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Was not sure what to do in this spot. Villain was 28/18 over 50 hands. This was the first time he had called a 3bet.

I feel if I am betting I am turning my hand into a bluff and this doesn't make sense as he isn't likely to fold better.
Should I be looking to check flop, to see how he reacts to my check, or should I keep the initiative and bet?

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 1776479
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $12.75
BB: $5.00
UTG: $3.41
CO: $5.91
BTN: $6.71

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is SB with Q Q
UTG raises to $0.15, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.50, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.35

Flop: ($1.05) A 7 9 (2 players)

Final Pot: $1.05

Dont like a x. Villain will know you dont have the ace - because it prob bets for protection on this flop.

The prob is the betsize, if I had AK for example I might bet quite large on this flop.

It seems counter-intuative to take initiative & then give it up..

How many times had he been 3 bet? If there are like 5 sample and this was the first he called it would be more telling than if this is his second time.

This is tough since we don't have a real feel for his 3 bet calling range and how he plays post flop.

If he calls 3 bet with medium pocket pairs and is weak/passive postflop then checking might be fine.

If his 3 bet calling range a lot of AQs, AJs, ATs type hands the we can probably c/f.

If he's going to stab a lot at weakness then checking becomes more problematic.

If he's got quite a few suited connectors in his 3 bet calling range then you can bet for value.

Here we don't really know, but he looks on the passive side and I wouldn't expect a lot of flush draws in his range. If we had an indication he was passive post flop I honestly wouldn't mind a c/f even though it feels weak. I doubt he's going to turn a lower pair into a bluff and he probably has a fair amount of Ax in his range.

I think bet/folding the flop will be best here readless. If he raises we can comfortably fold (he probably won't bluffraise A-high board in a 3bet pot, especially at this limit) and we can get value from weaker ppairs (I'd expect people to call pre pretty often with them at NL5). If you check/call you're giving up the initiative, which I don't like against an unknown and your hand looks pretty face-up (if he's paying attention). Check/folding seems too weak to me.

Regards

Thanks for the advice.

This was only the 2nd time he had been 3bet, so I had no idea what his 3bet calling range included. I assumed pocket pairs and some Aces.

In single raised pots he was happy to check down all the way with medium pocket pairs in position when overcards came on the board, so he seemed happy to take them to showdown. Although I had only seen him do this once aswell.

So it appears I don't really have enough information to try and take a passive line.

Thanks again