[-Skeme-]

I hate the river for a few reasons. Most importantly, you're up against a maniac.. why use a blocker? What's the purpose, he is a maniac.

If I am not mistaken, a blocker is good for 2 main reasons. 1) It'll shut down a betting hand into a call, which will most likely be significantly larger than your blocker. It also can make them fold the best hand, but that's usually just an added bonus, I think. 2) It allows you to get away from a hand easier. If you block for a decent amount and get raised, you can safely fold your hand and assume you were beat. Agree?

A maniac can push with more hands than just ones that beat you. It'd suck if you got bluffed out by A9o. Maybe this isn't the best board for this argument, but I think you know what I'm trying to convey.

Also, A9o is about the only thing calling your river bet, isn't it? If you're blocking for that much, and folding to a raise getting those odds, why not just check-call a $100 bet? He's been underbetting the whole way, let him bet half pot and you can call, instead of wasting $100 to fold against his push or fold out better hands.

I also fold turn. A minraise on that flop is either a set or a flush draw maybe 90% of the time in the games I play in. Obviously the range is wider since he's a maniac, but you still only have Tens. The lowest possible overpair on flop which just became an underpair on the [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] turn.

I'm a wuss, though.. I rarely call down in spots like this.