My apologies if this is an awful question, I haven't played any poker in the last few years besides a few tournies on WPN.

20/40 9 handed, folds to my button and I open JT off. SB 3 bets, BB folds, I call. SB had been playing slightly on the tighter and passive side, and was occasionally just flatting in the SB vs button and cut off opens. (We had been playing 4 handed for about an hour before the games combined)

Flop QJ8 rainbow, he bets I call.
Turn AQJ8 still rainbow, he bets I call.
River 3AQJ8, he checks, I check.

So initially my question was going to be should I be value betting this river. He could have 99-TT and maybe lower pairs. I've noticed that I tend to play too aggressively in live games in the past but that was also years ago. I think its possible he could show up with KJ and maybe just maybe something even better than that?

Plus what can I have that he has beat after I call the turn? Considering that he can probably even get away from his 99-TT potentially. So I'm thinking check back is the right play now but correct me if I'm wrong.

Are you ever folding here if he bets the river?

What's the best starting hand chart? (I did try google but there is a bunch of crap to sort through)

Not a bad question. How do you get value from a tight/passive villain who 3 bet preflop and bet/bet on QJ8A?

How showdown bound do you think your villain is? If he x/r, do you have to call? My general inclination is to bet because it is LHE, and I'd assume that he never x/r bluffs. If you think he's folding TT, 99,T8 I'd bluff more hands and consider checking this behind -- you only beat 2 street bluffs that aren't calling.

Given his willingness to flat preflop, what hands do you think he 3 bets preflop? We can start there.

Do you remember the hands he just flatted with in SB?

I think the hand is perfect (and standard) on all streets.

I play it the same.

He probably doesn't bet TT's or worse on the turn so I don't think there is much value in a bet on the river. I don't think I would call if he bet the river because of this. If he has a calling range and isn't super loose I'd suspect his 3 bet range to be a bit tight.

I play it exactly the same.

Agree with others, looks fine to me. I don't see any value in betting otr.

If he x/r I think I can safely fold vs this opponent. (granted we have played about 2-3 hours together at this point, but I haven't seen him try anything remotely tricky). I doubt he is even going for a check raise with any of his strong hands.

With my sample size its really hard for me to say if he is folding TT 99, 98, T8 hands. (not sure he'd even be 3 betting T8 or 98 at all) I certainly think there is a chance he is folding hands of these strength to my river bet.

His 3 bet preflop vs button I imagine would be at least 66+ AT+ KJ+ QJ (really hard to say though as I haven't played much with him and none of his flats in SB got to show down)

I think he flatted from SB 3-4 times in that hour. (there was an aggressive LAG directly to his right who was drinking, maybe he was calling really wide because he didn't want to feel like he was getting run over) I don't remember getting to see his cards on any of them. He was losing pretty badly maybe he was looser/more of a station than I was giving him credit for in the OP.

Hi donk:

It looks like you played it well. On the turn you have straight outs in addition to your pair so a call is certainly fine. On the river, due to the connected board, your opponent could easily check a number of hands that beat you, so your check seems like the right play to me.

Best wishes,
Mason

Anyone like a semi-bluff raise on the turn when the ace hits? Just a thought...

Q1 Answer:
If he bets river, no I'm not folding to get an idea of what he is 3 betting SB vs HERO BTN preflop raise. Even if you assign narrowest of ranges you mentioned not enough sample size to distinguish raises yet.

Based on as played:
Think it is standard to play way you did by calling flop, calling turn, and checking river.


How I would have played:
I may have bet river when checked to because I play bad and attempt to value bet too light at times.

Not sure how I would have reacted to a check raise on river but based on your reads OP, had I bet river then get c/r ed, I probably would have folded but I'm a showdown monkey so may have called like an idiot lol

A tight passive, 3b in the sb screams strength. Given the A turn and no river bet, he should show up with KK often, against that board AK could conceivably chk river (though unlikely).

KQ, KJ are also possible at show down, but less likely to 3b pf.

If he has under pair, he is likely to fold to a river bet, so imho a thin value bet is unlikely to be called, and more likely he could be chking strength to induce.

Chk back is warranted

The real question is: would he fold hands that beat you to one river bet. Unlikely, unless he is mumbsy (you could /should have an A...) and will make 'great lay downs', so again chk back seems best.

I think against described opponent, we're bluffing river if we bet.

NH, classic FL stuff. You get to call 3 times with just enough to keep calling.