Live 1/3. New game going about 45 minutes, no player changes.

Hero has been mostly card dead, but picked up a couple pots: ~$400.
V1 is a maniac and rebought for $500 a few hands before. Currently has ~$250.
V2 has been all but silent and has not put more than $10 at a time, ~$250.

Otherwise, the table has been weak-tight preflop and over-betting postflop, making drawing hands common.

V1 (maniac) opens UTG for $6.
Hero calls with 55
one more call to V2 on the Button, who calls,
SB blinds folds, BB calls.

Pot $26 (after drop).

Flop 865r

V1 bets $20, hero calls, folded to V2 who raises to $50. V1 shoves.

Hero?

Very ugly squeeze. How wide has V2 been calling? Even if you have not seen any what percentage of hands has he been playing, is he limping or calling raises? Is he folding flops or chasing at all? Has maniac been giving up to raises or coming over the top?

Maniac doesn't worry me, he will show up with set/straights/draws occasionally but has lots of worse hands and might be as light as over pairs or bad draws like T9. V2 however probably has at least 7X/two pair and has higher sets/straights when he raises flop. If maniac can give up to flop raises then V2 can be raising lighter and you probably have to go with your hand. If maniac has been coming over the top when raised then V2 has a hand he wants to play for stacks and that makes his range stronger.

Ugly, but for less than 100bb against these players, I call. They could have worse or be drawing. If it's set over set, so be it.

V2 has been a nit up to this point. While his VPIP has been a bit high, it has also been for a lot of $3 to go pots.

Maniac has called big raises up to this point and come over the top a few times. Remember though, game is only 45 minutes in.

V1 has come over the top and 3 bet before. So yes, V2's range is stronger.

Why 100bb as a cutoff? Because it's a set, because it's more than head up, or because that's a convenient number to work from?

Ha, you and I have different definitions of card dead if we've picked up a couple of pots / up $100 in just 45 minutes (I call that "sunrunning").

I'm also calling to setmine preflop.

Even though this is a raised pot, the SPR is still on the medium high end. I would obviously stack off against the maniac, but stacking off against someone else might be a little dicey (especially against passive players who don't go nutso with pair + draw).

I would raise the flop. I want to isolate the maniac and play a big pot against him, especially before a bunch of scare cards come. I would probably make it $85 (a maniac is *never* folding any draw on the flop), which will create a $195 pot for a $160 shove on the turn.

Honestly, a difficult spot now. I feel easily committed against the maniac, but I'm not as thrilled to be committed against the other guy. Still, I'm assuming there are enough small overpairs (TT/99/etc.) and two pair plus maybe pair + draw that decide to go nuts that I would just ship it in. Plus we've only been playing with the other guy for 45 minutes, which is simply not nearly enough time to get a nit read (which is what we'd probably need to fold here).

GcallingG

It's not necessarily the cutoff, but if we were deeper, the hand would play differently -- I highly doubt you'd be facing an all-in at this point. Your opponents would play differently, too.

However, we are less than 100bb deep, and I don't fold bottom sets on drawy boards for less than 100bb against maniacs, even if there is a tighter player behind me who has shown some strength.

All-in.

Pre is good. Raise the flop the first time. You can play straight forward to gii on the turn against three villains on a wet board.

As played, never folding. There's always the risk of set over set, but shouldn't affect your decisions at <100BB. You still have about 30% equity if villain has an unlikely straight. Overpairs, two pair, and pair+draw make up most of the maniacs range, which you're well ahead of.

I've noticed a couple of set-over-set mentions, but don't forget there are flopped straight combos too (which makes this a little more uglier).

ETA: Interestingly enough, if we hadda raised the flop and then faced a reraise behind us, I wonder if that would be enough to get away (as even sets might not commit yet with the obvious straight on board)? Our initial flat has widened the flop raisers range to include enough hands we beat, imo.

Gstillacall,imo,butalmostasighingoneG

Agree.

Nitty player has more sets in his range and the straights are not as much of a problem anyways. Getting it in 3 ways against a straight and maniacs light range gives hero a decent chance of drawing out. Hero might even be getting the odds depending on how light the maniac is.

It's really hard to say with such limited information on V2's play. If V2 is a passive nit or a clever player he may flat hero's raise. Then V1 shoves and hero is still squeezed but with more money committed to pot. It really depends on knowing more about V2's play and range here.