Flopped a straight against a maniac, when to slow down?

[jasonHoldEm]

Hi guys,

This hand happened in a multi-table limit tournament over at planet poker (I haven't played there in a while, but I was using up some planet points...this was one of those 'points' tournaments with a cash payout to the final table).

My main opponent in this hand is a fairly agressive maniac. He's been raising almost every hand he comes in for and showing down a lot of garbage hands (53o comes to mind).

It's still relatively early (the second round), Limits are 2/5/10/10, but stacks started out between 100-300. My current stack is around 250.

I'm in LMP with T9s I limp after two callers, maniac is right behind me and comes in for a raise. CO calls, SB & BB both fold, two previous limpers (and myself) all call.

5 to see the Flop: Q, K, J rainbow, I flopped the lower half of the nut straight.

Checked to me I bet, maniac just calls, CO, EP, and MP call.

Five to the turn which is a blank (a four to complete the rainbow)

I bet, maniac raises, CO calls, EP and MP fold, I three bet, maniac calls, CO calls.

Three to the River: J, pairing the board

I bet, maniac raises, CO folds, I three bet, maniac caps, I call.

Results and my thought process in the post below. I'll give you a hint, he didn't have garbage this time. /forums/images/icons/mad.gif

jHE

[jasonHoldEm]

Well, the maniac wasn't so crazy this time, he had KK for the rivered full-house. You know what they say about blind squirrels.

Maybe I just got unlucky, but given his prior play he had been playing very loose and very aggressively. The tournament had only been going on for about 25 minutes or so at this point, maybe I didn't have a good read on him either (sigh).

I know I only had the weak side of the straight, and maybe I should have played a little more conservatively. I just hate to play a hand timidly against someone that I'm (almost) sure I have beaten. Where do you think I should have slowed down?

When he just called my bet on the flop I was pretty sure he didn't have AT for the nut straight (because he would have definately raised if he did), I was thinking a pair, or possibly just an ace and fishing for the ten. Then he raises the turn when a blank hits, I'm thinking maybe he has hit two pair (something like K4 for example), I figure I'm still ahead, which is why I three bet.

Looking back, three betting the river was probably a big mistake, I was already thinking two pair because of his action on the turn, so him holding J4 and filling in on the river was not that far beyond the realm of possibility, even though that's not how it happened he still did fill in, I read it right but failed to play it accordingly. What would you have done on the river, check/called? bet/called a raise?

Thanks for your advice,
jHE

[DaNoob]

"Maybe I just got unlucky, but given his prior play he had been playing very loose and very aggressively. The tournament had only been going on for about 25 minutes or so at this point, maybe I didn't have a good read on him either (sigh)."

The problem with maniacs is that it is very hard to get a good read on them. I've run across a number of maniacs on the micro-limit ring tables and can never figure out when I'm ahead or behind them. When I see someone that plays garbage aggressively on a regular basis, however, I will raise and re-raise them with good hands every time. Over the long run, you have to figure to have a positive EV. This, of course, assumes that someone else isn't calling/raising with you, in which case you need to reconsider (obviously).

I have read in other posts, OTOH, that check-calling maniacs (especially if you can get them isolated) is the best way to reduce variance in your stack.

Either way, being only 25 minutes into the tourney, it's probably best to limit your risk in a situation where you can't read your opponent and don't have the nut.