Loose, soft, pretty passive 2-5NL game. Lot of limp limp limp hands or 1 raise, bunch of callers see a flop hands. Bunch of fish. 2 regs -one looked solid, other one could think but meh IMO.

Hero $745 playing TAG at table 2 hours. Raised most hands I've played. Folding SB, passing on a lot of the limpfest, one raise hands. Up about $245 at this table after moving over from 1-2 when seat opened.

V1 and V2 very weak players call too much, limp call then fold if miss, willing to get a lot of money in with weak holdings. pretty obvious marks here.

V3 meh Reg
V4 Ok rec player
V5 good reg
rest not relevant

V1 $400 UTG limps
V2 $280 UTG+1 calls
folds to
V3 $785 CO calls
V4 $400 Btn calls
V5 $1000 completes
Hero $745 BB picks up QQ raises to $40(usual raise at this table has been 20-25). I'm OOP and any less will just end up 5-6 way. Would like to get HU or 3 way with V1 V2.

folds around to V3 who makes it $105
folds to Hero.

Note I don't think there is any way that V3 hasn't noticed/targeted the marks. At this passive table he can't expect a raise behind him(he's in CO) so I feel he has to raise any premiums and likely AK AQ hands that play better HU. Maybe calls behind fish with mid pairs or AQs AJs looking at the mutiway value of those hands.

Thoughts/action?

You are in a good spot to either smooth call or raise since stacks are deep enough. If you smooth you basically need to be willing to punt if any A or K show on the flop. The other bad thing about smoothing is that I think it takes AA and KK out of your range being OOP unless you feel you can rep AK with what is now a donk bet. Regardless of donk or check, he is in good position to put you to the test after the Flop.

He has basically raised the pot. If you raise I wouldn't go too high, maybe $200 to go, like you would if you had AA or KK. AA/KK bets want to price in callers - they don't commit the bettor to his stack thus leaving the 'illusion' of fold equity.

What has the table 4-bet frequency been? If nil, then this is a great spot to test it ... just make your mind up before you put the chips in as to what you are going to do if he 5-bets, which is probably fold. If he has enough in him to push you with an AK 5-bet then props to him!!

I think the action I would do the most is smooth and bet out on any board since you are 'in position' to donk bet and then re-evaluate his Flop actions. I would make the Flop bet fairly large ... at least the $80 to $100 you would have 4-bet with. Hope it worked out for you. GL

Certainly not a $2-5 player, but why is that?

Flatting would bring you to the flop with a 2.2 SPR ... IMO a pretty optimal situation for AA or KK ... whereas with the described history I'd think 4-betting PF is going to narrow OP's range quite lot?

I guess its just my opinion that AA/KK want to have ppl put money into the pot while they are still behind when OOP. Smoothing allows the Flop to come out without any more investment by V and we are going to cbet almost any Flop anyway, so we get 2 bets of value into the pot before V can react to the Flop and get out of the hand. I wouldnt necessarily do this with 1010 to QQ since I may not want to call another bet PF for the same reasons. Could be flawed thinking, more situational than stack size dependent.

I tend to feel the limp reraise is a strong move and even if he has noticed the fish, doesn't mean he adjusted to it properly. He could also be making a play thinking your raise was to scoop dead money, but thats just leveling yourself. If this was a standard 3bet I would certainly make a case for a 4bet but this was a limp/RR which to me tips it to the top of his range. Calling is comparable to setmining, 4betting folds out bluffs and all hands you beat, plus you'll be out of position.

I'd make it $275, planning to stack off most flops (and obv pre-flop).

I would flat call here. Big issue will be your position. A really good 2-5 player will rep a big over pair if you check the flop. So I think that you need to make your game plan before you call for different types of flops based on the reads you have on v....... This can definitely become a situation that will test your skills. Good luck!

I am surprised by the number of people looking to flat here and play OOP with a lot of money behind.

Maybe it's just me, but I just don't see how he has AA KK here like almost ever.

I feel I am ahead and am going to 4 bet and play for stacks on any non A hi flop and maybe even those frankly. Glad to see SABR is thinking along these lines at least.

Hero 4 bets to $300(bit too big SABR?) I went bit bigger as I am OOP.

V thinks 5 secs and shoves. $445 to call.

when i see a decent player make a bigger than normal raise, its almost always a big hand. Then another decent player 3bets!!! I"m always showing up here with AA and KK.

He's a "decent reg", so what is his 3betting range here vs you're obvious strength? It really depends on the opponent, but just folding there is ok. Flatting is fine. i think 4betting is basically bluffing, since its unlikely he'll ever get it in with JJ or TT. That leaves you up against AA and KK for sure, maybe AK(?).

I'm putting him on AA here, which seems ridiculous, but am going from experience, given that he's a rec player starting to get a little deepstacked.

Flatting is ok. But honestly folding is best if the game is truly playing as you described. I expect this to be exactly AA a large enough percentage of the time to muck pre. We can call to set mine but I would fold most flops when villain C bets. His small 3 bet looks so strong and he's going to be flat calling most small pairs not turning them into bluffs.

As played you can't fold getting 2 to 1 I make a crying call.

I just raise. Your read is pretty awful (meh reg wtf does that mean? it's useless). Improve that and I can give you a better answer.

What does villain think about you? What level of thinking are you playing on?

Does he think you are capable of raising to pick up dead money?

Does he think that you will think he has AA or KK?

I do not see how a reg just overlimps here with AA. I can see a fishcake do it, but this is more likely AK and I will happily get it in.

Ikes you are absolutely right. I thought I included more on the V in first post but guess I overtyped some of it and didn't retype.

The Meh reg open limped too much, limp called too often, isolated limps by fish and OK rec player at least 3-4 times in 2 hours, 3 bet fish on button twice, liked to raise in position, Cbet in HU and 3way pots but didn't in 4 and 5 way pots. Floated and bet turn on weakness against fish but avoided solid reg behind him like the plague. Folded to 3 bets OOP several times. Did not bet well for thin value. Paid bit too much to draw.

Solid reg was TAG and always opened for a raise and 3 bet and continued aggression well and appropriately, basically solid and aggressive.

Ranch, Villain has seen me play pretty tight and may or may not not get the fact that I've been real aggressive but he should if he's paying attention. He may just look at me as tight. I'm in my 40's and look like a well off rec player to most. I'm very very well rolled for this game and have no qualms stacking off in high variance situations.

I believe he may think I am squeezing to pick up dead money with my larger raise sizing.

He should have picked up that I'm a thinking player and he has seen me make a few thin value bets and a couple of 3 bets IP. I've also raised most pots I've entered IP and abused the limpers pretty hard. I also called a river bet by another opponent w AK on a dry board(thought I was still good) and value bet $100 into $180 when K hit river.

This is a good example of how situational everything is. No one here can tell you how to play your hand vs this guy, b/c no one here knows how he thinks or how lite he's 3-betting, or how he plays post-flop. Many rec. players, they only ever 3bet with AA, KK, and AK.

You have to define what you want to accomplish with every action, and how likely you think you are ahead.

If you 4-bet, what is he continuing with? How often is he 3-bet bluffing you here? What does the bigger bet sizing represent? Have you seen him 3-bet bluff? or just suspect? All these things matter.

make it 175

Can he make this move with A,K? If so, I think the math dictates that you make the call. If he only does this with KK, AA, I think you have to fold.

I don't see how he could have JJ-AA here unless he could anticipate a raise from one of the blinds or button. Based on your table dynamics description he is always raising with premium holdings here.
I'd say his range is 66-1010 Ak-Aj

How well can you play post flop?

As played 4b 260$-290$ take the pot.

Yeah this was my thinking. I also thought some weak hands with blockers might be in his range too like A4s A5s if he was better than I thought(if he jammed one of these with these, I kinda would gain some respect for his play here) That would be really interesting IMO. More so than if he had like AJ or AQ and spazzed like this in position.

Anyway I figured 4 bet to like $275-300 takes down pot with little risk.

Was kinda surprised he jammed. Guess he figured he had fold equity.

I think villain almost never shows up with AA or KK here. He has flatted after two limps, he can't be expecting a raise here and why would he want to see the flop 4-6 handed with AA or KK.
I 4 bet him to 230 and snap call a jam. I really see him showing up with AQ or 88-1010 much of the time.

If you think he thinks you may be raising to pick up dead money, I cannot see how we can fold. What percentage of the time is he doing this with AK+. The closer the answer is to 100% the more likely you should be to fold.

He played his AA/KK so bad here that you have to call.

Results?

All these answers i am reading here including the fact that he over shoved on you preflop are exactly the reason why its actually ok to flat here with QQ.

As long as you can play creatively with it post you are still going to win more and lose less than if you just stack of with it pre...

I mean anything your ahead of pf your usually still gonna be ahead if post JJ/AK

And anything your behind your gonna hear from but you will still preserve some of your stack (which will be gone if you ship pre and are behind)

Maybe the board comes super scary for vill..

Play post and sniff it out dude/s...

To me, this is AA or a middle pair. That's my read before and after he shoves. AK just doesn't do this in any game that I've played it. AK may limp, but it is SO rare that AK will l/r. I think it is AA over 50% of the time but ,AP, I think you have to call, and expect to be behind.

That being said, if you think you are ahead pre-flop, you have to raise. If the V is on JJ-, then a scare card is going to hit on the flop 50% or more of the time. I don't see how he gets his money in the middle unless he's ahead of you already, outflops you, or the flop comes 9-high or something. Extracting money from an underpair after the flop without getting burned will be brain-surgery tricky. I'm just not that good.