1/3 NLHE 8 handed.

V - Maniac. VPIP about 80-90%. Always straddling. Blind opening 25 sometimes. Coming in for a raise on every straddle. Everyone else at the table is a mix of tight passive and loose passive and they're all trying to trap him. He's just bet-fold-bet-fold-bet fold mode. He can x/raise light and calls a lot when people push back with aggression (so he's kind of a whale in that sense). He punted a BI earlier and rebought and now ran it deepish ~900$. Covers the table anyway. Table is drinking and happy. V has showndown hands like K2o, Q2s, KTo, and 87o. He's the kind of guy that's really dangerous when he wakes up with a real hand because people just put it AI with him with any pair. Covers. BB.

H - Just came over from another table that broke. Has a tight nitty image to V from being short stacked and card dead. Has been stuck all night and just wants to get even and go home. He's in for 7 hours now and down about 100$. H 3-bet V earlier (3 orbits ago) when he cold opened 15 and got 3 callers IP, H made it 75 from the BB with JJ and everyone folded. H was nursing the shortest stack (~250$) at the table before doubling up through a drunk and now has about 550$. CO.

HH - (would like advice) - 6 handed, V straddles BTN, H opens HJ to 20, V calls, HU OOP. H has A K and only 265$ back, 285$ to start the hand. Flop 40 - 7-4-2r. Check check. Turn 40 - 7 two spades. H checks, V overbets 65, H folds, deciding to wait for a better spot?

---

Somehow no one straddles - Folds to loose passive indian who limps HJ, H sees J J and opens to 15, SB station calls, V calls BB. 4 ways IP.

Flop 60 - Q 7 2

Checks through

Turn 60 - J

Check, check, check, H bets 20, only V calls, HU.

River 100 - 9

V checks, Hero?

Think I'd go ahead and bet. V probably would have check-raised turn or donk-led river if he had a straight or flush.

Think I'd probably go small, maybe bet $40.

I'd bet 2/3 of the pot on the river, as he might pay off with 2nd pair and better.

I like the prev two ideas. Are we bet/calling this guy? We're told he c/raises light, but river c/raises are often nutted, so you all tell me.

Q72ss seems like a 20-33% after our open. I get that main V'll raise, but when we call, and with our image, we can get credit if the spades do come in. Plus thin the herd. Surprised he didn't raise our turn bet.

Half pot was my first thought for betting river ap. Puking if he shoves over us, ofc.

I probably go a little bigger on the turn -- ~$40. As played, bet ~$50.

In the hh why aren't you betting flop?
The 7 on the turn makes it now likely you are ahead, and you are unblocking space bluffs. You need to be in the top 30pc ish of your range to call which maybe you are? Why not call turn then call down some non spade rivers especially double pairing board cards and A K Q etc?

Sent from my Mi 9T using Tapatalk

HH you can bet flop even against this guy. Fine as played.

Main hand seems OK. Now go for thin value. I would go around half pot, folding to a raise.

If you're not gladly betting this river you have some leaks in your game. If 99% of 1/2 players have it, they will raise you and you can safely fold. As for a maniac I'd bet and reevaluate.

What can we read from his behavior, because calling pre and checking 3 times post is hardly the stuff of mainiacs? And good mainiacs don't trap, because they realize most people perceive them as FoS.

As played Bet $40 and soul read if check raised.

If we get raised, I'm probably calling, unless he jams.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

You have to bet for value here. A maniac is never getting to the river this passively with anything that beats you. And given that they seem to call a lot, I bet bigger for value - near pot. Make it look like you're trying to steal the pot to get looked up light.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

auto checking when 3 to a flush comes is a bad habit ive developed. tbh auto-anything except folding really bad hands pf in NL is probably a bad thing.

played fine but could conceivably size up ott. from a hand reading perspective what % of the time do you think you're beaten facing this line when it gets x to u otr? i cant imagine its more than like 10-15% of the time and i think its very close to 0 vs most people

Limp raise pre. Obv value bet river.

I'd value bet the river for like 75-80 bucks. I'd also go larger on the turn.

I'm guilty of this sort of mindset to a degree and I just want to highlight to us both how incorrect and dangerous it is. Only stay in the game when you don't feel like playing if you know you're a huge favorite, like whales just donating. Otherwise go home.

I like betting $40 here and seeing if he'll jam. doc why are we folding here to a villain whos been punting and who will XR light vs our hero has severely under repped his hand?

I thought about this idea here:

"I under-realize my expectation IP vs aggressive players with a large x/raising range because I can't value bet as thinly"

We had another player awhile back that used to x/raise a lot and the adjustment I eventually realized is bet IP more polar and less thin. So you have to check back some of the bottom of your value range. And that's what I did here. This hand played out VERY passive for V compared to all the others so I had alarm bells going off.

Result:

Your description of him has him doing a lot of bet-folding, as well as check-raising light. Not sure if that means he's bet-folding for value, or just bet-folding with his bluffs, or if he's check-raising as a bluff, or if he's insane enough to check-raise light with thin value.

Curious what hands you think he has that get turned into check-raise bluffs here, or that check-raise light for thin value, where the run-out completes both straight draws and flush draws. Would you expect him to check-raise a straight or low flush here?

The most logical hands he'd check-raise as a bluff would include the ace of spades. Your description has him showing down all sorts of offsuit high-low garbage like K2o. I would think if he was going to go for a check-raise bluff with the As, he might do it when the third spade appears on the turn, knowing if he gets called he can still catch another spade on the river.

He called our turn bet with A2o, no spades. Were you thinking he might check-raise with just 1P or 2P?

I'd think a lot of his suited aces would raise pre, or lead turn when the flop checks through. Definitely wouldn't think he'd check-raise river with thick value, not even KT no clubs, so I'd be more willing to bet river, planning to call if he check-raises.

We started the hand with $550, and there's only $100 in the pot. We can bet around half pot, and call off a normal sized raise here, without worrying about it too much.

I'd bet 40% pot ($40) and call a normal size 3x raise of $120, even up to $150-$160. But if V jams all-in, that's a tough spot to call. We'd only have $75 invested in the pot, and have to call off another $475, hoping V is bluffing.

We're told he will x/r light. But what were the spots, how much did he x/r, did he always have a bluff, or did he ever show up with thick value? Was he check-raising light on the flop, the turn, or the river? The earlier the street, the less maniacal it is to check-raise as a bluff.

A check-raise 3x pot over-bet jam as a bluff on the river is pretty rare at 1/3, even from a maniac.

We're also told V has been doing a lot of bet-folding. Again, was that with value, or was that all bluffs?

What would V's bluffs be here, that didn't donk-bet turn, didn't check-raise turn, and didn't donk-lead river? We have to consider that V doesn't know we turned a set. We could have straights and flushes here on the river, as well as some 2P and sets, when we raise pre from the CO.

Is V really going to blast off by check-raising the river with the naked ace of spades, or turn some 1P or 2P combo into a bluff, assuming he at least had 1P when he called on the turn?

Why wouldn't he donk-lead or check-raise turn, if he wanted to rep the nut flush, or donk-lead the river with a block bet if he had some weak showdown value like 2P, or even a straight with KT? Bet-folding turn with the naked As seems in line with our read, at least as much, if not more than check-jamming river as a bluff.

If the table has been trying to trap V, I could see V flipping the script by checking the nuts on the turn, and then again on the river when hero bets, with a plan to check-raise, if he's been mostly check-raising with bluffs.

All AsXo, KsXo, and TX. He's so wide pre that he can have all sorts of random hands like this which is why he's sort of dangerous. He x/raised a guy for 2x pot AI on a 5-5-9-5 board with 88 and the guy called him off with QQ and won but almost had a heart attack.

How was he playing his thick value hands? Was he just betting out with them, or check-raising on the river?

Not trying to suggest this guy is studying theory, but check-raise bluffs on the river should have some showdown value, in case the river gets checked through. The logic is that we can check our hand, and if our opponent checks back, we can win at showdown sometimes, but if our opponent bets, we can't win if we just flat call.

So check-raising 88 on a board of 5559X would make some sense if he did it on the river. I'm guessing this check-raise was on the turn, though?

I'm just trying to figure out if it would ever make sense to bet here, knowing he's capable of check-raising with weak value, but that he'd just lead out with his thick value. We'd be betting in the hopes he'd check-raise.

This would be a weird spot on the river, if he were to check-raise a straight or weak flush, or A2 no spades. I can see how it would be hard to bet-call with a set on this board, especially if he check-raises all in, unless we know he's just leading out with his straights and flushes, and only check-raising weaker value.

yeah i mean putting in a single 1/3 psb ott and checking river is a horrendous underplay of your hand. particularly vs a guy playing 90% of hands.

Limp preflop in AK and JJ hand histories if Villain is really "coming in for a raise on every straddle." Unless you meant that he is always defending his straddle versus a preflop raise in front of him.

I am not normally a fan of limp reraising premiums in most situations, but this might be the kind of Villain where limp reraising premiums preflop becomes a strong strategy.

FYI, your JJ hand history where you 3bet squeezed $75 from the blinds with JJ over his $15 open and 3 callers seems bad.

My normal 3bet squeeze sizing there with JJ would have been $100 from the blinds.