Nut flush draw

Preflop seems OK, you could probably 3bet this a fair bit too, folding seems a bit tight. You need to be aware of RIO against the limpers though, who can have a lot of better Ax.

You don't have JJ or two pairs and are you doing a lot of check-raising with Jx here? I think I like a call here, with the nut flush you can check turn again without needing too much protection against it checking round again. I would probably check-raise smaller flush draws instead

I would 3b here all day. Anytime someone isos two opponents and uses a "normal" open-raise size instead of going larger, there is a good chance that they don't have top-of-range. You can probably double that for a raise on the button. If you get 4b, it's a snap fold and you can make a note on the player that they use the small size with AA.

On the flop, I agree with moxterite that I would rather XR a worse FD. Your hand has a small amount of showdown value, you can basically always see a river, and you kinda want one of the limpers to come along with a worse flush draw. I would just call.

I actually called the flop. Turn (73) was 3h for Jc6c4d3h. I check, BTN bets 35, I call. River (143) was Js for Jc6c4d3hJs. I check, BTN bets 100, I fold. I wondered if he was barreling maybe with a worse flush draw, and did he really have trips on the river as he was representing. I literally considered raising on all 4 streets and wonder if I played it too passively.

Pre is fine. I'm not a big fan of a FOF strategy with a NFD, but you got in cheap. You need to make ~20 to 1 to get to better than break even on playing FD to the river and the stacks + 3 bets already in make it worthwhile.

I generally don't want to just call flop with a FD because if the flush card comes on the turn, it kills action. With a call, you'll absolutely be put on a FD as the most probable holding and a non flush turn should have a good player price you out of the river.
So I x/r flop about 4x because I'm OOP.

Another reason to not call flop and turn is that you're going to miss 2/3. By betting, you force V to make the tough decisions. If you take it down on flop, you can't be wrong except in a few weird, rare situations like if he's on a FD as well.

OTT, with a made flush, I check if I think he will stab and bet small if he won't. With a missed flush, I bet like I'm trying to price him out of the river.

This is a 3 bullet strategy, but based on reads, I do chicken out sometimes OTR.

Unless V has a proven ability to fold, IME, he's going to call any reasonable pre 3B. Playing A9 OOP is problematic. The only good boards for you are a 4 card straight with the 9 towards the high end, FD, AAX, or 99X. You're usually going to whiff the flop or hit something like AXY that has RIO. If you check, you'll be at V's mercy every street.

I'm not good enough to consistently win that fight so I'm folding or calling pre.

I like the way you played it. You don't have many value hands on the flop to credibly represent with a raise, so flatting makes sense with your draw.

If it had been heads up you could have considered leading the turn, but when he bet the flop into 3 players that represents a lot more strength so I like the turn check call.

On the river you should have a lot of Jx after you called flop and turn, so he can't just barrel mindlessly without running into it a lot. He probably just had a jack.

Maybe 3-betting pre and barreling off could be a better line. If you do 3-bet pre you probably have to barrel off on some relatively low equity spots though to turn a profit.

The river is tough. Hero has to play the draw like a set the whole way and hope V folds on the river. If people are watching, they’re gonna call hero’s bluff. Too many Vs just gotta know.

But against unobservant or fit or fold players, I like the barreling.

Probably a few ways to play this, but I don't mind the whole passive line. Turn might be a bit marginal.

Grunch:

PRE - Might work in some 3B's or folds once we've developed some reads on our opponents. But suited aces play fine multi-way, so calling seems pretty standard, especially getting this price.

FLOP - Calling again seems pretty standard. It would suck to raise and get blown off our equity by a 3B.

If we're the only caller, I might go for a check raise on the turn if it's an off-suit 8, 7, 5, 3 or 2 that could conceivably bring in a straight, if V barrels for a small size.

Planning to lead out on a high club, for around 40% pot. Would prefer to see the 9c to Kc that might make V a set or 2P, and doesn't complete any straight draws or pair the board.

If the turn is 2c to 8c, would probably just check, then donk river if the turn checks through.

We're not repping much for value if we x/r flop, and we'll have to do a lot of checking when we don't improve. But we can rep a ton of strong hands on a lot of turn cards. So flat calling here keeps our range wide, and gives us more options on the turn.

If we were the only caller on the flop, I think this would be a good spot to x/r turn, when he barrels for less than half pot. I don't think he'd be using this size with a hand that is strong but vulnerable to all the potential draws.

He raised small pre over two limps, and we defended the BB. Our range could be super wide here. We could easily have 75s, 66, 44, 33, 43s, and maybe even 52cc since we just sat down. V shouldn't have nearly as many very strong hands here.

As played, I don't think he's got JX, but we still lose to some of his bluffs, so hero calling is out of the question. I actually think a 2/3p donk is worth considering. It looks like he has better AX or a PP lower than Jx.

On the river, blocking the missed nut flush draw makes our hand a poor bluff candidate. If we're bluffing we would prefer our opponent had AcXc, which is going to be a fairly large portion of their range that bets twice and can't call a river bet. Probably close to half of their flush draw combos will include the Ac, so that's not a card we want to have in our hand if we bluff river. Having the Ac makes it less likely they have a missed flush draw, and more likely they have a made hand of some sort (something like JT or QJ would make sense). Also we can beat stuff like worse flush draws and Q high that will give up sometimes, so we have a sliver of showdown value when we check. There are better hands to bluff with in this spot.

Villain is described as "decent" so why are we assuming that he is calling "any reasonable 3b"? Decent players raise wide on the button and they will fold a lot of their range to a $50 re-raise.

I don't think it's productive to base your strategy and advice on "I'm not good enough." Work on getting better and encourage other people to do the same.

(all that being said, I don't think this was a poorly played hand. I kind of want to XR the turn, but we prob lost the min [and got to realize] versus a J here)

A9s seems like no man's land to me. If we 3bet pre, is it for value or as a bluff? Value seems too thin and seems too strong to bluff. I think flatting pre is the right call.

We should have some fold equity on the J64 flop and I wouldn't hate a x/r.

I like playing this hand the way you did. I don't think PF is a great spot to 3bet as this hand just doesn't flop that well and that is a serious consideration at low stakes. I'd rather 3bet an Ace wheel suited. Flop can go either way but I like the flat call and potentially cooler other players by letting them call with worse draws.

When I am re-raising OOP, I am basically always happy to see the opponent fold. If the opponent folds, we win the pot uncontested and don't pay rake or play OOP. I think A9s is ahead or flipping with a big portion of V's range, but I am basically thinking of my raise as a bluff to fold the opponent off of his equity in the hand. If we get called, our hand is strong enough to win postflop (it's not like it's 72o or something) but if we get 4b, we are very happy to fold.

I also think villain iso-ing to $10 on the button is a legitimate sizing tell (a "juicer raise" to sweeten the pot, or whatever) and I would expect him to fold significantly more often.

donk the flop small and build the pot. i dont think any other options come close. something like 1/4 pot or less. you might get raised but thats fine with your equity. if the pfr raises i would consider jamming, repping a set. depends on your image. even vs. overpairs you are close to a coinflip,and obviously if he folds overpairs to a jam you print.

I like the sizing tell. I say go with it next time -- but probably size up the 3bet to encourage folds. I'd probably 3bet to $50 ish (which is what I would do with AK or a suited ace wheel hand here).

I'm not a fan of saying someone is a bad player just because they are on a 1/3 table. Some folks here prove there are quality players at all levels. However, my definition of "decent" at 1/3 is not as generous as yours. IME, most Vs will call almost any unexaggerated raise once they have 2B even modestly. So unless I've seen it with my own eyes, I'm going to assume that V is calling a 3-4X 3B.

For me, part of getting better means exercising the discipline to not put myself in difficult to play and low EV spots. There is a reason "fold pre" is so commonly given advice. That's the easiest way to get better. If the flop is Q94, how many streets am I going to have to call a bet from OOP? A decent V IP isn't going to let that check down. That's why I consistently advocate playing with aggression so that the V has to make the difficult choices. I can and do play like a wimp when it's cheap enough to FOF, but those aren't the spots I'm looking for. Even in OMC mode, I'm usually the most active at 3B and 4B, even on 2/5. So I can easily just muck A9s in the BB. A better opportunity is only a few deals away.

if the flop is Q94 and villain bets multiway for any decently large sizing you just fold middle pair and its not close. not too difficult.

That's exactly my point. The mostly likely board where you hit a 9 is going to have an over card. The most likely board where you hit an A, you're not going to have confidence you're not still way behind, even if it checks thru. Deciding if he is bluffing the overcard is what I meant when I said I was not good enough to consistently win that battle, so I'll fold to the flop bet. That's why folding pre is such a good choice and calling is not terrible but you're doing so only in the hope of a few specific boards. A9s can occasionally win a big pot, but it's -EV in the OP situation.

totally not true. you stack people when you overflush them or hit trips top kicker vs. trips worse kicker and nobody can get away. you also stack people on A9x vs. AK. its also easier for you get away on Axx than it is for AK to get away on A9x.

if you are only playing pre w/ hands that do more than "occassionally win", you are playing AA/KK only. no other hand wins that often. are you folding hands like 55 here, that only flop sets 1/8 times?

I mean, I already said that I would 3b to $50, which is 5x. Re-raising to $30 here is probably a punt.

I like the concept of being disciplined at the table and avoiding difficult and low EV spots, but I don't think this is one of them. If I 3b A9s, villain calls, and we are heads up to Q94, our options are fairly straight-forward. I would probably check and call a bet. Villains will stab wide when we check because they put us on AK. I might bet small myself. If I check and villain bets massive, or I pick up some strength tell, I might fold, but I wouldn't lose much sleep over it.

IMO raise > call > fold preflop in this hand. The concept of waiting for "a better opportunity" is basically irrelevant in a cash game, where we are trying to eke out as much value as possible every hand and can always re-load if we encounter resistance.

help me out. what is it you're saying is totally not true? It sounds like you agreed with me when you talk about those very niche circumstances. Flush over flush is not very common. Trips better kicker was one of my big pots won Friday, an almost full BI of profit. I got in the hand cheap vs the 2 worst players at the table. It was a very happy result for KTs. But I can't remember the prior last time I flopped trips vs trips outside of PLO or DBBP. I was also incentivized to play suited Broadway because there was a hi hand bonus that paid $1 - 10K.

how about playing hands that have a likelihood of greater SDV? That's a much more likely outcome than A9 beating AK.
how about occasionally playing hands IP and not even worrying about whether you hit the flop?
how about occasionally playing hands OOP but being aggro pre, such that when you nail the flop, it's a pleasant bonus but not the only way you can win?

there was a big thread here recently that finally convinced me to fold 55 pre sometimes, even if I'm getting stack odds. Friday I had my biggest night in a couple of years and I folded 22 and 33 pre. I used to think that Hidden Set, Crouching Tiger was the ticket to glory even though a flopped set will occasionally be a big time loser.

there are no common circumstances in poker than allow you to stack another player for 200 big bets or more. so few that you should actively seek them out.

not sure what folding 22 or 33 pre has to do with a big night. if you would have flopped a set and lost a big pot, that doesnt mean anything. i flopped a set with AA and lost like a $1.5k pot at 1/3 a few months ago. guess i should have folded pre?