Playing a low pocket pair against a total looney (and a solid TAG)

[neurotiq]

So, MP2 is a complete and total looney. For what it's worth, his stats are 69/32/7.93. Although more important than those stats is the following read:

He is a complete looney (I cannot overemphasize this). I've seen him cap the flop, turn, and river with unimproved offsuit rags. He appears to have his finger glued to the raise button, and doesn't seem to have any sort of method to his madness. I've already made about $25 (25 BBs) against him just by calling down with my marginal hands and winning against his usually unimproved junk.

BB, on the other hand, is a solid tag. I'm in SB with pocket 6s. Our looney friend in MP2 open-limps and it's folded to me in SB. I want to isolate him so I raise. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work and BB decides to join us. Looney then limp-3bets. This means next to nothing. Every time I've seen his limps raised, he puts in a 3bet, and usually does so with total junk. Both myself and BB call.

Flop is AA7. I check so that if BB also checks, I can raise looney's inevitable bet and force out the TAGgy BB. It works. Looney bets. I raise. BB folds.

I then go into check/call mode for the turn and river.

Here's my question, though. Do you think putting in all these chips (a raise both pf and on the flop) was worth forcing out BB? I'm quite certain that I wanted to isolate the looney, but I'm not sure if I spent too much in order to do so. Your thoughts are appreciated. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Niediam]

I like how you played it.

Isolating bad opponents (even when you are in the SB) is a standard play with decent hands.

[OziBattler]

I like it. get him HU and get to SD with your made hand. These guys dont usually last long so you gotta do what it takes to get a peice of them before they go down in a ball of flames even if it sometimes feels like a coinflip.

if he makes a bigger pair or hits the flop, turn or river then goodluck to him but you have a read and you used it well. I like your flop play. It could have got interesting if BB decided to ruin your plan by betting into loony but that didnt happen so its all good.

[Fadook]

I like your play and thinking a lot. When you play postflop with a maniac, you want to get it HU. 66 is a perfect example of why; it's a decent but vulnerable hand, so the more people you have in, the more likely it is you get outdrawn. If BB is a good player, he will also have identified MP2 as a loon and call with a hand that has 6 outs against you for one bet, but fold for two.

[NIX]

As played, with your read, the hand is good. Obviously raise turn/river if you catch a 6.

Since your goal is to get it HU with the maniac so that he can spew off chips, you played it well. The other thing you could consider doing is to cap preflop. If BB is solid enough, and you think he can fold, then do it and don't give him a chance to hit the flop. Initially, after your first raise, he's getting 5:1 on a call, so he could have a lot of hands, but if you can get it to be two back to him, it'll be 5:1 again, but his implied odds are worse, especially if he had something marginal like a suited broadway, two lower offsuit broadways, or some middle connectors.

[sean c]

I just bet the flop the BB isn't calling one bet here that he will fold for two. Basically no reason to try and isolate here. BB either has you smoked or is getting out of the way. Also as played I value bet the turn and probably the river depending on what fell and how the hand played out.

[Sushiglutton]

I think pf is fine. Just bet the flop probably. BB folds if he is beat and otherwise a CR just risks too much. If he is raising and re-raising with random cards you miss value by just calling down your made hands. If the turn is lower then your sixes consider CR or bet/3bet or something. This is a higher variance and more frustrating way to play but mathematically it must be better. Don't forget that u are racing with the others to take the looneys money.

[Christian_Peters]

Everyone is saying to bet the flop instead of c/r, but I don't think it is as obvious as people are suggesting.

Here are a few things to consider:
1. You have to figure that a large percentage of BB's range contains an Ace.
2. BB will bet an Ace on this flop.
3. The maniac is going to c-bet this flop like 95% of the time.

If you check, and BB bets, I'm thinking you can dump it regardless of what maniac does.

Was this a rainbow flop?

On 2nd thought, I think leading the flop is by far best. #2 above isn't really true. Plus, you can find a fold if BB continues at all (either raises or just calls).