First time I've played at this venue been on the table 1.5 hours or so. The table as a whole is really passive, lots of 6-7 player limped pots but if you try to raise in position, you'll still get 2-3 callers. Villain has the big stack at the table and has been splashing cash to buy pots, which has worked. My rep is probably tight aggressive.

The hand in question he is either the button or hijack and I'm either SB or BB. His stack is a little over 350 and mine is around 250. It's the usual limped pot (7 players I think) and I get involved with K J off. Flop come J high rainbow, no straight now or likely in the near future. I bet out 9, folds around to villain who without really looking (usual MO) picks some 25's and bets £75. Last person left folds, so we're heads up and it's on me.

What to do?

First, pay closer attention. Sure he's bullying people around, but is he doing it with massive over raises like this? How likely is he to bet if checked to on the turn? If this is his MO, and he's likely to bet the turn regardless I'll probably call and CRAI ott. I'm perfectly happy playing for stacks with our hand against a maniac.

Interesting and up to a point I could agree, although CRAI, really? Even on the high end of his raising he might make it 25, isn't then raising over 200 insane? I think if I had a monster, I probably would have Check raised but with something fairly marginal, I thought betting out was a better play.

I also probably over stated his manic tendencies. I surmised that a lot was about ego with him, so being seen to be the big man and especially me, as a new face, showing who's boss, so he's more likely to raise over a bet than bet after a check. I'm not going to pretend that was my thought process when I put the bet in but it was how I saw him.

It obviously all depends on how much of a maniac he is and what you've seen him do. Put generally, if he's LAGgy but not insane it's not a bad spot to fold. Do we really want to play for stacks with KJ against a reasonable V with 125 Bbs? Not really. But if he is just running over the table and is likely to bet the turn With virtually any two cards I'd call and CRAI on any non A or Q. I see too many Vs doing this thinking you won't continue without a monster. When the flop is this dry he knows you can't have a draw.

I don't think CRAI is too much: there's gonna be around 150ish in the pot on the turn. If he fires again there you don't have enough to call without shoving. There's no point in calling the flop to fold the turn. I think it's pretty simple: is this V LAG enough that you're ready to play for stacks with KJ? If you think he is, buckle up. If he's actually very reasonable and not that much of a bully then just fold before it gets worse.

I'm folding 100% without more reads.

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aftrglw - The headline was a little misleading, he was aggressive and liked to run and be seen to run over the table but not a complete manic. He has a clue of poker but only generalities, so not pot odds, ranges, implied odds, etc. After 1.5 hours I know this sounds a massive leap but I play a lot in wealthy areas, which this was and it was clear he had won at life and also wanted to be seen to be the big man at the poker table.

After maybe a 3 minute tank I shoved. My thinking was that pre if he had pretty much any pair or AJ, he's going to raise, that he limps tells me I'm ahead right now and with such a dry board, if he calls, only a bad beat will beat me. He may have two pair, but I think his range is skewed to a worse J or middle pair. I shoved so I was taking later mistakes out of the equation, if an overcard comes down and I fold. He calls, which is slightly concerning but not as much as the turn, which is a Q. The river is a blank. He says he has a pair and I turn over my cards, he then tank folds. I assume he had a raggy J, maybe J 10.

I think as a general strategy this is suicidal but against this player, swingy but profitable.

He has to be doing this with total air for us to be good here, and he's raised $66 more into a pot of $30, so we don't need to defend very often to not get exploited, and there are better hands in our range. As BB, you can have any of the two pair combos and any set other than the JJ, so so long as you get dealt those every once in a while and never vbet thin into this player, you're exploiting him just fine. In fact, we can even be so exploitative as to check this very hand in the future against him, which isn't a bad play anyway when you're OOP to 5 players (at least one of whom is super lag) and there are only 8 turns you dislike.

If there were a lot of draws out there, it'd be a different story.