5/5 AQ 3b pot, considering bluffing OTR

You’re losing to KQ. Crai on flop or turn is pretty cool. As played we are at bottom of range so river bet is a must.

I'm definitely betting the turn. As played, I check and give up. He's most likely calling with any pair -- I probably would.

I check river. Fine with hand.

You're checking flop and turn not just to realize your draw equity (up and down btw not a GS) but to realize your raw equity unimproved. We have a crusher in my room that plays big games and he once told me "Heads up A-high isn't nothing". You may very well have the best hand if river goes check check.

I suppose you would balance by having some pairs that are too afraid to build a pot like AA and KK, maybe they bet turn for small sizing though?

Obviously we have less TX and 9X but KQ is squarely in our range as is big JX. We have some traps.

Lol V has waaaay more TX than us. He called a 3-bet IP. JTs QTs KTs ATo/s some 9X...

Not really when he calls 125 pre, it's mostly PP's and AK/AQ. They don't usually call AT, 9X, or even QT/KTs to big 3bets unless we had reads that they do or if they were much deeper. Plus Tx is blocked otf anyway.

Having two hearts is really good for bluffing because most of their weak hands with A♥/Q♥ bet flop or turn. That said nobody protects their IP X-X range so you should just bluff anything.

Here maybe you get called by almost any pair but you fold out chops and if they have worse you won't have to XF

That would be a huge blunder by IP. Any spot OOP goes X-X-X, IP fires every bluff in theory. Yeah it happens a good amount especially since they might not care too much about a smaller pot, but imagining showdown value that doesn't exist is a really bad habit

OP if you're going to sit at tables with people that play for profit then you are going to have to put some work in off the table.

What is your range construction for V PF? V makes an ISO raise. At this point his range is wide. A bad player in SB calls, you 3!. You recognized V. Does V recognize you? How much history do you have with him? Does V think that you are able to recognize a wide ISO range and the dead money from SB? Or does V consider the sample size of hands played at the same table with you insignificant? If the latter, then V is more likely to use population tendencies to construct your 3! range. If the former then his continuing range by 4! will be wider.

V decides to continue by calling your 3! and going to the flop with a likely (SB folding) SPR of less than 3. So without knowing how V views you; let's range him at TT, JJ, QQ (which you block), and hands that make TP AJs, AQs, AQo+, KQs.

OTF You have the uncapped range of QQ+ giving you the range advantage. You can also have TT, 99 giving you the nut advantage. V gets to the flop with 1 combo of TT, and 3 of QQ. Out of like 40some combos (sorry I'm eyeballin it cause I just vaped some good ****). I agree with comment #4 from Playbig. V's range is heavily weighted towards big Aces. I'm betting 210 with the plan of jamming the turn with a 3/4 PSB left.

what better hands would fold if you bet the river?

Check or bet on flop is fine. Id lean bet on turn but check is ok. As played you basically always bet the river, and id bet big to keep random PPs from snapping it off.

If I'm V, I might call any bet with as little as AK. Any pair I called pre with I'm calling with on the river. Also, this guy could just be praying for H to bet the river because he's got quad Ts or something. I mean, it might work -- some people are scared money, but this guy doesn't seem like the type.

Raise bigger pre, to at least $150, if not $175.

Checking or c-betting flop for 1/3 pot is fine.

Gotta make a delayed c-bet on turn after flop checks through. I'd probably bet around $180.

I don't love bluffing the river with AXhh, but AP, I think we can block bet something like $110 to avoid V bluffing us off the best hand if he has a worse AX or just K-high. I doubt he's folding any pair at this point.

Otherwise, since V doesn't appear to be very strong, I could see checking, and maybe calling a small bet.

Disagree that flop hits his range harder than yours. If it's like MPvSBvBU, then maybe his range is heavier on middle cards and suited broadways, but as BU, his range is bloated with a lot of stuff that despises a small bet.

...which brings us to the flop. You're closer to the middle of the range than you're giving credit. Your Q high card will play against a lot of Axs that should check back, and he'll be forced to turn a lot of connected cards that barely whiffed into a bluff. To be sure, it's the dead bottom of your check range, but the most important part of it.

(Turn can go either way. None of us are good enough to tell you the exact frequency and hand selection for forming a semi bluffing range here lmao.)

I'm struggling to find what value hands we x-x-b aside from Tx (discounted because I don't see many Tx for us), JJ and KQ. I mean, do we x-x-b QQ-AA? Maybe sometimes when we have a ♥. AJ makes sense, I guess. I tend to agree that we don't have much S/D here.

I meant the river…

If you’re going to have a checking range against a decent player, you should have some good hands in that range.

Also, every time a street checks through and a blank hits, the cutoff for what constitutes as a value hand dips lower.

In this case, Q9+ is a value bet by the river.

Agree that we need some value in our checking range v a reg. I have no issue with value betting a 9, either, but not sure how much 9x we have — close to zero, range wise, unless we’ve been 3betting at a relatively high frequency and/or polar rather than linear. Let’s not forget that BN has plenty of 9x, and, if a decent reg, also some value/bluff catchers in their x-x range, however rare that might be in practice (as even decent regs like to stab/protect).