Action table and a thinking youngish SLAG had been running the table over for the most part until he got AA cracked by JJ and then AK 3 ways vs KK and QQ in a 10 minute stretch. Appears to be upset but not all the way tilting. Likes to apply relentless pressure but will fold to aggression without a draw.

OTTH:
SLAG opens for $30 from EP and gets 3 callers. Hero is the effective stack ($1100) OTB and makes a lose call with QTo. Thinking here is that SLAGs aggression and my relative position makes "top pair mining" almost like set mining. Based on SLAGs play over 4+ hours I was prepared to stack off on T high or Q high flops and figured there would be enough dead money to make it +EV depending on how the action went.

Flop ($150): Q94r
SLAG leads for $125, which is standard with all of his air, all of his draws, and all of his made hands. Folds to Hero, so we got exactly what we wanted. I sized down my raise here so I could jam pretty much all turn cards and made it $300. Also figured it wouldn't have made much difference if I made it $400. I had previously played back into SLAG 3 or 4 times and got folds in each case. This time SLAG seems to want to continue but clearly did not like the raise. He asks how much I have behind , I move my hands to expose my stack and he says "a lot". He genuinely considers his options which is rare for SLAG who usually plays quickly. He looks like he's about to fold then finds a call.

Turn ($750): Q94Kss
SLAG returns more to his normal form and pauses only briefly before leading for $500. Hero was almost sure we were good OTF. I considered SLAGs continuing range given the action: AK, JT, Qx, and some air (not sure how much). AK and JT got there. Qx is largely unchanged since SLAG is pretty much insta-calling Heros flop raise with AQ or KQ. Maybe QJ, QT feels better with an added gut shot? Maybe some of his air is Kx? Obviously this decision is for remaining stacks. And I thought I was getting everything I wanted but now I'm having second thoughts. Are we calling it off here? Does SLAG have enough bluffs in this line to justify getting it in? The K is not a bad bluff card for him. Less than 90 seconds later he calls clock for added flavor. Does this correlate to weakness?

He leads $125 into three people on a coordinated board with air?

I'd fold preflop. There is no point in raising the flop.

Pre is awful.

Flop is pretty spewy when he cbets 5-way for 83% pot.

Fold turn

Quit reading when "Hero makes a loose call with QTo."

In a relatively deep 2/5 game, play hands that have the ability to make the nuts or a disguised made hand. QTo ain't one of them.

As played, fold.

As for the rest of the hand, yikes!
Pre-flop is setting you up for horrible situations.

Pre is bad but not that bad if you don't spew postflop. Your plan of "make top pair 10 kicker, stack off for 200BB" is a losing one. You're going to be soundly beaten most of the time when the money goes in. Also, if he's going to keep firing with nothing why do you want to raise the flop and stop him doing that?

As played, you're going to have to fold. This is below the bottom of a flop raising range, like you can't actually have a made hand this bad, so the rest of your range is going to be nothing but better hands to call with. It's possible he has something like 89 or whatever but your hand isn't good enough to find out.

Fold as played. Might be ahead of backdoor spades, but that's probably it. He's also playing back for the first time.

I think the thread is based on live itm dynamics, difficult to give an objective assessment. Thinking of stacking off 220 bbs with a Q or T seems ambitious.

OP you are always welcome at my game.

So "thinking young SLAG" somehow morphed into idiot maniac?

Understand the fold pre comments but against this V on the button I don't think it's spew to call the button one time with a speculative hand.

This guys is stacking off with JT, floating AK, and pretty much all Qx, again, there is still some air in his range as well. I'm raising to play for stacks.

Only constructive feedback so far. Do you feel the same if the turn is a 2? I'm raising to play for stacks. If I smooth call it could go something like 125, 250, and he checks his air OTR. Agree there are better spots to continue.

Good point. Obvious in bold but everyone misses the clues.

Results:

I could have called V a maniac but I just wanted to show that he was capable of aiming his spew at players with a fold button rather than equal opportunity spewing.

Yea pretty much.

Dude, taking one shot at Slag/ maniac on the button with a broadway hand in 6 hours of play is questionable, I get it but I had a pretty good handle on what was happening as I raised while ahead and got called by worse OTF. Your comments are all useless trolling

But you got what you wanted and folded. And made an awful flop raise and sizing vs someone who will blindy barrel.

I still don't understand why you misled everyone in the OP by presenting him as a thinking LAG when your plan was to play against him as if he was a maniac.

There’s no one term that fits perfectly. I thought by indicating I’m stacking off 200BB with top pair readers could infer how loose and aggressive V was. The thinking part was just to indicate it wasn’t “lol every hand”. He did use scare cards and target tighter players. If I write to much posters flame “wall of text” if I try to describe spewy SLAG / maniac with fewer words I’m misleading. The point I was trying to get to was that I felt I was ahead of about 80% of his range on the flop then the K made it more like 50/50 on the turn IMO. Continue or abort.

bolded is main issue here

you went to the well once too often and V decided to take a stand

I am not the preflop po po for sure as I have been known to play a trash hand from time to time. But QTo with the idea that we stack off on most T high and Q high boards seems strange for you. If it is a live read thing, then fine...no problem with it. But if it is targeting this guy and maybe semi tilty for some reason, then i don't like it.

AP, I think the turn card is probably the worst in the deck for you and given that SLAG paused on the flop and then led the turn for a stack committing amount makes it a clear fold for me. You EASILY could have KQ here and he is showing he doesn't care.

Except he showed a 5

Well having him reluctantly call is one of the better outcomes, so if the turn is a 2 the raise is probably working out, but that doesn't mean it's good overall. 125, 250 and checking air is a better outcome than what you would get, which is raise flop and he gets out for just the 125, you don't get that 250, but you're still getting stacked by better.

"Raising to play for stacks" isn't a reason, it's just a description of what is happening. When trying to exploit someone, allow them to make their mistakes. The mistake of this player isn't "calling station", it's that they're too aggressive. Therefore, allow them to continue to be aggressive.

Surely there’s a better strategy to fight back at this player than by morphing into The Old Man and the Sea.

This was part of my thinking. I indeed was pretty OMC for 4 hours and took a shot with a vulnerable hand. I raised flop precisely because I didn’t want to give free shots at 2 pair, a straight, or an overcard and would rather take the decent pot than have to fold turn while losing less.

If we flop TP and then fold to an overcard on the turn when he bets, then our strategy isn't working.

Widen your value 3b range a bit pre and attack this guy with a stronger range. 3b with KTs, KJo, 55-77, etc for value and buckle up for the ride