Nutty/Risky River Call or Good Call?

[blargh]

Craziest hand I've ever been involved in, one of the biggest pots too. Max buy in at this limit i'm playing at is $50.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed)

Hero ($$66.85)
MP2 ($$27.55)
MP3 ($$74.10)
CO ($$60.65)
Button ($$16.15)
SB ($$75.65)
BB ($$30.70)
UTG ($$23.90)
UTG+1 ($$45.30)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A/images/graemlins/club.gif, A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $3.5, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $3.50, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds.

My reads on MP3: He's an erraddict player, will make big bets when he's bluffing (and of course when he has a big hand), and he'll also call huge bets on draws, he's entered pots raised preflop w/junk so he can have anything, and has turned over anything at some showdowns.

Flop: ($7.75) 7/images/graemlins/club.gif, 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players) </font>
Hero bets $6, MP3 calls $6.

(Awful bet, i should of bet way more, especially since i should not let him be drawing to a straight cheaply)

Turn: ($19.75) 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(2 players) </font>
Hero bets $20, MP3 calls $20.

River: ($59.75) 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(2 players) </font>
Hero checks, (yikes, this was a really big scare card since he could have anything, i'll check and see what he does)
MP3 bets $25,

okay, this is not good, if he has the straight i'm busted, but other then that i figure he can't have anything else to beat me, i've been at the table for a long time so i have a decent sized time bank i take about 51 seconds going into "the tank", i ask myself would he really call a pot sized bet on the turn to hit a straight? I'm worried he would cz i've seen him call an all in on a flush draw when he also had a pair on the flop, but then again i've seen him make huge bluffs so its still questionable, also at this point the pot was giving me about 1/3 odds, so my odds aren't terrible on this call but they certainly aren't good, given me read on the player and the odds the pot is offering me i call. If he moved all in i probably would of folded though because then the odds the pot was offering me would be terrible.

Hero calls $25.

Final Pot: $109.75

Results in white below: <font color="white">
Hero shows Ac Ad (one pair, aces).
MP3 shows Th 7h (one pair, sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins $109.75. </font>

Wow, i can't believe he called me down w/that garbage, if he made a flush i probably would of paid him off, thank god he didn't. This game is so crazy, but thats why i love it though =].

So was this a good call given my read on the player and the odds the pot was offering me, or was it just to risky a call to make even though i made the right call?

[Prevaricator]

Its a good call given your read on the player.

[Jon Matthews]

How good the call is depends on how you think he would act if he had a straight. If he's calling $20 on the turn, then he flopped the straight... but is it more likely that he would have raised the flop or turn with that hand? Going on how you've described him I would guess he'd try and get it all in at the first opportunity, so it's unlikely he has it.

When the river comes a 9, that makes the board a perfect bluffing board for him and he's bet just the right amount too. It's a judgement call, he could have made 2 pair by now or had a set all along (he had the preflop odds) so if you think you've got a read then grit the teeth and call.

As far as +/-EV, I think it's -EV overall with this sort of player, but you have diagrammed your hand quite clearly as being big pair, very likely AA by the massive preflop raise (unless the BB was actually 50c?) which he knows will be scared of that board.

Jon