[MaxPower]

This is not a common play, but one that comes up every so often for me. Please tell me whether it is smart or stupid.

An example of this happened in the Party 15 game recently. A loose and passive player limped in early position. A very tough tight-aggressive player raised in middle position. This is a player that I would rather not play heads-up with because he can be tricky and will very likely outplay me.

I had AK in the big blind and just called. The loose player called as well. The flop was all undercards, I bet, the loose player called, and the tight player folded. The turn was a another brick, I bet and the loose player folded.

The reason I had for just calling rather than 3-betting is that I wanted to play a 3-way pot rather than a heads-up pot with the tricky player. I thought that by having the loose player in between us it would set-up a protected pot type situation where he would have to play his hand in a straight forward manner. At the same time he would give respect to my flop bet because I am betting into the loose player. A secondary benefit is keeping the pot a little bit smaller which makes it even more likely that he will not get tricky.

I would only do this when I am in the blinds and up against such a player.

Even though I think this make some sense, I can see some arguments against it:

1. The loose player will most likely call 2 more bets, so there is no reason to just call in order to keep him in.
2. AK has so much pot equity that I am losing too much value by not re-raising.
3. AK has enough showdown value that I shouldn't worry about playing it heads-up against the tough player.