Here is another difficult hand over an evening session.

MP1 V1. 30yo african american guy. ($1200) He has been loose aggressive all evening. Plays lots of marginal hands preflop as limp calls or calling a preflop raiser. Likes to float the flop if only a few players in hand and has successfully folded out lots of other players with turn aggression. He has also check/called flop with two pair or better, winning some big pots in the meantime. Running really well so has been splashy with his chips.

HJ V2 50 y/o asian guy ($140). Tight preflop, but loose post-flop. Plays only good hands, but hates to give up a made hand after the flop

CO Hero - 40 y/o asian guy ($400) Fairly tight preflop, but shows aggression after flop.

1/2NL

Pre-flop
V1 open raises $6, V2 calls from HJ, Hero raises to $25 with JhJc, V1 calls, V2 calls.

Flop ($78)
Qh 9h 5h
V1 checks, V2 checks, Hero checks.
My thinking is that it is a very wet board with an overcard. Not sure if I have the best hand though possible and any Ah or Kh is gonna call or might even reraise. I have showdown value so check it through.

Turn (6s) ($78)
V1 checks, V2 checks, Hero bets out $30
My thinking was that the other 2 players are waving the green flag for me to go so I bet a slightly less than 1/2 pot to charge the flush draws and perhaps cause someone to hesitate putting a pot sized raise in to try to steal pot on river if they sensed complete weakness from everyone.

I was check raised to $80 by V1. HJ fold, Hero calls.
My thinking was that I may be beat or a LAG may be trying to steal the pot. I bet from last position with 2 checks in front of me. An aggressive player with Ah or Kh might do this thinking I might just have overcards or a flush draw myself. If I am behind, I have the 3rd nut flush card just in case, but a bad situation all around.

River ($238)
V1 donk bets $110 into hero. Hero ??

As played, fold the river. Expect to see V show close to the nut flush here.

The more interesting decision is your bet size on the turn. I think this bet needs to be bigger, for two reasons:

(1) If one of the V's has the Ah or Kh, they are getting the right odds to try to draw. Remember that they beat you by making a better pair, in addition to making the flush. You want to charge more here in the event you are ahead.

(2) A bigger bet makes it more riskier for either V villain to try a bluff-raise. A player sensing weakness could easily C/R OTT after they see a scared-looking $30 bet. If you bet closer to 2/3 pot (say 50-55), then it decreased the likelihood that a C/R is a bluff, and allows you to comfortably fold in those situations where you are indeed C/R.

So, in order:

Bet bigger on the turn.
Fold when facing a C/R on turn.
Fold on river when facing a big bet.

Bet the turn bigger.

As played, aggro villain took a nonsensical line and gave us good odds. We have a great bluff catcher. Calling c/r and river very quickly.

I'm snapping off the river. I might pretend tank for 30 seconds so he doesn't think I completely soul owned him. If he checked a made flush twice so be it. I expect him to be completely polarized between flushes and air on the river.

What's the river?

Sorry.. I just noticed that too. I forgot to post the river. River was essentially a blank like a 2c. I forget the exact card but it didn't change any made hands or any draws. Was a low card and not an overcard to the Q or Jacks.

I can't fold to this guy on a blank river. Also, I bet the turn a bit bigger for reasons stated.

Why not bet the flop?

I thought about betting flop but it would bloat pot if i was behind. LAG would put in bigger bets and I would easily be playing for stacks by river. I suppose that a flop bet if it guaranteed a turn check by v1 would have been ok but I felt that I had some show down value so could afford some pressure on turn if checked to again

What do people think about turn check with the plan of calling any pot size bet on river. It pot controls so the river bet wouldnt be huge even if pot sized. It would give a LAG a green light to try to bluff river if he only had a busted flush draw. I didnt think it likely that i could get a flush draw that beat me to fold turn even with a 2/3 bet. I didnt know where i stood and a call on the turn from one of the villains could mean a queen meaning i was value betting for the other guy. However, the two checks on the turn ahead of me did make me feel like I was ahead so I would be missing out on making the flush draws pay for the card

I agree that if I am going to bet turn that i should have made it larger to make draws calll with incorrect odds and make it less likely to get a bluff check raise

I went with my read that he was a LAG and called river bet. He showed Qh 9h for two pair on the flop. His turn check was confusing to me and seemed like a risky play in that he could be giving a free card. It did pay off for him though. Makes me wonder whether a turn > 2/3 pot turn bet > 1/3 turn bet

I went with my read that he was a LAG and called river bet. He showed Qh 9h for two pair on the flop. His turn check was confusing to me and seemed like a risky play in that he could be giving a free card. It did pay off for him though. Makes me wonder whether a turn check > 2/3 pot turn bet > 1/3 turn bet

I'm fine with a flop check. Better isn't folding, and a lot of the worse hands have enough equity to c/r, there aren't a lot of worse hands that will have trouble improving, i.e. TT. So checking the flop seems optimal to me.

I'd feel confident my hand was best ott though after getting checked to twice, and against draws this is our last street of value, so definitely betting the turn, the amount needs to be what prices V out via direct odds. a half PSB gives V 25% equity needed to continue, a fd+over card has ~25%, so you need to be going more than half pot, $30 is definitely too low. And because this is just a direct odds calculation, we can never be paying off V when the fd hits, no leveling yourself into thinking he's just rep'ing the flush otr and leading out for that reason. If the flush hits otr, fold.

I'm either betting the flop or the turn (not both). It's going to depend on my current image and table dynamics. If villains are playing fit-or-fold and fear me a bit, I'll bet $50 on the flop, effectively turning my hand into a bluff which is going to work plenty of times. If villains have seen me check-fold or bet-fold a lot of flops recently, or if they're reasonably tricky in general, then I check flop and eval turn.

But if I'm betting turn, the bet needs to be at least $50. We gave a free card on a dangerous board. That signals we're either very weak or very strong. If we don't place a healthy bet on the turn, it shouts fear and invites a check-raise that we'd really rather not call.