Two Plus Two Older Archives - View Single Post - Failure to extract $ from a Maniac

#1 12-14-2005, 03:59 AM

This was a frustrating hand I was in last night because I was waiting for this to happen against the BB whose VP$IP was 52%, PFR% was 38%, and Aggression Ratio was 8.0 over 100 hands. But when I hit the monster hand on the flop, I didn't know what to do with it other than to just slowplay it and hope he would be very aggressive and make pot-sized bets or overbets like he had been at this table since he sat down. Could I have played it any better?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed) pokerhand.org hand converter

BB ($24.40)
UTG ($12.65)
Hero ($66.40)
CO ($61.20)
Button ($29.95)
SB ($37.65)

Preflop: Hero is MP with K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. SB posts a blind of $0.10.
1 fold, Hero calls $0.25, 1 fold, Button raises to $1, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2.35) K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $0.5, Hero calls $0.50.

Turn: ($3.35) T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

River: ($3.35) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Here bets $5, Button folds.

Final Pot: $3.35

NOTE: I limped in preflop because I was certain that Maniac would raise for me since he was on the button (standard play by him). Based on the other hands he had played and his PFR%, I was fairly certain I had the best hand before the flop, but I hate to reraise with king high. Plus it was not out of the realm of possibility that this guy would come back over the top and push with nothing (or there was a possibility I was behind in the hand, so why put more than $1 in the pot?). I think I may be wrong about this - should I have reraised preflop once we were isolated?

I checked the uber-flop expecting a big bet from Maniac, and he does the small $.50. I hate to raise here because I want him to get some kind of hand, so I just call. The turn gave a broadway possibility and a possible flush draw, so I was hoping that he might have caught a piece of that, so I checked again. His check behind was not what I had in mind - he had been so aggressive on almost all other hands when others showed weakness.

The river didn't help matters, but I was hoping my $5 overbet would look like a steal (instead, it probably looked like a jack to him). Should I have checked the river? Please help! Was there anything that I could have done differently on any street?

After the hand, I was kicking myself for not raising preflop - thinking that he clearly would have at least called - making the pot that much more an incentive for him to try to bluff at it post flop. Of course, that's always easy to say after the hand where you flop a boat and it improves to quads on the river.

Thanks in advance for your help!