NL 25: 96s makes a straight on the river

[Nick C]

Villain is 73/7/0.7 after 59 hands, and that pretty much sums up my impression of him as well, although he did seem at least slightly erratic. (I watched him limp-push preflop in a hand while I waited for my big blind after I first joined the table.)

I think the river checkraise is bad (I should have led instead), for reasons I'll explain later (possibly after you explain them first [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]). I'm not so interested in a preflop discussion, so I'll pre-emptively mention that I'm not at all sure raising preflop is worth the bother against this guy, while at the same time I'm perfectly happy to invest $0.15 with a hand as reasonable (versus a random hand) as 96s and try to outplay this guy postflop. Meanwhile, it's possible I should have stabbed at the pot earlier postflop despite his looseness, but I don't do that every time.

In any event, my question is really how I should respond to the river 3-bet. I mean, you've got to figure I've represented at least an ace and so usually my opponent will have a 6, but is it worth it to 4-bet on the chances that he just has a wheel (or worse) and will pay off, despite the fact that 76 is not entirely out of the question for him?

Versus an opponent I had some respect for, I wouldn't, but I didn't have much respect for this guy.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: 2+2 Forums)

Hero ($24.55)
BB ($21.75)
UTG ($16.25)
MP ($34.95)
Button ($24.65)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.50) 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks.

Turn: ($0.50) 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, BB checks.

River: ($0.50) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">BB bets $0.25</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $1</font>, <font color="#CC3333">BB raises to $2.75</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to $8 . . .</font>