Two terrible players limp, 1 from early position 1 from middle position. they've been paying all night and losing. a solid tag raises on the button. he knows the state of the limpers and, while not pushing it too far, should have an aggressive range. I call in the big blind with Jh5h. I think button thinks I play fairly well with hints of spew. both limpers call.

Flop: Th8d7s (8.5 SB)

k k k button bets I raise (?) Both limpers fold button 3! I call.

Turn: Kh (7.25 BB)

k button bets, I raise, button thinks for about 10 seconds (long for him) and calls.

River: Jc (11.25 BB)

what's my action and why am I taking it? thoughts on all streets appreciated. Thanks.

I don't know how much history you have w/ him but if it's more than a little he's probably expecting you to c/r that flop a ton so even though the limpers are bad it's still a bad c-betting board for him so i'd probably give him a little credit & just peel the flop.
As played the turn c/r I think is fine vs nitty tags; a thinking one will be skeptical you played a straight/set like that on the flop but whatever it's not costing you that much.
The river i think is a pretty easy c/f but I'd expect him to check back and lose - about the only close calls for him on the turn are like QQ & AT and he's not folding QQ if he called the turn and he's never turning AT into a bluff.

I'm not liking the flop k/r, and at the same time I'm looking at my reasoning for not liking a k/r and not liking that reasoning; it may be a bit too results-oriented, given the subsequent action. (I think we're getting a good price to peel, especially if one or both bad players sticks around; at the same time, I'm not sure about how balanced our peeling and k/r ranges are if we don't have hands like this in our k/r range.)

I'm really not liking the turn k/r. I'm thinking we have to improve to win, and I'm guessing that the villain is going to be showdown-bound at this point.

River, all of our choices look like bad ones. Betting seems thin to me for value, and a terrible idea as a bluff. What do we beat if we check/call? We rivered a pair, how can we fold if we check?

Right now I'm thinking k/c is least worst, in a hating-life sort of way.

don't like either c/r. agree with guy's thoughts on the river, tho i think you might have a smidge of fold equity vs QQ and a smidge of value vs AT.

Hero has put himself in a tough spot here. Let's recap the action:

Preflop: Villain raises 2 bad limpers on the button with a reasonably wide range. Hero calls in BB with suited junk.

Flop: Hero flops a gutshot and is far behind villain's range, but decides to c/r to represent 2 pair, a set, or something like top pair with a straight draw. Villain is not impressed and 3!, representing top pair/good kicker, an overpair, or a set.

Turn: In villain's mind, the K cannot have helped hero based on action so far, but either improved villain or gave him a draw. Villain says he is probably showdown-bound by calling hero's c/r.

River: Hero is now behind almost all of villain's range and has little fold equity. Hero should c/f, or feel fortunate when villain checks it down, although I think hero wins not very often at showdown no matter what.

Hints of spew indeed.

If your goal OTF was to knock out the players inbetween you and the button then Mazel tov... but I don't know why you want to do that with a weak draw and non showdownable hand?

After he 3bets you OTF I don't think I'd have the chutzpah to bluff him off his obvious QQ (because he tanked ott after the fact). Honestly his 3b tells me also that he's pretty showdown bound as well and I just dont think he's folding. If he's folding he.might in a blue moon do it otr (really he calls ott in this situation because he thinks you're FOS and he's more than likely to to call otr) but since we "improve " there's no point in betting because I feel like we are either turning a made hand into a bluff or value towning ourselves vs a better hand - as this point has already been alluded to.

Flop c/r seems very bad to me.

Turn is also quite bad.

c/f the river for reasons previously stated, AT isn't bluffing here.

Thanks for all the responses. I take them to heart.

During the hand, I thought that flop hit my range much better than the villain's, so I wanted to take advantage. I don't think I donk anything in this specific flop situation, though with one more player or against a button I expect to check more frequently I would. Thus, I raised to provide some balance for everything else I raise here.

Do you like check-raising with 95s and 65s better or simply think he's too strong after betting the flop. I get the sense that's just the latter, exploiting him by not kr bluffing.

Do you donk the flop with value hands? Are we defering any value hands into our peeling range?

One argument I'm moderately attached to is if the op is a pretty hopeless bluff, it makes sense to play a few more value hands this way rather than 4! the flop. Agree/disagree? If he's at all a free-carder or there was a flushdraw on the flop, I think I would tend to play faster.

agree. and also agree you have to be careful, especially live, to avoid fcs. my default without a read would be to fastplay, but i think the turn c/r is good against good players and very LAG players

The reason I don't like the flop cr is there are too many people in the hand. That flop hits a limping range hard, and button either gets hit by it, or has overcards and is not going anywhere. You are not winning without improving so just call with your fine insider odds. Raising wrecks your odds.