Good video Oink. It seems like the free showdown raise is a popular play among the TAGs.

You mentioned how the play really only makes sense if he thinks you will never 3-bet bluff him there. That's true, but I still think it's unnecessary in todays games even if you will never 3-bet bluff him because the real value of the free showdown raise is to make a guy pay the most with his draw because you feel that he won't bet again on the river. That just isn't true most of the time. So, you need these conditions for a free showdown raise:

1) You can fold to a 3-bet.
2) You might get a better hand to fold.
3) If he's on a draw he won't bluff bet the river that often.

There aren't many spots in today's games where these conditions hold. In the hand where the TAG had AKo, none of these were true. With his A high flush draw the free showdown/semi-bluff he was trying really made no sense. But, even if you assume he didn't have the draw and that you would never 3-bet bluff him there, it still really isn't an optimal play if you think about the likely scenarios:

1) You have 2-pair or better. Now he just gets 3-bet. He can probably fold if all he has is overcards, but maybe he won't because now he'll change his mind and think "well, I have a showdown worthy hand and he could be bluffing." That costs him 2BB more if he is going to showdown.

2) You have a draw and miss on the river. He makes the same as if he just called down because if you get to the river, and miss your draw, you are likely to fire another bluff because of the pot size. He also avoids getting 3-bet semi-bluffed on the turn.

3) You have a draw and the river completes the obvious draw. Now he can fold and save 1BB.

Also, in this scenario he never gets you to fold a better hand so that aspect is gone as well.

This is related to a general mistake that a lot of TAGs make. That is, they raise with bluff catching hands. That is a product of them not thinking about your range and the actions that will result from their raise (and the purpose of raising in poker in general).

You're right. It should say "You might get a hand to incorrectly fold." That's what I meant.