SCS

Referring to the river

If you are just starting a career, I would say Florida is probably your best bet. Lots of cardrooms and games available for a low/mid-stakes grinder, and the cost of living is relatively cheap.

Obviously there are a ton of games available in Los Angeles, but from what I understand, most the games suck below 5/10NL, because of the buy ins and high rake. Also, the cost of living is much higher.

Las Vegas is probably a good option, as long as you are mentally strong, and don't have any vices.

I like calling and letting villain bet the river. From my experience, the postflop minraises are often air, or a mediocre value hand at best.

Not much villain can do on this runout, unless you are 3 betting really light, and barreling off with a lot of hands. JJ seems like a fold. QQ is probably borderline.

You aren't deep. Besides, being deep you are going to suffer from reverse implied odds with your hand.

The board isn't so draw heavy that villain can't afford to just call the flop with strong hands, like a set or 2 pair. I think this is a perfectly reasonable way to play 55 or A5 by villain, especially if villain believes you will barrel the turn a lot. As long as you are playing your strong hands in the same way, I think this is a good spot to call flop, raise turn with your flush draws.

You can discount hands like flopped 2 pair or set, since villain is less likely to slowplay those hands on this board.  There are some other 2 pair hands that beat you, like AT, A8, 8c7c, Tc7c, etc, but there are also some Ax hands you beat, plus some draw hands that made a pair on the turn or river, like a KcTc type hand, that may decide to bluffcatch the river. I would be betting about 1/2 pot on the river, and folding to a raise.

I think checking with the intention of calling a bet is fine here as well, since the flush draw missed, and checking allows villain to bluff, or perhaps value bet with a hand that may not call a river bet himself. I think betting yourself though is the slightly better play.

Do you mean open limp, or are they limping behind other limpers? I've seen passive fish play premiums this way sometimes, but I don't recall any regs doing it.

Too loose on early streets, too tight on later streets.

If your plan is to x/c flop, and x/f the turn when an overcard to your pair comes, then your call preflop might be bad.

I think the 3bet preflop is fine, but I'd be checking this flop and looking to bet the turn depending on the action/card. If there was a diamond on the flop, or if we had KcJc, I'm fine with cbetting the flop.

I think there are a ton of small-medium pocket pairs in villain's flop call range, which I don't think he'll fold to a turn bet. I would probably check behind and take the free card. If you do bet the turn, I'd bet most rivers.

I'd probably raise flop larger to set up a turn shove. River shove is fine. Villain should have a lot of 2 pair  hands that will call, like T9, T8, 98, etc, especially given the price.

You have less than a psb on the river. I'd just shove here. Checking with the intention of calling is marginal at best, because most players at this level don't bluff that often and villain isn't likely to bet a Jx hand, and may even check back a weak Q. I'd rather shove for value and let villain hero call us with his showdown hands that would check behind if we check. Also it's likely that villain folds 22 preflop, and gets it in with JJ+, so the only hands I'd be worried about having is QJ and maybe Ad4d. Way more combos of KQ, QT, AJ, KJ, JT, etc.

Alex - Against a 45bb stack, I think stacking off preflop with 99 is going to show a profit, barring a read that says otherwise.

I'd bet the turn as well. Also, I like the use of the term "epic flush draw".

Live tells are usually most useful when you have a very close decision.

I like the cbet. It's unlikely that villain has a hand, and if he does continue you have equity+cards you can bluff on the turn. Also, you are virtually never getting checkraised here, so you don't have to worry about having to fold your equity after putting money in the pot.

I prefer a turn call as well. If you raise you fold out a lot of villain's range that will bet again on the river, or x/c the river. Hands like JJ, QQ, maybe AK. I'm not too worried about draws - there's not that many in villain's range, and villain's equity with them isn't as good as he might think, since if the board pairs as well as completing the flush it will give you a boat/quads.

I like a b/f, especially against this villain.

Just calling preflop against the fish is a mistake in my opinion. As played, I would just call the turn and see what happens on the river. By raising, you allow the BB to 3 bet, which folds out most of the CO's range (who you want in the pot) and isolates you against a very strong BB range putting you in a shitty spot. I also think it's good to have some Tx hands in your calldown range, so that you aren't getting to the river with a capped range of weak draws and 66 type hands. Also keep in mind that while you probably have the best hand on the turn, your hand is actually pretty weak against BB's range for continuing vs a turn raise.

Against someone with less than 50bbs I would strongly consider either 3 betting preflop, or raising the flop. As played, I would bet the river after turn goes check-check. Like you said, villain has a lot of hands with showdown value that will call a bet, but are likely to check behind. It's unlikely that villain bluffs this board with overs, especially on this river.

If you have a read that villain limps small pocket pairs preflop you can probably fold on the river. I think calling here is fine though without that read given the price you are getting.

Minimum Defense Freq is how often we need to continue vs a bet or raise so that our opponent can't auto profit from us folding. In the example you gave, yes you should be defending with 50% of your range, and that range should have at least 33% equity against villain's range (the bottom portion of your range should be breakeven or slightly +ev). If it isn't, it's likely that you are getting to that spot with too wide of a range (but not always). Conversely, if your equity is way above 33% it's likely your range is too tight, and villain is making money off of you on earlier streets because you are folding too much.

Yeah, I would just bet all 3 streets here for value.