a small pot, but a lot to be learned here.

Bet flop unless maybe you had a diamond. Pre probably is a fold. Maybe you can thin value bet river but only if he can call with a ten or some pocket pair

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Against a decent rando, you played this fine and in a solver-approved manner, albeit through GTO-W's proxy set-up of MP open raise (Hero) and a BB call (Villain), since I can't configure limping in my version.

Consequently, I'll just say "Nice hand so far, " since the solver is indifferent on the turn to either checking or betting 1/2 pot.

I probably just fold preflop but ATo vs A9o versus a limper is my personal line-in-the-sand.

I'm fine with our reasoning to check back the flop. I would also check back against anyone remotely aggro because I don't want to start building an overly big pot and I'm fine with inducing. I think against perhaps more ABC players (who aren't going to be induced to bluff nor overplay worse) a bet is also fine.

Calling turn falls in line with our flop plan, so I'd continue with that plan.

I think we should bet for value on the river as there are lots of busted draws we can rep. Against ABC thinkers I think we should go quite small to get paid off by their obviously very weak hand. Against deeper thinkers, perhaps bigger is better to make it look more bluffy.

GcluelessNLnoobG

fold pre, check or bet small flop, check turn, check now

Grunch: (Newbie trying to learn)

Any reads on V would be helpful while you're at the table (and for us replying). Open limping first in makes me feel like you can't really make the assumptions you are making about V not having an A, not having a FD, not having broadway, etc. You also say he shouldn't have an A on the flop, but then when you call a turn bet you mention chopping with an A. One thing I can struggle with is carrying the thread from street to street while ranging a V. If you feel they don't have an A pre-flop, you inducing a bet on the T by checking the flop doesn't seem like enough to change your read there. Although, I question that assumption in the first place. Many open limpers will limp any A, many suited hands, broadway-type hands, mid to small pocket pairs.

PF - I might even fold A9o here unless I'm trying to particularly isolate and play pots with V, but I play quite tight at this point while getting more comfortable post-flop - so maybe folding is bad? Raising OTB seems reasonable, though - but if I did I'd make it 20, or 15 at the minimum. How the blinds play is also a consideration. I'd prefer not to go multiway w/ a weakish offsuit A.

Flop - I bet 1/2 pot here to get value from worse A, Tx, gutshots, FD, 3x, pocket pairs that don't want to fold to one bet. I agree you prob aren't going for 3 streets of value, but I like a bet, check, bet (or call) line better. Checking to induce a stab on the Turn and to keep pot small is reasonable, too.

Turn - Pretty big bet relative to pot by V, especially once rake is taken out of the pot (I assume), but you can't fold here after checking the flop, so a call seems like the only play.

River - After checked to, I figure I have the best hand most of the time and I bet quite small (20-30) targeting a non-believer T or pocket pair. If raised, I fold, although that line doesn't make a lot of sense. You might value own yourself vs AJ, but getting thin value against limp/call-y opponents is where a lot of you money comes from.

Oh, river is the 4c.

100% bet the flop. As played, I probably go $30 on the river, but I doubt he folds an A so you are most likely chopping. He might call w/ a T, though.

It might be fine to just check behind, because he's rarely calling w/ worse, but I wouldn't want to show my hand 😉

FWIW, unless blinds are really sticky or aggressive, I don't mind the raise from the BTN depending on how V plays. Vs. most loose/passive NLHE players, I raise. However, 100% bet flop.

I'm fine with raising A9o preflop on the BTN and would bet 1/2 pot on the flop because the board screams for a cbet. AP I'd bet thin (not more than 1/2 pot) on the blank river, maybe we can induce a few worse hands (low Ax/JT etc) to call?

Question for everyone saying, "Of course we bet the flop, duh":

If we're betting 100% of the time with all of our Ax, then with what value hands are we checking back in order to protect our "check back" range?

If the answer is "I'm always c-betting with Ax here along with a lot of other hands, " then you probably are c-betting this flop too frequently.

This is a pretty draw-heavy board, so I'm betting most AX hands that I raise w/ pre. I'm c-betting other hands that I raise w/ pre, too, once V checks.

Of course, having some read on V would be nice.

I guess I think of this as - do we really need to protect our check back range against this V? If the answer is "no" b/c they don't seem to be thinking about such things, then I'm not worried about balancing or protecting my check back range.

At these stakes, against your garden variety open limp/caller, is it maybe best to play our specific hand against their range rather than our range against their range?

Reads would be helpful, since I could see betting Ax on the flop against a Villain whom I know is passive, likely limp-calls with worse Ax, and won't checkraise without a monster.

Don't fool yourself into believing that you're always the best player at the table. I always sit down with an open mind, even at a low-limit table.

At this point, I'm only assuming I'm one of the tighter/disciplined players at the table PF. I often feel quite confused post-flop!

Only going on the read of an open limp & call. Sometimes these types of players are thinking players post flop for sure. But like you said, no reads here, so assuming a more general population 1/3 player who I wouldn't assume thinks our check back range. My MO in these spots is to just think about getting thin value from these types.

And I agree about sitting down w/ an open mind! 😀

Name one Ax hand we beat

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Broadly speaking I agree with all of this. Not going to split hairs preflop. I don't know why OP thinks he is the only one with an Ace here; on the contrary I'd say V has plenty of Aces and some lower pairs as well as whiffed air. You could get away with a small bet - correctly noting that you can't get there streets here - but checking is fine. As played calling turn is a no brainer.

River is interesting and I think is a good opportunity for a thin value bet, accepting that you'll often get called and lose, but that doesn't make it a bad play. I wouldn't go large; you're still going after the weak Aces and other paired hands, but I reckon it can just about be +EV compared to checking back

So there's been some questions about the Villains tendencies, and about the rake structure. This was in a small cardroom with a $25 door fee and no rake. I didn't see Villain get out of line. My reads were basically the table as a whol. All players seemed to know each other. Every pot was raised except when the blinds chopped. There were no big pots and most hands were won without a showdown. I guess you could call the Villain tight but not too aggressive, and cautious to put money into the pot.

When the Villain checked to me on the river this led me to believe that it was even more likely I was best. I wanted to bet thin. I didn't think I could get a worse hand to call a big bet. If he was slow playing a big hand (bigger ace, three of a kind, or a straight to a wheel) a big bet would be costly.

I put in $25(I wanted to go about 1/3 pot) into the $68 pot. The Villain wasn't happy but called, then mucked after seeing my hand. I put him on a 10. What do you guys think?

Something interesting happened after the hand. Villain whispered something to his neighbor. I think he was unhappy I checked back the flop. His neighbor said "Well he's been under betting all night". The table talk didn't bother me since it was after the hand. But what worries me is with such a small venue the players will adjust to my style of play and no one will call my bets. I'm normally the nittiest at the table.

Also I don't think the Villain has a reason to be upset. My check back only won an extra $45. Plus if he would have raised pre I would not have been in the hand with A9 off. I Think the loss is all on him.

I'd bet almost 100% of the time here regardless of having Ax given the Ace and the FD on the board vs a V with no strong reads. But I probably cbet more than I should. Definitely makes more sense to bet vs a passive, calling station whom we know would pay with worse Ax

A2s, A5s with V putting us on Ax/T9+/22-99 since we checked flop and called turn? Happy to learn if/why I'm wrong.

AA33T

It sounds like you should have some good motivation to work on improving your game, so that you are less predictable and are the one who is learning how to exploit them, not vice-versa.

Grunch:
In this exact configuration: SRP, one limper, Button H, HU, do we need a x-back range on ATs 3x? If so, why?

As I see it, this is a range cbet. Further, with our exact hand, aren't we well ahead of the typical LL limp-call pf range, yet still fairly vulnerable? Granted, if V likes to semi-bluff raise flush/combo draws or rep 33, this can get expensive fast, but we don't have that read.

Aside, I'm surprised at those in the thread advocating folding an offsuit ace pre, to one MP limper. I like my button. I wait a long time to get it. I would've opened for slightly more though than what I imagine is a standard open at 1-3. 12 isn't getting the limper to fold, but then again 15 probably isn't either, so w/e.

Haven't seen if there were results beyond the river question in the OP, but why aren't we bet-folding river for like 1/2 pot? We x-b flop, V bets 2/3 turn on a board-pairing 3, then x's a river non-flush 4.

It's inconceivable that V bet a T, some underpair, or the flush-draw on the turn, not an Ace? Or just stabbed and gave up? It has to be a better Ace?

If V can bluff x-raise river, ldo x-back our SDV. But most Vs can't. As to "What calls?", is a T not calling? Too thin? Is a better Ace x-calling this blank river vs just betting out?

Maybe you should tell us what you think his range is?

If your range has him limp-calling wide with lots of PPs, mid suited connectors, unsuited Bdways, any Ax, etc., then he's bad enough for Hero to blast away and not be exploited.

This is why reads are important here.

22+, ATs-, KJs-K8s, Q9s+, SCs down to 65s, maybe some of the J9s-T8s one gappers. Any two broadway offsuit not AK. Maybe AK too, lol? Some of the offsuit connected 87, 98, etc... Wide as Texas, basically. (Edit) Is that not reasonable for an unknown 1-3 loose-passive? (/Edit)

A lot of it is going to be perplexed by the x, so wp there, and may induce a turn stab. Also keeps the pot small, which we may want with a top pair-meh kicker hand unlikely to improve.

I did see results finally---nh---and I agree, probably a T that was bluff-catching.

Are you saying he doesn't have any Ax below AT? I assume something got left out.

Also, I don't know how many randos are limp-calling raises from MP HU OOP with hands like K8s/Q9s/22-44/any suited 1-gappers.

Again, if he's this loose and presumably not tricky, it's likely fine to bet the flop with an Ax.

Other way around. All ATs and below. Apologies for any confusion. AJs+ opens.

This may be optimistic, given many of you discussing players l/c even AKs.