The one card that could hurt me!

4-8 Hold 'Em...


I'm in middle position with pocket 77, early position maniac raises.... I'm thinking the hand will probably be heads up... I call... Late position solid player calls.... Uh oh...


Flop


K,7,6 rainbow


I'm thrilled!! The maniac to my right bets, I raise, and late position re-raises!! My read at this point is A,K since he only called the maniac's raise pre-flop. This puts the maniac all-in... I cap it...


Turn


K,7,6, 2


I bet out and I am raised... now I'm starting to be concerned about the only hand that could be better than mine: KK... but I'm all but certain he would have let us know pre-flop... I just call the raise, and then.... then......


River


K,7,6, 2, 6!


I bet out, having filled up... having a sick feeling to my stomach... as he re-raises me.... I call.... and my opponent shows me two black sixes....


Any thoughts? I have a feeling I should have done something else somewhere......


index

Index,

Crappy result, but it was just a bad beat, one in which there was nothing you could do to prevent it. You could consider mucking pre-flop (because you may not be getting the multi-way action to flop a set), but the hand also is a SLIGHT favorite against overcards and I would play it (right or wrong). Once the flop comes, what could you do? You played your set fast just like you should, and he did the same. You're not gonna get him off his set no matter what and he easily could have a hand like KQ at this point. On the turn, you correctly slowed down IF you think your opponent could possibly not 3-bet with pocket kings in this spot; is he loose? He may have two pair like K7 if this is the case and I would raise again. On the river, I would bet and pay off the raise. Tough beat, but you did all you could.


Jeff

if you believed he would reraise before the flop with a big pair you need to raise again on 4th street as if he has a set its sixes. if you believe he wouldnt maybe reraise before the flop with a big pair you need to again reraise on 4th as he could have aces,or kings aces more likely as there is a king out there. on the end id bet and call if raised or maybe even raise back depending on the player if he would call before the flop in late position with lousy suited cards. as he could very well have king six.

As Ray alluded I would have lost more money than you did.

I think preflop you should reraise or muck. If he's a maniac and you don't mind some swings 3 be thim. Calling is the worst play here.


The flop and turn you have to love. The likelyhood of KK is small. Set of 66's or AK more likely. I pound him on the flop and turn. River I bet. If get raised again, I may just call and hope I don't see pocket 66's. If he is a very aggressive player I may raise one more time. But it sure looks like 4 66's.

Even if he's a maniac, maniacs can get good hands sometimes too.

That being said, you should not call his raise with 77. You should fold and wait for a better opportunity, or since you are dealing with a maniac, it would not be wrong to re-raise as you are ahead if he's got high cards or garbage.

The re-raise would have knocked the late position "solid" player out. If he really is solid he won't call 3 bets cold with 66.

This would have put you heads up against the maniac and unfortunately he goes all-in pretty quickly here, but you could have taken down the pot.


Calling the raise pre-flop was your biggest mistake of the hand. Everything after the flop was ok, you played fast which was good. The only thing you might have done is re-raise the turn. He could have KK like you thought, but I think he would have re-raised before the flop since you didn't, unless he likes to slow play. It doesn't look like he slow plays the way he handled his 66. It's more likely he's being aggressive with 2 pair (which would be odd considering the board and his calling 2 bets before the flop) or more likely a worse set, the 66. Of course in hindsight it's good you didn't 3 bet as he wouldn't have laid it down and you would have lost another bet, but looking at it from the play of the hand I think the re-raise is warranted.