Villain is 21/17 over 52, 5% 3 bet.

1 - I think once he calls turn we have pretty much zero SDV.

2 - It doesn't make villain's turn call much worse really, but I can have two combos of QTs, whereas he probably doesn't. Be overall river doesn't do much for either range.

3 - Blockers - I think we don't want to block mid pocket pairs, so we are good there. We do block AQ, which this villain probably flats pre. But I guess something like KJ would be better, or AJ.

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 134.69 BB (VPIP: 21.61, PFR: 19.41, 3Bet Preflop: 7.07, Hands: 287)
SB: 213.75 BB (VPIP: 23.62, PFR: 14.96, 3Bet Preflop: 8.16, Hands: 129)
BB: 100 BB (VPIP: 30.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 10)
Hero (UTG): 194.44 BB
MP: 310.69 BB (VPIP: 21.15, PFR: 17.31, 3Bet Preflop: 5.00, Hands: 52)
CO: 58.56 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9 A

Hero raises to 3 BB, MP calls 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (7.5 BB, 2 players) Q 3 4
Hero bets 5.38 BB, MP calls 5.38 BB

Turn: (18.25 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero bets 15 BB, MP calls 15 BB

River: (48.25 BB, 2 players) T

Hero?

I'd give up. When V calls a turn of that sizing on a dry board like this, they are likely not folding to river bets

True, and that’s always my worry - if the run out is nice for whatever called on flop, villain is never folding. But by that logic we’d have no bluffing range at all here.

I'd fold pre but i know some people open any suited ace UTG so that's ok

Flop barrel is good you have range advantage and the nut backdoor FD, the turn is s major whiff though and I'd be giving up here, AP, when he calls a decent size turn bet, think you definitely need to give up river, there aren't reqlly many draws, he's a tight player and probably just has AQ/KQ or something.

FWIW I think you're giving too much significance to blockers. "I block AQ" - true but that doesn't mean he doesn't have AQ as there are still a decent number of combos there. What about KQ? QJ? "We don't block middle pairs" But if you had a middle pair there are plenty of other middle pair combos he can have. I find the effects of blockers to be much more pronounced and significant when it comes to flush draws ie you hold the A so He can't have the nut flush and when you hold a PP that blocks a specific card ie you hold TT and he needs T9 to have a straight

Yeah good point about no bluffing range but at the same time it seems silly punting the river when we kind of know we're going to be called, it's a tough one

I think against a solid player in MP it is fine to check the flop a good % of the time, we aren't at a massive range advantage against their calling range.

AP I would give up river, your large sizing F and T indicates you are unlikely to get a fold bombing the river. If I was the villain in this spot I would call down with any Q in my MP flat range, what would we be losing to AA KK?

I think A9s is too strong to fold in 6max.

Agree with giving up turn after V calls the flop.

I also think we can c-bet 2.5-3bb otf and get the same folds as 5+bb.

This is 6 max so we're basically in the lojack not UTG. Would you fold A9s in the lojack on a 9 max table?

Can't really comment as I never play full ring, but yea I was referring to 6 max. I generally open ATs+ and A2-A5s as a default, but will adjust based on opponents' tendencies.

Yeah in 6max you should be opening most suited aces UTG unless you have some nutty 3bet happy table.

Agree I’d fold pre but it’s not exactly controversial to raise A9s...

Give up on river too likely to have a Q here. Check/fold

I mean this might not be a spot for balance, but if for arguments sake we want to be kind of balanced, then surely we barrel all our aces with the turn wheel draw. It’s really hard to have equity with any other hands.

I guess that’s really what I’m wondering. A lot of people are saying give up, and I did give up river. But if we don’t think think villain ever folds a queen, then we should exploit that by never bluffing river. So is that basically what everyone is saying? I’m not trying to get all obsessed about balancing perfectly at 16nl. But curious if people think we should just do away with any balance here, but also if this hand would be in our bluff range if we want balance.

Edit: also I would fold suited aces on a super three betty table, but I think the open is fine most of the time.

Also giving up on turn. Maybe in theory we need to barrel some stuff like this or else we're c/f'ing turn too often, but how much does villain's range actually constrict from flop -> turn when a complete blank hits? What hands are we hoping that villain folds?

A9s has to be opened 6-max in my opinion. Seems real tight to fold this, but I play quite loose preflop so maybe my opinion shouldn't mean anything.

I like betting the flop but I think on that dry of a board the only turn I consider betting is a spade. That said, he easily could have a mid pocket pair so I guess I'm ok with betting turn when we pick up equity. If you want to bluff river, I think you need a more favorable run-out. The turn and river completed no draws, no overcards, there is nothing to scare opponent and nothing that you can represent here. If he called your large turn bet he is going all the way with the hand. Wait for a better spot in my opinion.

I'd just check flop. I'd bet if anyone but MP had flatted. Sure we can barrel a few cards but we're hardly ever getting a fold.

Think we can barrel all our Ahxh and AK on this board. A6 is probably also a better choice to barrel with since we draw close to the nuts on non-hearts and have blockers for 56. (assuming he isn't calling twice with 67 on this board.)