I have never played in this dynamic against this villain. He is very agro with his opens outside of blind battles. He is very loose in general. He cold calls with junky hands. He seems to play ok post flop. He can be induced into bluffing. These hands happened early in a new game.

He completes in SB and I check with 3s5c.

As4sAc...He checks, I bet, He raises, I call....I don't think he would limp in with an Ace but not sure. He's probably thinking that I don't have an Ace because I didn't raise pre. He seems to be the type who might raise with air in these spots but I have no specific evidence of this. He probably sees me as an average to laggier side of TAG.

As4sAc9s..He bets, I raise.

I'm wondering if I am fighting too hard in smallish pots.

fold to the CR.

i dont like betting flop. how do you ever have an Ace after checking the BB?

I agree. I do have smaller Aces in my range but this guy doesn't know that. The bet is worthless because he is at least peeling 100%. Also, as aggressive as he is it's a bit suspicious that he is checking.

As played, I doubt he has an Ace. I could see him CR air on the flop. Is my re bluff appropriate with the gutter and picked up flush draw? I would be targeting only his draws or air since I don't think he folds any pair. Maybe just calling the turn and bluffing some rivers would be better.

Thanks for the reply.

the problem with your turn bluff is he has a huge continuing range (any 1 card FD, any pair) and my gut says its too expensive given the size of the pot since you probably have to bluff the river as well if he calls. the fact that he bet the turn as well also narrows his range a little given you called the flop and he bet the scariest turn card.

i used to fight for pots like this when i was young, then i realized my mental energy was better utilized targeting weak, passive players in bigger pots rather than getting into leveling wars vs tricky players. its easy to become tilted and unfocused playing like this.