Hero has 110,800 to start day 2 and we have played maybe 3 hands so I don't know much about the table. Except the guy to my left in Seat 1 is a known pro. Known by Israeli in Seat 3. Two women in seats 4 and 5 are also pros identified by the Israeli and both seem proud that he noticed. Other players seem good but I find that out later.

I have raised A4o OTB previously and was 3-bet to 4x by SB (pro) and I folded pre-flop.

Blinds are 400/800 w/ 800 BB ante. I have about 109,000 now and am in LJ with AT and raise to 1,800. Folds to BB with about 70,000 who hesitates and calls. I think BB was going to fold but it crosses my mind that it could have been a 3-bet thought.

Flop comes JT9. Normally I c-bet 1,800 HU but I want to get to Showdown cheap and I would have to fold to a c/r.

Turn is 5. BB leads out for 2,000 and I call.

River is a J. BB leads out for 5,000 which is just over half pot. I call. My thinking here is that this makes it less likely that villain has a J. I also think there are many bluffs and even some value bets I beat (like KT/QT which may have been potential 3-bets pre-flop).

Thoughts on any and all streets appreciated.

Hey mr Rick, hope you are still alive and doing well!

I like the hand. Think I would go a tad bigger pre. I might make it 2-2.4k. We are very deep and kinda wanna tax bb defends with a solid hand however 1800 is fine. As played, I think cbet/check flop are both viable. If you cbet, I think you wanna lean toward a bigger sizing as this board is very draw heavy. As played, I think we have to call turn/river like you did so solid hand in my opinion.

I kinda like checking flop bc it is annoying when we have to fold to a x raise here which can happen a lot. Hands like Qx, 89, 2 pairs, and maybe Jx can check raise here and make our life difficult. I think would probably check back flop also and go into call mode on turn and river.

Sizing wise- 110k at 800 bb is very deep. I would be fine with going 3x if stacks behind also are very deep. Also, we gotta call a 3bet here with A10xx def as it plays so well post.

I think you played it perfect. I hate betting this flop, I think it's a mistake. The flop check is the way to play this for pot control.

On the river, I would probably call. If they check to you, I would bet

I’m cbetting this flop every time.

I know that it’s generally accepted to check back mid/bottom pairs when in position as the preflop raiser (on certain boards), but this flop is so much better for our range than big blind’s that I’m cbetting. And not 1800, more than 50% so like 2.2k or so. I think a bet accomplishes a lot, and I’m not too concerned with getting check raised since he won’t do it very often unless he has us crushed (so we can comfortably fold). At the end of the day did we really save that many chips since we ended up calling (correctly imo) his turn and river bets? Also, what about the times we raise with 55 or 67s? Wouldn’t we bet those?

Once we check the flop I’m playing it the same.

Looks fine to me as played.

Betting as auralex described is fine too. I think you can vary your flop play here.

I normally cbet 100% of the time HU. But I thought here I could induce a bluff on the turn. A c/r bluff would get me to fold so I wanted to keep villain's range wide. Which it was.

Turns out he had J5o... Just a harbinger of what was to come.

In retrospect I wish I had raised pre-flop more like 2200, which is my normal raise size with 135 bb's, but everybody at the table was raising to 1800 (or in one case later to 2000) so I didn't want to stand out. But if I had raised to 2200 my guess is BB might have folded given the hesitation at 1800.

Should I get to Day 2 of the main again, I will definitely stick to my normal bet sizing regardless of how it makes me look...

That last sentence is crucial. Don't play someone else's game, whether it be preflop raise size, cbet frequencies, bubble tendencies or anything else. If you have a strategy you feel comfortable with, that should be what you do. Me, I like 2.5 when we drop under 100BB, something more like your number is fine.

Just going right to a post, played it fine imo hard to call river you are bluff catching so weigh in what you know about the player and call, all you can do.