interesting 5&5 hand against maniac

[aggie]

I'm foggy on the details but i think i can remember the main gist...
5+5 NLHE...

My stack: $2,500
Maniac stack: $25,000

background: The maniac is extremely loose aggressive, but not unreasonable. He's an MIT student, so he understands the math. He's also incredibly wealthy and he truely does not care about money. He's competetive and wants to win. That said, His grasp of NLHE may be a little lacking and definitely likes to push people around. I've seen him do just about everything. Make huge calls with nothing (correctly), make huge calls with nothing (and be very wrong)....Make giant raises with nothing, big draws, the nuts, or somewhere in between. He's capable of anything (except playing passively)...In the long run, he's good for the game, but he's definitely not an easy mark and will give you headaches in the short run. At the time, he probably saw me as a tight player who folded to a lot of raises.

UTG limps, I limp w 8-8, maniac limps, button limps, both blinds limp....

Flop- 6-7-8 w/ two spades (6-players)

UTG bets 30, i raise to $175, and maniac raises to $1100. What should i do? (results below in white-->highlight to see)

<font color="white"> I Reraised all in. If i called i would have been pot-commited against this player. I raised to make a flush draw, straight draw, or pair + draw pay....He showed me the nut-straight and i lost the hand. In hindsight, i really hate the way i played this hand.</font>&lt;------Results

[creedofhubris]

Your raise to $175 seems high to me.

Calling his reraise is totally read-dependent. Besides your knowledge of the player, I think the size of your stack (very large) in relation to the size of the blinds (small) and the size of his reraise (colossal) should influence that decision strongly.

[aggie]

My raise was big because people in this game did not seem to mind big raises.

I have no read on this guy. I did think to myself, "why the hell is he raising so much?" and that is one of the factors i used to decide to go all-in. there is litteraly no hand he could have rolled over that would have suprised me.

I guess the way he plays, he was more likely to have a monster, a draw, or a total bluff, than some kind of in-between hand (like top pair / top kicker)

[Usagi_yo]

It's a very dangerous flop. With your set, you can be a dog to something like a pair, straight draw, flush draw, and people with with even less perceived outs then that are going to be putting pressure on you. I'm not going to be too anxious to get all my money in the pot in that spot. Particularly since such a play optimizes the drawing hands for two cards to come with no more betting. I think just calling and seeing what happens. In this spot, you could easily be facing a re-raise and yet another re-raise before it comes back to you anyway.

Remember, you have 4 players yet to act behind you.

Bottom line -- very vulnerable set with too many players behind you yet to act. By just calling you can give your the opportunity to fill up cheaper and with more players in the pot for payoff value.

For those times you do go all-in and fill up, it certainly feels good and certainly seems like you played it correctly.

If I raise here, its with the intent to abandon hand to a huge re-raise or to move all in and take the shot should two other players want to get their money in there with me.

[WorldBeater]

UTG bets 30, i raise to $175, and maniac raises to $1100. What should i do? (results below in white--&gt;highlight to see)

I would fold and wait for a better spot. The pot had not been raised preflop, so there is a strong chance someone could have flopped a straight with a board like that. If the board were 5 8 9, there would not be as many possible straights out, but with the board you described, and the money as so deep, I would reccomend a fold.

[Usagi_yo]

A flat fold? Think thats wrong. With this flop, the number of players, and the stacks involved, you could multi-way action with a good draw to the nuts.

[Kaz The Original]

I think which card is not a spade is very important.

[WorldBeater]

[ QUOTE ]
A flat fold? Think thats wrong. With this flop, the number of players, and the stacks involved, you could multi-way action with a good draw to the nuts.

[/ QUOTE ]

I should clarify. I like a smooth call of the original bet. However, once the hero raised the pot, I advocate a fold to the 1,100 reraise.

[Kaz The Original]

Are you serious?

[aggie]

"I think which card is not a spade is very important. "

Why?...This guy is just as likely to have 8's as 7's as 6's in his hand....I also don't remember....It was either the 7 or 6 (i did not have a spade)