Floped Set against Agresive player

[BulldogMafia]

Sorry I do not have the exact hand history with me but here it is from memory.

Did I play this hand correctly? Do not get me wrong, the out come was exactly as I desired but I am wondering if my moves were correct. Online Poker Stars 1-2 NL. Little information on the players: BB was a solid player with about $104. SB, aka villain, ($193) was a lose hyper aggressive player who at one point initiated a raise into the pot of 5x the BB, bet about 1.5x the pot on the flop and check raised his single opponent 3x his raise on the turn. He did all of this with 6-8o with no pairs and high cards all over the board and no straight possibilities (for him). Now if he had done that just once I can somewhat understand he made a move, played it super aggressively, tried to buy it and it went wrong. But he continued to make hyper aggressive bets as he played. The only reason he still had a large amount of chips was due to luck, a major suck out on the river and some people not paying attention (they laid their cards down to his over the top raises).

So in this hand I have $63 (down $17 from my start – yes I know it was a low buy in but I had my reasons). I was hoping to get a chance at our villain when it was folded to me in mid position with 3-3 and I just called. If someone other than villain had re-raised substantially behind me I was planning on letting the hand go. It folds to the villain in SB who mini-raises to $4, BB calls, I call. Flop is 7-A-3 rainbow. SB checks, BB checks and I just mini bet $2 (I have $59 left). I did the mini bet KNOWING that the SB would come over the top of me like he had done before to others. Our villain makes it $8. I pretend to think about it for a long time and re-raise him making it $16 which he calls (I have $45 left and $44 is in the pot). Turn is another Ace completing the rainbow and giving me a full house. SB checks and I check right away. At this point I put him on 80% on an ace small, 15% on a complete bluff and 5% on him being WAY AHEAD with something like trip 7’s or quad Aces or A-3 or A-7. To be honest I was worried about A-7 but felt if he had that I was going to lose it all anyways because there was no way I was letting this hand go to someone like him. I also know that it was a risk that the river would pair his kicker (if my assumption was right) but I wanted to get all my money in the pot and wanted to give him a chance to go for it on a bluff or semi-bluff. The river was a Queen. From what I know of the Villain he would have bet A-Q or QQ harder pre-flop than what he did, so I felt it was a very safe card. Villain checked, I bet $10 (leaving me $35). SB re-raised me to $25 and I went all in. He called and showed A-5o for Trip aces and my full house took down the pot.

Again I like the results but I am second guessing myself on whether I took too big of a chance on this. I gambled by not pushing it harder on the flop or turn but I felt that if I had bet harder and guess his hand correctly I would scare him away.

So what do you think of this play?

CYA,
Al

[djoyce003]

you aren't gambling too much...although he's a total donkey and against a good player I think they had several chances to make a relatively easy fold. The flop mini-bet reraise screams monster, as well as the turn check behind with a river raise....both scream monsters. I'd have folded A-5 on the flop to your raise, and if I'd stuck around till the river i'd have folded to your raise. Against a total moron like this it's a good line though. Against a good player, you are better off just betting the flop, betting the turn, betting the river i'd think.

I could quibble with your flop bets, but that's not the issue here. The issue is very simple.

Look: You had a maniac on trips on the turn--no reason not to push right there. Pushing only would have been a pot-sized bet. He's a maniac with a monster--did you expect him to fold?

In addition, you have a read on a maniac on the river that says you have his trips beat with a full house. You push, you don't allow him the opportunity to get sensible and just call you down on the river.

You made an excellent read on this maniac and on this hand, so pat yourself on the back for that; but then kick yourself for not having played this hand more aggressively.

[BulldogMafia]

[ QUOTE ]
You made an excellent read on this maniac and on this hand, so pat yourself on the back for that; but then kick yourself for not having played this hand more aggressively.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah that is what I was thinking after I played this hand. Should have pushed it harder because I would have gotten him in there anyways. To be honest against anyone else on that flop I would have but against this guy I wanted to lead him into betting harder.