How did I do? (a.k.a. trying to catch a thief in the night)

[dalecooper]

25 NL table last night. The villain in this piece has been stealing everything that isn't bolted down and guarded by dobermans. He has raised about 1/4 of his hands pre-flop, usually more than 4xBB, usually when he's in position; c-bets every time he raises; bets every street until told to stop by a meaningful raise; and usually bets the pot, or overbets it. He's been caught a couple times and backed off on hands after committing a pretty large amount of money, but most of his steals have worked. At this point he has a full stack minus a little. I have him covered. My table image is very standard TAgg bordering on tight-passive - since I'm acting after this guy and getting a lot of bad cards, I've been waiting patiently for playable hands to catch him. I have only been in a few pots with him so far and he won them all.

This hand he raises again to 1.00 in middle position, and I call from the button with . Everyone else folds, pot ~$2.

The flop is :Tc:. He bets $1, I call.

The turn is :Js:. He bets $5, I call.

The river is . He pushes, I call.

What do you think?

[Irisheyes]

fine.

River is the and he pushes what do you do?

[dalecooper]

Probably call - if anything, the 8 made it a little harder for me because I was worried he might have accidentally hit a runner-runner straight on me. I figured his range was any two, pretty much, so a hand with a 9 in it was certainly not out of the question. But I also figured he would push that river card after all the prior action, no matter what he had. I suspect that the main reason he pushed the river (besides my seeming passivity) was that it was a good bluff card. If it had been a blank, I think he might have made a smaller donk bet - which I could have called without worrying too much about it - or maybe even checked. That was my feeling during the hand anyway.

[dalecooper]

Nobody else interested in this one? I thought it was at least a somewhat fascinating hand. Anyway - villain showed down Q2 offsuit and MHIG. He vanished off the table right after that.

[ihategnomes]

This hand is really really really weird. I had a hand IDENTICAL to it the other day. I had 88 rivered a set, called down a chronic douchebag, but I think he had K2 for the bottom pair.

[johnny_fish]

Raise flop, he's drawing to 5/6 outs and you won't know when he hits.

[ihategnomes]

Why raise the flop? Hes gonna go far with very little, but probably not call a raise very often.

[johnny_fish]

You won't know where you are if a J/Q/K/A hits for example. It sounds nice to let him bluff his stack at you, but would Hero really call if the river blanked?

Anyone likes a reraise preflop btw?

[dalecooper]

Why raise the flop? Hes gonna go far with very little, but probably not call a raise very often.

That was exactly my feeling. He was betting a lot when he was (probably) way behind, but rolling over to anyone playing back at him. On the flop I figured him for 3-5 outs, and with his turn overbet I felt comfortable that I was ahead (and had at least 4, possibly 7 clean outs in my pocket if I was incorrect). Then the river was a simple case of "is my rivered set ahead of two random cards on a 4 to a straight board". And I guessed the answer was yes. In a multi-way pot I might have raised to clarify the situation and shore up the strength of my hand, but since it was just me and him and I had position, I felt comfortable letting him string himself up.

[dalecooper]

You won't know where you are if a J/Q/K/A hits for example. It sounds nice to let him bluff his stack at you, but would Hero really call if the river blanked?

If river blanked low, yes - if it blanked high, uncertain. I suspect but cannot prove that he wouldn't push a complete blank on the river, as he wasn't a complete senseless maniac - just a really, really, really aggressive donk.

[allLiving]

I think you just two outted him.

[ihategnomes]

I think you just two outted him.

Even after he posted villian had Q2?