Playing against a maniac.

[Triumph36]

$50 .25/.50 blinds on Paradise Poker

Maniac has been raising half the hands he's played, and I have snapped him off with AA and KK in consecutive hands for $130 of his large stack (he had KT and A8 respectively). The two of us have been talking a lot, but I've been staying out of pots because he usually acts after me. Finally I pick up pocket tens and call, intending to limp re-raise. He pushes all in for $137 and says he has a pocket pair. Do you call?

[Meatmaw]

Not a chance. Discounting what he's saying, why risk $137 to a $1 pot with TT when he could *easily* have you dominated 4 to 1? Sounds like you stand a better chance of picking up his chips through steadier play.

[Huskiez]

Definite fold. Unless you have an absolute strong read on him (that he would not pull that move with AA, KK, or QQ because he wants to milk those hands and not get everyone to fold), then I think it's a pretty clear cut fold. You can get his chips later.

[Triumph36]

I did fold, only because I invested nothing. I realized, though, that had I had JJ it was an automatic call for me, and with 99 an auto-fold. I don't know what this means, really. I was scared of overcards more than I was an overpair, I think, and I had no desire to gamble with AK or QJ or whatever nonsens he was playing.

He showed 33.

I ended up sitting there for another hour and a half, getting involved in almost no pots.

[Richie Rich]

Must admit that I already read the answer, but I suspected that he had a small pocket pair -- 2s, 3s, 4s or 5s -- before I saw the bottom line.

After you limped, why would he go all-in with any sort of "premium pocket pair" and then announce it to the field? Logically speaking, wouldn't he want to play this hand and attempt to win some money against 1 or 2 opponents, instead of giving you a chance to fold? Sometimes you seem to be waiting FOREVER before you get a prime hand like that...doesn't make sense to just give it away for the blinds+.

I've found that LAGs love to bully a table in order control the level of action. Not only is it harder to put them on a hand, but they also get to see a lot of flops and buy a lot of pots as well. However, I've also found that LAGs love to slowplay/trap when they have a good hand...but you won't realize that until the hand is over.

[umdpoker]

so, would you have called preflop withh tt richie? i would call with jj, but probably not tt against a lag. i would just wait for my aa/kk/qq/jj/ak. actually, i might not even call with jj. damn, i am weak-tight.

[Triumph36]

This guy was playing different than that type of maniac. He got it all in with AA pre-flop against KQ a few minutes later, after a raise and a few re-raises.

It certainly makes sense that he would have a small pocket pair, I've seen other LAGs do this before. But it was such a difficult call, I also think that the fact that it was 1/5th of my bankroll on Paradise Poker that influenced my decsion.

But with jacks, I make the call in a second.

I was kind of wondering why I hesitated with tens and finally dumped them. And I wonder why I rationalized it like Hellmuth did when he dumped his queens to pocket sevens in the WSOP "well, i did have a 20% chance to lose."