[ProfLupin]

:Grunch:

I kind of like your idea of calling the first flop bet and letting the CO contribute some money to the pot. The CO's hand is fairly well defined from his pre-flop 3bet and you're loving your top-two pair against his range.

However your decision to raise right away seems fine and so I'll try to think through your next flop decision.

This is a very interesting situation. Unknown small blind ccalls 2.5 bets out of position and then bets into two pre-flop raisers on a flop with no flush draw, no open ended straight draw, and is likely to hit pre-flop raising hands. After his 3-bet we should try to put him on a range of hands that makes sense for a reasonable player and also remember that he's an unknown at a micro table and anything's possible.

AA? Possibly. He saw two raises in front of him preflop and might have hoped that by simply calling he hides his strength and if lucky Hero caps it for him with JJ-KK or AK.
TT Definite possiblity.
55 Definite possiblity. (So many players can never lay down pockets preflop).
A5 Would be a bad preflop call, but possible especially if it's sooted.
AJ-AK Possibly but the 3-bet wouldn't make a lot of sense without top kicker.
T5? Doubtful because of preflop.
Anything else: Very unlikely for a reasonable player

Villian's line is very very strange to me and I think after his flop 3-bet, I'd be interested in seeing the showdown without going too crazy. I call the flop 3 bet, call the turn bet, call the river bet. If he checks the turn, I'm checking behind. If he checks the river, I'm bet/calling.

The main reason I don't like your flop cap is that you're setting yourself up to lose the maximum to a set unless you can fold the turn to a check/raise. I'd hate to do that against an unknown, which is why I'm taking the wimpy line.

With your line, would you have folded the turn to a check raise?

EDIT: After reading the thread, I agree that raising the initial flop bet is better than calling. Also calling the three-bet with the intention of raising the turn sounds great if AJ-AK seems the most likely, but villain's line is screaming a set to me. I guess I'm just rusty from not playing much for the past year.