by GodlikeRoy » Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:35 pm
What happens when a J, Q, K or A comes on the board and he bets the flop and turn? Like you said, when someone's a 50/50 they're ALWAYS very very very aggro - so I doubt you calling pf and on the flop will slow him down much if he's content on bluffing you and winning the pot.
Your hand is unbelievably far ahead of his range and you want him to put money in the pot with a worse hand than yours. I agree that it would be preferable to have 3bet him at an earlier point (I would probably have done it with any two at some stage and tried to get the hand to showdown to see how he plays in re-raised pots) but I still think raising here pf is better than calling. As it stands I find it hard to believe that nobody has re-raised this guy preflop yet - if they have you should be paying attention and taking note of how he reacts and what hands were showdown or if it didn't get to showdown, what happened in the hand. You don't need to be the one involved in the hand to get the information - you can get it for free.
Another factor to consider is that by just calling pf, you're allowing UTG to stay in the hand with his 44 or 65s or KJ or A9o and giving him every chance to beat you. You really just put yourself in an unnecessairly difficult position if the flop comes with an overcard and the aggro donk leads into you. Now you're stuck between two players with a very marginal hand and you have no idea whether you're ahead or not, and it'll be difficult to discover any new information about the maniacs hand.
If he's playing 50/50 he's almost assuredly a horrible poker player. This type of player wants to be in control of the hand. He wants to win the pot. He wants to be the big stack, the person in control; he wants power. Re-raising him preflop takes this away from him and it will anger him. It will likely make him prone to making a big mistake either pre-flop or later in the hand.
Poker is silly.
It is not enough to be good at chess, you must also play well.
Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.