Party NL $25 - easy call on 5th street?

[MisterKing]

Main opponent has frequently been raising preflop to 4x the BB, occasionally higher, often with nothing. If the pot is raised by someone else after limpers, he'll go to 10x BB, even with nada. This is particularly true when limpers are in the hand and he has position. No evidence that he's a maniac, but he has made a few poor bluffs and some other strange plays. That said, his tactics were working, and he was in the black when this hand started.

Did I make the right play on 4th and 5th streets?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 max, 6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

BB <font color="purple">(Pushy-Guy)</font> ($35.25)
UTG ($24)
MP ($16)
CO ($52.24)
Hero ($31.15)
SB ($5.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif. MP posts a blind of $0.50.
UTG folds, MP (poster) checks, <font color="CC3333">CO raises to $1</font>, Hero calls $1, SB folds, <font color="CC3333">BB <font color="purple">(Pushy-Guy)</font> raises to $1.5</font>, MP folds, CO calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50.

I only play this hand about one time in four, but my extremely tight table image (had been playing only 19% of flops over 160 hands at this table) and position gave me some wiggle room here. Calling another bet when it came back around was a no-brainer, as I was getting 10:1.

Flop: ($5.25) A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 7/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 5/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Pushy-Guy bets $0.75</font>, CO folds, Hero calls $0.75.

Double-gutshot draw here... I figure my implied odds are through the roof, and even without them, he's still offering me 8:1 on a call. I put him on an ace, second pair, or perhaps trash like KJ. Hard to say given his style -- though he'd have bet more (about $3) if he was really strong here.

Turn: ($6.75) 6/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Pushy-Guy bets $3</font>, Hero calls $3.

Su-weet. So I have him beat here unless he's on 84 or 98. Don't see him raising PF with 84, but his flop bet did seem like it might have been for value. That said, I still put him on a middle Ace, mid-pair, or a steal bet here -- I'd love for him to improve to some kind of second best hand on the river, so I call planning to clobber him on 5th street.

River: ($12.75) 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Pushy-Guy bets $25.5</font>, Hero calls $25.50.

I took a while to make this decision. The river card was either a fantastic blessing, or a real problem. Ultimately, I still put him on something like AT or middle pair, and his betting habits were the deciding factor. He had been pushing people around with mediocre hands, playing on their risk-aversion, and I concluded that this was more of the same. Of the hands that beat me, I didn't see him holding AA, A5, 66, 77, 55, 65, 75, 84, or 98. If he did have one of those, I suppose 98s, 65, 55, and A5 were most likely. I had resolved on the turn to try and get him all in on the river, and I got what I wanted. Did I make the right play?

Final Pot: $63.75
<font color="green">Main Pot: $63.75, between Pushy-Guy and Hero.</font>

[vulturesrow]

Flop:

He bets .75 into a 5.25 pot and you think that is a value bet. If he is a tricky player, he might be inviting a bluff. Usually though at these sorts of table, its just a weak ass stab at the pot when they hit a little piece of the flop.

Turn: He bets a half pot bet. Now since you didnt show any strength on the flop, this might be a more serious attempt at a bluff. I would think about a strong reraise here..not necessarily a push since you are at the wrong end of the straight.

River: So now he goes big when the board pairs. At this point, I think I am going to call.

Chris

[JrJordan]

You have the lower end of the straight on the turn versus a maniac LAG. I think you need to reraise here and hopefully get the stacks all in. Your call here just makes it too hard to find where you stand on the river. Also, if you can get enough money in on the turn, you're basically pot committed on the river anyway, so it becomes much easier to get the money in. Raise him to $9 and see what he does. If he calls, then leads out again on the river, you're chopping this pot at best. If he checks to you again on the river, bet out hard and hope for a call.

[schwza]

i think this is a pretty bad call preflop. 34s makes only 3 straights, and only 2 are the nuts. if the pot gets significantly reraised behind you, you'll have to fold. if it doesn't, then you'll have crappy position relative to the raiser. (this means that if it's checked to the pre-flop raiser and he bets, you'll have to act immediately after him and risk being trapped between him and a check-raiser, as well as not knowing how many people are going to be in the pot). also, you made a comment on your own tight table image - don't assume that people have been at the table for your whole session or that they are paying even the slightest bit of attention.

i like the call on the flop. you have big odds against a LAG who will likely bet big into you if you hit.

flat calling the turn is dubious. your hand becomes very weak if a 4, 8 or 9 hits, and you can't be happy to see any club or any card that pairs the board. i think you should raise here while you're almost certain to be ahead and hope to get reraised.

as you played it and given your read, i would definitely call on the river.

[JrJordan]

Oh yeah forgot to mention. Ugly preflop call.

[MisterKing]

Thanks for the insight, guys.

I agree that raising the turn is a strong option, and is the correct play in a standard game. It could very well have been the right play in the game I was playing, but as I mentioned, the opponent had a bad habit of big raises with weak hands, and my plan was to trap him whilst doing this. The plan easily could have backfired, but thankfully did not in this case:

Final Pot: $63.75

Pushy-Guy shows 5h 9h (three of a kind, fives).
Hero shows 3h 4h (straight, seven high).
Outcome: Hero wins $63.75.

Thank goodness the river didn't bring an 8.

About the pre-flop call. Two of you said it was a bad call, and I'm interested in whether you think its "never call" type of situation, or more of what I had labeled it, which is a "seldom (20% of the time), to mix up your play" call. I am usually a very tight NL cash game player, however on the button, I do mix it up more, and FWIW, at least two of the players at the table had been there with me for over an hour and were definitely aware of how tight I was running. I do agree that many times in Party NL $25 people are not paying attention.

[Jdanz]

no offense intended, but it's certainly a never call. Suited connectors are bad for a raise.
lower suited connectors that don't make good straights are worse.
You had the worst possible position to the raiser in terms of likeleness of a reraise pre-flop.

If you never play suited connectors for any raise you won't be giving up much.

If you are going to play them for a raise this is certainly not the place to make that play with everyone live to raise behind you.

-JDanz

[Unarmed]

[ QUOTE ]
no offense intended, but it's certainly a never call. Suited connectors are bad for a raise.
lower suited connectors that don't make good straights are worse.
You had the worst possible position to the raiser in terms of likeleness of a reraise pre-flop.

If you never play suited connectors for any raise you won't be giving up much.

If you are going to play them for a raise this is certainly not the place to make that play with everyone live to raise behind you.

-JDanz

[/ QUOTE ]

Wha?
Suited connectors against a LAG who raises PF when he has you stacked is H-E-A-V-E-N as long as you only have to call ~&lt;5% of your stack to see the flop, which will flop you an 8 outer or better 22% of the time. I agree that in this case (position and the low cards) the situation is not optimal but the 2 raisers more than makes up for this IMO (chance to triple up)

His position would make me think (as he mentioned in his post) but calling is certainly a viable option IMO. 8-9 suited and I'm autocalling in this case.