Stealing the blind goes awry

[Tilt]

My read on the villain is that he is generally very tight and passive. I assumed he would fold, which is fine cause I have trouble making money off him. Im here preying on the button who folded.

Seat 1: Button ($20.90)
Seat 2: Hero A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif K /images/graemlins/spade.gif ($118.7)
Seat 3: Villain ($65.20)
ANTES/BLINDS
Hero posts blind ($0.25), Villain posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP
Button folds, Hero bets $2, Villain bets $5, Hero calls $3.25.

He raises, thats a warning, but I have seen him react badly to my blind steals before with any ace or PP, even small ones. I figure I am good to call and see what the flop brings.

($11) FLOP [board cards 2 /images/graemlins/spade.gif,Q /images/graemlins/spade.gif,A /images/graemlins/heart.gif ]
Hero checks, Villain bets $0.50, Hero bets $5, Villain bets $15, tiltster calls $10.50.

If I was going to fold I should have done it after that raise. It was like my finger acted before I could think. Based on his earlier play I am very worried that he has a set here.

($41) TURN [5 /images/graemlins/club.gif ]
Hero checks, Villain bets $15, hero folds.

SHOWDOWN
Villain wins $56.

SUMMARY
Pot: $57 | Rake: $1
Button loses $0
Hero loses $21
Villain bets $36, collects $56, net $20

Comments appreciated. I'm still pretty new to NL 50. Should I have shut down earlier? Bet large instead of checking the turn? I know what villain had (or what he told me he had) so I can share later.

[soah]

What do you mean he has "reacted badly" to your steals? He has reraised you preflop with those hands, or just called you with them? If this is the first time that he has reraised you preflop then you should be worried. At best you are splitting. Given that you describe him as very passive I would not fault you if you folded to his raise on the flop. I might even just call his min bet on the flop and see what he does on the turn. You're probably either way ahead or way behind so there's no rush to get the money in the pot. Others may disagree though. But personally, if a passive player reraises me preflop I am always worried that they have aces, even if I can account for two of the aces from the deck.

[DBowling]

Hmmm i have a hard time thinking youre behind here. I suppose it depends how passive here really is. This action makes him seem quite lively.
If he is playing back vs your blind steals, his range of hands suddenly becomes much larger. If hed make this move with any ace, check push. If he's a nut peddler, you can fold the flop if you really feel strongly about your read.

And, of course, never believe a player when he tells you what he had.

[Raiser]

If you think he's stealing, then you should probably re-raise pre-flop. That's probably what I would do in this spot. If he pops you back then you can fold or call (if his raise isn't too much) and hope to flop a biggie.

Given the action (and your read of tight/passive), I think you are likely behind on this flop, so I'd probably fold to his raise.

Am I weak?

[AdamBragar]

Usually I'd suggest folding prelop to the raise because either he's got AA or KK and you are in trouble or it's possible he has another lower pocket pair. If he's got a lower pocket pair, and an A or K flops, you're not going to win a huge pot. If an A or a K doesn't flop and he bets, you can't really call. So basically, you're gambling on an A or K flopping, which really isn't too great a gamble.

But, I understand that you think this guy may be tilting a bit from your raises and may have AQ, AJ or A10 and thinking you are raising with something weak.

Anyway, the important stuff really lies post flop. From my experience with low stakes no limit, any min. bet post flop into a big pot means 1 of 3 things (really usually 1 of 2):

1) The person has an ok, but probably weak hand relative to the board(Ax, JJ here) and is hoping that the 50 cent bet will cause you to fold. This scenario is usually rare.

2) The person is drawing. At this level, I see people min. bet all the time with draws.

3) The person's hand is really really strong. I really liked your idea of raising here to find out where you are at. But once there is a reraise, you are probably beat and probably beat pretty bad. At least that's my experience. I'd put the villain on QQ or AA.

With that said, you could have probably raised less, to say, 3.50 or probably even only 3 dollars. People who usually do this min. bet stuff are either going to respond to almost any raise with a fold, or they are going to reraise. If they just call, fire another bet on the turn because likely the person is drawing.

[Tilt]

Thanks for your comments guys.

Dbowling, in most cases I would agree its unlikely I would be beat here but Adam hit the nail on the head. Villain said he had QQ and I believe him (we had formed a kind of camraderie by taking turns eating the other guys lunch....and it was very consistent with his play). But I should have realized that after the flop raise and not called there.

As for the lively action, it was out of character for him. The only time I could get him to play back at me was if i raised his blind. That set him off, but not like this.