot he doesn't want to spew he will most likely call most of his range for such a small bet, so it also works as a good value size.

Is he really playing a hand he will spazz with on the river so passively throughout? You said you guys played aggressively against each other? Why do you think he'd check an 8? Does he expect you to bet no matter what?

If your plan to call any raise and think he's not folding two pair, just bet $100 (call obviously) or shove.

If you really think he will check an 8 here, just check behind. I just don't trust his line -- it seems as if he's calling with a draw and got there.

This hand is really read-dependent.

I'd bet/fold $100 to target the case T or rivered two pair, especially if you think he can bluff-raise the river by repping an 8. You call a shove if you think he can bluff this spot, you fold if you think he can't.

:gunch:

WP so far.

I want to bet $100 on the turn and ship most rivers.
Against another opponent I might consider the $100 threshold and bet a little less (like $95), but against this guy we can GII. The spewyer the player the more I want to bet-bet-bet.

Is there any way your history and his potential tilt gets him to call a turn ship for $300?

With only a 2/3 PSB left, why would he check an 8 to you? That's a pretty scary board runout for your range and a very favorable runout for his range. From his perspective, how often are you checking back this river? I'd say very often. JJ+ will probably take a b/b/c line, same with Tx, T9, and possibly even sets might check back river.

When he checks to you on the river, his range becomes very unpolarized. He wants to either pick off a bluff with a medium strength made hand, or he wants to get to showdown. Top set on this board beats everything in an unpolarized range, so I say you effectively have the nuts.

With that said, I shove because he has stationy tendencies and because a shove makes your range very polarizing while a small bet makes your hand look...good. His unpolarized range can do well against a polarized range at showdown, whereas it does very poorly against a strong range. You want to make it look like you may have a weak hand. As a corollary, if you were bluffing in this spot with like QJ, I would tend to not shove here, rather I would bet like $150 because it makes your range look stronger to this villain.

And even if he has an 8 sometimes, how often does he have an 8 vs. how often he calls your shove and loses? Against the described player I think he will call a shove with worse far more often than he check/calls a shove with an 8 on the river

This is a very good point. Does OP have experience with V hero-calling? If so, I like the above line better. Nobody has a depolarized range at $1/2 and you may get a call of a shove because it looks so bluffy.