[Garbonzo]

Thoughts on the hand:

Preflop - dandy

Flop - what I have noticed about hands between friends, including the one time i played with you guys, is that UTG raises do not mean as much as they do playing against al strangers. People TEND to screw around more. What does this mean? It means slightly less fear of a monster in Brads hands....

The button is "generally" passive. This leads me to believe you put him on a flush draw.....this time. Though I would not charachterize "passive" as raising flush draws. If you do not, it seems the flop call almost CAN'T be correct. So you do, you have top pair, medium kicker, you may be good now, as Brads flop lead means virtually nothing. He could have a wide range of hands that hate the A on the flop, and probably down to KQs or perhaps lower....I think the flop call is "ok", I wouold be suprised if you were giving up much if you folded, but if it's wrong, I don't think it's by much. However, if your reads are on, it can be clearly +EV

Turn - When you call the flop, your turn lead is almost mandatory, Brad is likely done without improvement, he likely would have 3 bet the flop with many holdings you fear most. With a raiser and caller on the flop, he is not likely to bet again on the turn....if button is on the flush draw, then he will likely take his free card....so bet. Brad folds. Button calls, further confirming our read, as the hands he MAY have crushing uswith almost always raise (yes, some sneaky pants dudes will wait and try to raise the river)...

River - hero loses, we had a read of flush, it came home, "generally" passive bet again. We did not hit our straight, or even better 2 pair hand, there is almost nothing that he can have that we beat....fold is clear.

I think the only questionable play on the hand is the flop. This depends hugely on your reads at the table. If you read Brad for no big A after no flop 3 bet, which may be a bit too precise probably...and feel that Buttons play is consistent with a flush draw, than I believe it is +EV, and obviosuly, if your reads are all wrong than the flop call is horrendous.

I'm sorry if this was all repeated above, I read the first few posts but wanted to post my thoughts before finishing the thread.