It's not that he just doesn't fold pre, he usually doesn't fold post either with a piece of it or some kind of draw. Also, he had been doing a couple of huge 3-bets when people raised on his blind or kill. Like 600 more when I raised 120 UTG with 99 a couple of rounds earlier, then he had 52o and I called him down pretty light. Button will call a normal raise with any hand he calls $80 with, since Player A would be there and he was in a gambling mood, so a raise doesn't put me HU unless I make it $300+ which looks wierd even in a killed pot. (The killer just has $40 in there, so the structure is like 10-10-20-40 with $80 to go)

If I raise the flop to 2200, I believe button will call with the nut flush, as well as AA/KK with a diamond, the AK with Ad and probably just call with a set as well. AA-QQ with no diamond he will fold. Player A will call the raise no matter what he has, since his flop bet already indicates he likes his hand, but I don't think he will 3-bet unless he has a flush that beats me, he doesn't 3-bet bluff with a Ad here. I believe button knows this, so he can just call with Ad for 2.5:1 on his money with plenty of money behind. So I will make the pot 7.5K or 5.3K depending on buttons action.

So I get button to fold QQ-AA with no diamonds, but I don't mind him being in there with those hands. I get to narrow his range down if he calls, which is obv a good thing, but still I might have fold the best hand if I turn or river a straight and face a bet from Player A when button is behind me. Best case would obv be button folding and I'm HU vs. player A.

Is it a good idea to make the pot so big with a marginal hand like this? I didn't think so at the time, and I still don't think so, I'd prefer to keep the pot a little more under control to have room for more play. I see the advantages of the raise though, maybe it's better, I didn't really know how to play in this hand that's why the post