2nd pair, weak kicker vs a loose, fishy player

[Vedocorban]

Villain is something like 55/5/1.5 over 40 hands. He's won a few hands from me where he'll call my PFR and c-bet, then I'll give up on the hand. We checked it down in one such hand where he turned over T9o and had flopped 2nd pair to beat my Ace high.

Ultimate Bet - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.10/$0.25 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $13.61
BB: $9.21
UTG: $23.90
MP: $10.04
CO: $9.01
Hero (BTN): $25.89

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (6 Players)
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.25, <font color="red">SB raises to $1.25</font>, BB folds, UTG calls $1.00, Hero calls $1.00

Flop: ($4) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 Players)
<font color="red">SB bets $1.50</font>, UTG calls $1.50, <font color="red">Hero raises to $6.50</font>, SB folds, UTG calls $5.00

Turn: ($18.50) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 Players)
UTG checks, <font color="red">Hero ??? </font>

Not really confident about my play on any of these streets, but here's how my thought process went at the time:

Preflop: Suspect suited two-gapper, but I'm on the button with a calling station in the hand. I can probably win a nice pot if the flop is right. (after raise) Well I'm getting 3:1 with absolute -and- relative position, with the bad player still in the hand. Let's see a flop.

Flop: Why is the SB betting so small on such a coordinated board? Smells like a whiffed AK/AQ. UTG just called, so he could have a wide range of straight and flush draws, in addition to smaller pairs or just overcards. Maybe he's trapping but why would he do that on this board? Let me raise right now and see what's going on.

Turn: Not the best card in the deck, but it didn't complete any flushes or straights. Wouldn't UTG have check-raised me on the flop if he was slowplaying a set? The pot is larger than UTG's stack, so any kind of bet is going to be all-in. My only other option is to check, but that gives a free card to the wide range of draws he might have.

Am I thinking about this hand properly, or did I overplay it a little bit? Should I have been trying to keep the pot small on the flop, or trying to protect my hand? Should I have even gotten involved preflop?

Any advice appreciated

[traz]

[ QUOTE ]
fold preflop and then fold preflop again

[/ QUOTE ]

[Jouster777]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
fold preflop and then fold preflop again

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]If you aren't going to fold this pre then you should raise instead of limping. Calling the PFR has to be because you feel you can take a lot of hands away from SB because you are not getting the odds you need to play marginal suited cards.

Post flop villain can have a large range but draws are most likely so you need to keep betting on the turn and hope you can check behind on the river. Don't get happy if the 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] comes.

[shoxbb6]

Push turn, watch utg turn over a flush draw.

[Frosteater]

I'd fold that one preflop.
And if you don't fold it, raise it. Your on the button, great position, as you have mentioned, use it.
But if you actually limp, fold to the raise from the blinds.

The problem is that every hand can hit the right flop pretty good, but you wouldn't want to play every hand. I think you're more or less just hoping on good flops here, which most of the time doesn't come to your rescue. What's even worse, you maneuvered yourself into a situation, where you didn't hit the flop you wanted but ended up with a very mediocre hand instead. That's the problem with hands like these, you have to know when to let them go. I can't imagine you want to play for stacks with a pair of nines six kicker.

So, now that we're already there, why not go with our reads and check, fully expecting villain to check the river as well in case no draw completes?