2/2 live PLO

AA99ss in the bb

We are doing mandatory $5 straddles on the btn.

Sb limps, hero limps, 2 others limp, HJ raise to $35, btn calls, hero 3bet to $155, HJ calls.

We have HJ covered. He has about $1700 to start the hand. Haven't played with him very long so not sure but he seems a little loose. Younger guy wearing ear buds. Raises more often than others pre. I've been limp/3betting some of my premium hands in EP since it normally doesn't limp around at this table, otherwise I'd just open raise them.

Flop ($360) KKTss
Hero bets $115, V raise to $400, hero?

So with the disclaimer that I just play 5c and don’t know **** about 4c.

It seems to me that with these interactions it’s a decent board for you but he hits plenty of trips too.

The point is that only a smaller portion of your range has real betting incentive. That’s because of you think about the hands that want to bet three streets on this board are quite limited: KT or whatever makes a bait by the river. So really only KT or Kx with 2+ overcards want to bet three streets here.

Similarly for your bluffs, there aren’t many hands that are a very profitable 3 barrel because you just run into trips+ too much by the river and you’ll never have amazingly profitable blockers to bomb it.

So a lot of your range just wants to bet 1 or 2 streets and don’t necessarily need to start on the flop.

Your hand is a good example, obv this is for the most part not betting 3 streets and because you have spades and blockers to QJ outs, there’s just not a ton of incentive to bet the flop.

You get a bit of value, but checking also catches value from bluffs, at the same time you’re bloating the pot against better hands.

Does that mean it’s bad to bet? Not at all necessarily, it just really depends on your reasons. I do think if you bet this just because you have AA+nut spades you’re gonna find yourself in these kinds of spots a lot.

So I would bet this with a clear plan vs the raise and if that’s a line I don’t understand very well I would start with a check since there’s not much downside for to it.

The whole point I’m making is that if you’re very thoughtful about your range construction on paired boards you run into less awful/marginal spots.

bet fold is fine

So again I dont know much 4c but I imagine a good construction is something like this:

Mostly bet very strong Kx/Kt

Bet Kx thats vulnerable to straight/fds

Bet bluffs like AA with As but without spades or hands like AJT9ds.

Bet some AAss, that needs some eq denial vs SD's, but dont bet too many.

Then facing the raise you fold all the bluffs/AA with just the As. And call with most Kx (maybe reraise some KT) and the AAss.

I doubt AAss makes sense as a bet/fold but it could in some cases.

just be deliberate about range construction and dont mindlessly bet and figure it out after the fact

Would check this flop - it's a great addition to our checking range and there's really little value to be had on this board. As played I would fold - we block nut spades, have plenty of Kx, so it's not like he can freely raise boards like this and get away with it. I'm not even sure what he'd raise this flop with outside the obvious hands that are ahead of you - would he really do it with AQJ or bare QJ? He would have to really be getting out of line to continue here.

Bet/fold is good. Check/evaluate isn't a bad plan, either, vs. a loose player. Really need to know more about him, though.