Ok so I haven't played much over the past few months but I was playing a $2.50 180 today when I saw one of the top winning 180 regulars call an UTG+1 raise with A5o and was pretty surprised since its not a play I would make. Here's the hand:

PokerStars - $2.28+$0.22|50/100 Ante 10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP+2: 17.25 BB (VPIP: 23.77, PFR: 19.26, 3Bet Preflop: 10.81, Hands: 411)
CO: 12.51 BB (VPIP: 19.35, PFR: 17.72, 3Bet Preflop: 8.46, Hands: 406)
BTN: 15.32 BB (VPIP: 18.77, PFR: 17.31, 3Bet Preflop: 7.42, Hands: 3,886)
SB: 34.75 BB (VPIP: 36.03, PFR: 7.63, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 138)
BB: 17.37 BB (VPIP: 17.09, PFR: 12.41, 3Bet Preflop: 4.88, Hands: 472)
UTG: 13.24 BB (VPIP: 12.99, PFR: 8.40, 3Bet Preflop: 3.45, Hands: 155)
UTG+1: 14.33 BB (VPIP: 12.63, PFR: 11.54, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 194)
MP: 16.62 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (MP+1): 10.33 BB

9 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.4 BB) Hero has Q 7

fold, UTG+1 raises to 2 BB, MP calls 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 1 BB

Flop: (7.4 BB, 3 players) A 8 5
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP checks

Turn: (7.4 BB, 3 players) 5
BB bets 3 BB, fold, MP calls 3 BB

River: (13.4 BB, 2 players) 3
BB bets 12.27 BB and is all-in, MP calls 11.52 BB and is all-in

BB shows 5 A (Full House, Fives full of Aces)
(Pre 36%, Flop 10%, Turn 93%)
MP shows 8 A (Two Pair, Aces and Eights)
(Pre 64%, Flop 90%, Turn 7%)
BB wins 36.44 BB

I know we're getting great odds (6.4:1) but since we only have 17BBs or 14BBs effective vs raiser, I don't see how calling here can be that profitable given that we're almost always dominated and OOP against 2 players. I would rather call with SCs and similar hands which have better equity vs the raiser's range and play better postflop. A5s seems a reasonable call but A5o just seems too weak to me. Whats out plan on Axx flop? x/c flop then x/f turn? It seems to me like we miss most flops and when we do hit we're dominated a lot of the time.

I was wondering what you guys think. I'm not saying its a bad play; this is a good winning reg who is on sharkscope profit leaderboards so he obviously has good reasons for making this call, I'm just wondering what they are.

Is it that he thinks his postflop edge is so big that it nullifies his poor equity, short stack and positional disadvantage?
Are the odds just too good to fold and I should call here with anything of remote value eg T8o K9o Q6s etc?
Is this a standard play these days and I'm just a nit in these spots?

Thanks for the feedback.

im thinking he could of been mass multi tabling and called thinking he saw red and thought he had a5s which would of been ok to call with those pot odds( assuming he hasnt got 4 colour coded deck selected). it could also be a reg on reg dynamic and without access to those dynamics we cant really get clued in to what is happening. If it is a reg on reg dynamic as bb is closing the action it allows him to try and exploit what ever dynamic he thinks he may of identified in post flop play without fearing a raise from behind preflop.

It would be more interesting to see what would have happened if he had missed or flopped TPNK.

Pot odds are obviously important as is the chance to play with the unknown in MP.

Depends how he would play but if he donked a dry light flop then UTG has to act before he sees what the rec does so he can't float it with air, though a taggish reg is going to have an overpair a lot but maybe he would take it down often enough.

Also, this is still a $2.50 game, he doesn't have to be that good. I don't like his flop sizing for example.

What flop sizing it gets checked around on flop. If you mean turn sizing i think I like the sizing, yes its smallish but with the check around on flop it could be taken as a stab at an orphaned pot. Especially as the board pairs low and the bb with a wide range with decent pot odds pre can rep trips as has more 5x in his range then the other players. the small sizing gets value from loads of hands as well as the flush drawers that depite drawing dead will call now but with no showdown value on most rivers you will not be able to get value from these on the river ( yes a flush drawer will often bet flop but not always). The stack sizes also mean that the value river shove is still under pot.

I think I really like his play post flop, I would play it almost exactly the same. just cant see why he called pre. He may be playing 26 tables and misclicked or misread hand as suited maybe. I do call more nowadays with weaker ax then I used to as im less worried about reverse implied odds as i trust myself not to stack of often with a worse top pair type hand. But I would never do this at these stack sizes as we are just to short.

If its not an error from the reg im thinking its not a simple fit fold play and it may be based on information and identified leaks. Without knowing why i think there are to many possibilities to work out the play. You could be right he may have a read that the opener folds to a donk bet on flop often when he doesnt connect and he has someone left to act behind but i dont think that plan would be good enogth readless but i could be wrong.