2-5

a9 i open to 20 and get one caller.

player is an aggressive reg, borderline maniac (Asian) but i think he wins. but he was playing seemingly normal tonight doesn't usually play 2-5.

flop

10-J-5

i check, mainly just giving up on the flop, he check back.

turn 8.

i check, i think i probably should bet this.

he bets 40. i call

river 10

i check he thinks for a while and bets 40.

and starts stairing me down like he is joe mckeehan. i think if he had a 10 or a jack he would be still like a tiger.

i think my a-9 is a bit too week to flat here. how often do you just make it 175 here? or do you worry about your story making sense and all that jazz?

Your story is a bit of a problem here. If you had any ten you would have bet flop.

But if you are confident that he mostly is betting garbage and you can bet him off those hands then it is workable. It's very much a live read situation.

My concern would be his same bet on the river. That bet itself looks suspicious. It think this is a case where both of you are aware that neither of you has JX or better. So you are likely to have trouble getting him to fold a hand as weak as 5X.

Many tens don't bet the flop. But most of the tens that didn't bet the flop bet the turn, especially 9T and KT and QT less so.

What OP is representing is a very badly played set or JT/rivered full house that didn't bet for protection on two prior streets. It doesn't make sense.

what position are you in?

Lmao why would he bet a T on the flop? You can rep a T here. Good luck getting maniac asian guy to fold though

Credibly repping a hand like T9 or TQ, but I'm not sure this is the right villain