Hero's day 1 strategy is to avoid playing inflated pots. The structure is as good as advertised so the goal is to accumulate when possible but surviving and advancing is top priority.

Enter Villain ~3 hours into day 1. He comes in steaming after waiting in the registration line for 2 hours and starts firing left and right. Highest VPIP at the table by a mile, highest 3 bet %, etc. Villain actually grows his starting stack from 50K to ~65K and then loses a string of hands to drop down to ~30K. He's still steaming and then this happens...

250/500/75

Villain (~30K) opens to 1,200
Folds to hero (~48K) in SB who calls with A Kx
BB (Andy Bloch) defends

Flop (4,050): K 10x 5

Hero & BB check
Villain bets 1,200
Hero C/R to 3,600
BB folds
Villain calls

Turn (11,250): 3x

Hero bets 8,000
Villain shove 25,000 effective
Hero ???

Lots of stuff here:

Pre, why are we flatting from the SB with AKo? Is villain in EP and you're flatting your whole range there or something?

On the flop, does this check/raise multi-way make that much sense? I really would prefer calling here and maybe only c/r with KTs/TT/55 (if all of those hands are even in my flat range here pre). Versus an aggressive villain who likes to barrel, we want to have some good hands in our flat range and if we're starting to mix in top pairs as check/raises what does it mean when we flat?

On the turn - we're unlikely to be beating value hands (even an aggro player in the ME isn't doing this with KQ/KJ very often) although there is some non-zero chance we are chopping with AK. We should have our above mentioned KT/TT/55 hands that we can call with, so how often do we have to call off here with top pair? Maybe this is a scenario where we call with AK without the Ad and fold when we have the Ad specifically.

Having a very hard time reconciling your play with your stated strategy.

I usually raise AKo from SB, esp. with a known V in the BB as I generally prefer to be HU with AK. Flatting isn't terrible this deep but 3! is better.

c/c flop all day with your holding. Start by checking the turn as well OOP.

IDK but your Turn lead set up a perfect shove from an aggro V. In most MTTs I would call, but in the ME I fold and re-read my Day 1 strategy note above.

Both responses thus far have been good. The raise on the flop is pretty bad, even though I get we want to shut out BBs equity.

Villains position is important, if he's in the HJ I am 3betting and fist pump jamming if he 4bets. If hes UTG flatting sounds fine to me.

Flop is bad, we need to call here even though it lets a competent BB potentially see a cheap one.

As played, I lean toward bet/fold in the main event. Could be talked into a call if villain has not only been playing aggressively but showing down stupid bluffs. There are some villains who could take this line with something ridiculous like AJo, if we think this could be that guy then we want to call. Also, if villain has seen us make some moves then we may need to call.

I don't understand why we don't 3 bet out of the SB as other people have already stated.

Flop, I think a c/c is best to get him to continue to barrel. I don't think a c/r is terrible against the described villain. But it does build a pot OOP.

Turn: Sucks, but I gotta call it. there are too many combo draws he can have.

Seems a standard 3b pre- unless you want to under rep your hand?! But with a seasoned pro to act behind us your only pricing him in and widening ranges.

You raise flop, then you barrel ott for 8k with effective stacks at 25k and your questioning whether to GII?

3b pre
C/c flop and turn as played... ott now I guess we sigh call and are beat a good %

I had 2 reasons in-game why I was flatting in the SB:

1. Pot control OOP
2. Representing wide range (concealing hand strength)

I definitely did not give enough consideration to the important of 3 betting to get the BB out of the hand. We are giving him too good of a price to defend wide. That hurts our equity.

Basically what you are saying is that if we block the nut flush semi-bluff -- his range is basically all value hands that we lose to on the turn shove?

Agreed that we should be 3-betting this hand pre

However, if we 3-bet you are then check/calling flop, turn & river?

I do not like playing this hand as a bluff catcher

Flop is fine imo, you never have KK, T5 so we kinda need more value to get busy with or we could easily end up overbluffing this texture. But you're not raising to find ways to fold, the intention should be to play for it all.

Regardless of intention, you should probably pay him off. SPR <1 if he calls. He may believe you feel you don't have the depth to bluff river and that any turn continuance looks strong, hold on strong, therefore I'm not convinced that he isn't jamming a hand as weak as KQ/KJ to stop you freerolling river with your equitable bluffs. Folk are more shyt-scared of being drawn out on than getting it in crushed.

Look for physical tells. I don't know what to look for but look for them.

Plus I think if we start calling with all of our top pair hands we're going to call too much, so we have to pick the best top pair hands to call with. I think hands that do not block flush draws are better than those that do, and hands that do not block the nut flush draw are better than those that do. This could change somewhat if we think QJo (as opposed to just QJs) is in villain's preflop open range.

Ad is especially bad because this particular villain could easily be taking this line with all of this Adxd suited hands. If you think it's plausible KQ/KJ ever plays this way then that changes things. Personally, that feels quite unlikely so we're effectively bluffcatching IMO.

Don't fold

I think flatting pre from small blind and playing oop is way too nitty in this hand. Also I think the way the hand is played, I feel you should underrep your hand and flat his flop bet. What’s the point of bloating the pot oop?

3 bet pre to like 3900 (a little more than 3x since you are oop). I wouldn’t want to see flop against 2 players with ak especially when bb has great price to call pre.

Turn is hard decision. Prolly sigh folding in the main. Structure is great and no reason to ship your chips with tptk.

3b pre, im going on the larger side 4 - 6x his open.

As played I like to flat flop and keep all his bluffs and worse hands in and go from there.

As played ott, tough to fold now with that SPR and sizing when there is draws on board to brick turn

Follow turn smaller
Call now obv, you destroy (ahead and chop a lot) steaming guy here w/ disguised TPTK.

Cliff note: Don’t raise steamers. Let them bluff, raising them pushes them to play correctly.

+1

Good stuff. Thanks for all the input. Much appreciated.

I like how your crappy plan is play passive and to advance and don't bloat so you flat AK in the sb but then flop comes and you opt to bloat the pot and c/r and then massively bomb the turn.

People don't bluff (enough).

They also don't fold top pair no kicker to a flop raise.

While I agree with this thought/strategy, I don't think you understand what a Cliff Note is.

How is Andy Bloch being in the BB relevant?

Position villain???

It's not a huge deal but if we think BB is good we should be more inclined to 3bet to deny their equity (I have no idea if Andy Bloch is good though).

I haven't played with him, but in this context, he qualifies as good. A thinking player and not a fish.