need help with a couple of hands

1st hand:
nl 100 6-max. all players involved had $100 plus stacks. I limped in from early position with 77, a middle pos player limped and both blinds saw flop.
Flop was 3 6 7 rainbow. small blind checked, big blind bet $5, I made it $15, middle and SB folded, big blind put me all in....and I called...happily!
turn and river were jk, suits don't matter.

BB flopped nut straight. I don't think I did anything wrong on this hand...but then again, I'm not to bright.
Feedback would be appreciated.

Hand 2:
NL $100 6-max. I had $100, early player had $85
1st hand I was dealt AQs in big blind. An early, middle, late and sb limped. I checked my option. flop was Qc 5d 3d. SB limped. I bet $5, early player pushed all in. everyone folded to me. I had no read on the player. Though he may have had a pair with a flush draw, or maybe he limped in with 5's or 3's. I folded. He didn;t show but his comment was that he had kq and wanted to make anyone drawing pay.

Finally...NL $100 6 - max. $85 stack.

I had 8's in late position. the whole table limped and saw the flop. the flop was 2 3 5 rainbow. blinds checked, early maniac bet $15 into a $5 pot. He was pushing top pair all night and getting crushed. He had about $60. I put him all in. he called with the 46s and his hand held up. I think I played this hand terribly.

Thanks in advance for feedback.

Lou

[scrapperdog]

Hand #1. When the blind does this I am a lot more wary than when someone that put money in voluntarily. The blind can have any 2 cards, and in this situation the first thing I look at is if the person that did this is in the blinds or not. If he is not in the blinds he probably has an overpair or underset. If he is in the blinds who the heck knows what he has.
Hand #2. Make a note on this player. Good fold for your first hand at the table IMO.
Hand #3. This is not the kind of hand I take a lot of heat with. I would have thought the maniac had A-4 (os of course).

Thanks for the feedback. Would you have played #1 differently?

I also keep reading about the "set or fold mentality" regarding small pairs is far from optimal in 6-max as opposed to full ring. I think that the example I gave about the overpair (8's) is an example where the "set or fold" theory isn't so far off in 6-max. I think if the game get much shorted you've got to push those marginal situations more, but at 6 max, my play with the 8's was awful. Any feedback on my hands plus this post is much appreciated. Please help.
Thanks,
Lou

You can't get away from hand 1. If you consistently fold the 2nd nuts in situations like that you're losing money. Just shrug it off.

hand 2: fold looks good, just make a note for that player

hand 3: This is a fold. You haven't invested much money in the pot and you have no idea what villain has since it was limped. Your hand is very susceptible to a lot of holdings and a push is only getting called if you're beat or villain is a donk.

[mustardo]

Hand 1 - fine imo, he's going to have two pair, underset enough here, and the times he doesn't you'll suck out enough to make this profitable. Not sure I call totally happy but it's always a call.

Hand 2 - Again fine, as previous poster said make a note but calling this hand with no reads is going to get you in trouble more often than not.

Hand 3 - I think low overpairs are the most difficult hands to play in 6max. In this case I don't think there's much you can do though. You said he's been playing like a maniac with top pair so you probably have to raise and with the amount he has you're then committed. Against most players you can raise and fold because obviously they are not going to raise 3x the pot on the flop.

keep the responses coming please. the've been helpful so far