UTG is 68/55 over 38 hands. This guy is an absolute loose cannon. Specifically, I've seen him 5! preflop with JT and triple barrel air.

Merge - $0.50/$1 (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG: $56.51
Hero (BTN): $47.91
SB: $33.86
BB: $23.23

SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero has A 9

UTG raises to $1.00, Hero raises to $1.50, fold, fold, UTG raises to $2.00, Hero calls $0.50

Flop: ($4.75, 2 players) A 6 T
UTG bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($5.75, 2 players) 8
UTG bets $1.00, Hero calls $1.00

River: ($7.75, 2 players) K
UTG bets $1.00, Hero...?


My question--when do we pull the trigger against this villain? Without a hand, he'll back off to a raise some of the time. I'd rather have him barrel me on all three streets and then throw in the raise. Should I pull the trigger earlier, or is waiting until the river fine? With his range so absolutely wide I don't think board cards at the river really matter. Thoughts?

I think your plan is good if he really is so blindly aggressive but would fold to a turn raise.

against hyper lag's I usually raise early and often - I'd raise flop, call a 3 bet and raise his turn bet and go from there....

*G*

If it were a totally dry board, I'd be OK with your plan of waiting until river to raise, given read you have. It's gettin' kinda draw-heavy by turn, though, so I think I'd raise it up there. (raise/call-down, imo).

idk, this seems a bit suspect given OP said he's only blindly aggressive when no one is playing back at him, but slows down if meeting resistance. If we play back and he's still hyper-aggro, we might have to slow down with just tpwk. Additionally, as Rooks said, we run risk of him b/folding flop, or b/c flop and c/f turn when he has swadoosh.

fwiw, if OP hadn't noticed he's capable of slowing down, I'd agree: early and often is best.

Like this plan better than the line you took. Has the villain done anything that says he would fold to your aggression at any point or is he one of these aggrodonks who just keeps firing and firing thinking you will fold? No need to get tricky against this villain type, just bet your hand.

I had already taken augwest's line a couple times before this hand, and he bet/folded at least once, along with a bet/call, fold turn type thing. Thus I elected to hold until the river for my raise.

Jacking up the turn once another draw card hits sounds like a good plan; while his range is enormous we still don't want to get him to the river cheap-ishly.

Was this last night with me sitting to your left?

I wait until river if its the guy im thinking about

It's good to pay attention to which street a villain gets foldy. You want the raise to go in on the street before.

We've already built up a decent pot on the flop, and we are surely ahead of their c-betting range. Just checkraise the flop and go from there. As played, you can only call the river; anything else is a big mistake.

If Villain is reliably going to barrel off any two cards no matter what the board looks like, then I'm thinking that that's a gift not to be messed with without very good reason.

Here are a couple of potential very good reasons:

(1) He'll fold something that you want him to.

(2) He'll play back at you with worse.

In this case, #1 seems doubtful (we're not bluffing; we basically have the hand a raise represents). I think the main thing to consider is how often Villain might give flop or turn action with worse. However, your strong-but-not-monster hand doesn't really want a huge amount of action unless you're sure Villain can be spewy when played back at. I mean, he can see that ace on the board too.

Anyway, I like your plan in the hand. And I think I would go ahead and raise-call the river.

Yeah its the guy I iso-3! About four hands in a row at one point.

As long as on the street he "gets foldy", he does so in a b/f fashion (as apposed to c/f), why let him get wise a street early?

If he'll b/f his garbage on the turn, it seems reasonable to assume that if we c/r him on the flop, he'll just call, then c/f the turn UI-->0.5 BB less for us (or rarely perhaps a full BB less if he actually cbet/folds the flop).

I still hate waiting for the river - seen too many suckouts to two pair or w/e.
(and I still have "bet your damn hand" ingrained)

idk, but I guess the question I have is whether it's better to exploit this players tendency to barrel off weak hands/air or to exploit his tendency to fold to aggression post flop. I still leaning towards taking aggressive lines and start opening up my flop aggression to things like bottom pair, weak draws, and overcards and see if he maintains his exploitable foldy post flop play. If he adjusts by calling down then we can tighten back up and get him to calldown when we have made hands.

What makes you think he's folding any decent made hands or draws?

In the showdown that we know about, he was caught barreling off with a J-high hand that he 5-bet preflop.

cuz it's part of the reason we are considering slowplaying our tp?