Newbie to 6Max, $50NL HH

[trev]

I've only just moved to 6max from full ring so all advice is welcome, no matter how obvious. The converter didn't seem to like this HH so I apologise it's not in an easy to read format.

Reads -

I'm fairly new to this table (about 20 hands). LAG is playing quite pretty aggressive, pre-flop raise is 33%. He has position on me most of the time and is giving me problems. I've only played 2 hands of note with him - once when i was on the button, no action, I raised to 4bb, he instantly 3bet to $5 from the sb. The other hand it was folded round to me in the sb, I raised to either 3 or 4bb, c-bet flop, and he put in a large reraise. Both these times I had junk and folded. I've avoided him since and was waiting to catch him out.

Shortstack is a typical bad party player, loose and passive.

***** Hand History for Game 4854782403 *****
$50 NL Texas Holdem - Tuesday, August 01, 17:00:35 ET 2006
Table Table 109817 (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 2: LAG ( $60.65 )
Seat 6: CO ( $88.55 )
Seat 1: Hero ( $50.35 )
Seat 4: UTG ( $45.25 )
Seat 3: Shortstack ( $12.75 )
LAG posts small blind [$0.25].
Shortstack posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Qs As ]
UTG folds.
CO folds.
Hero raises [$1.50].
LAG raises [$4.75].
Shortstack calls [$4.50].
Hero calls [$3.50].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7s, Ac, 6s ]
LAG bets [$8].
Shortstack is all-In [$7.75]
Hero ???

Fold, call, raise, push? I'll post my thought process and action in a bit but I want to hear some other views first. Thanks for any advice you can give.

[andy-akb]

Ugh, this is a shitty spot and Id probably fold, but it isnt a spot Id want to be in. Preflop really got us into this situation and it is avoidable.

We make a less than standard raise [Id make it $2, but it doesnt matter a ton really] but that is still decent and are reraised. We are in position, but even then a raise out of the blinds is typically very strong and we will be facing a bet on the flop the majority of the time so this is going to be pricey and our hand isnt that great. Now, a shortstack in the BB makes our hand go down in value even more. By smooth calling two bets and putting in more than 1/3 of his stack he is showing a lot of strength and we can expect him to be all in on most flops.

EDIT: Didnt look at the suits and didnt see the NFD, I still stand by my preflop analysis though and made a new post with what I think of the flop

[mcatdog]

So basically, save yourself the $3.50 by folding preflop, on this flop Im folding as well.

You're folding top pair + the nut flush draw on the flop, closing the action, getting 4:1 odds, against a super LAG? That's such bad advice that I almost think you have to be joking.

Easy shove unless you think you're already miles ahead of him, then just call and shove any turn.

Edit: I take that back, the pot is already so huge that there's no need to fuck around. Just go all-in.

[yorib]

The key question is, "Have you seen the LAG's hand yet?" That will tip you off as to the types of cards he's being aggressive with.

Given that he's pushed you around nonstop he may be thinking that you'll fold just about anything unless you nail a flop.

If you are going to fold this flop with this opponent, then you have to just leave the table and avoid him all together. Assuming that his reraising range is commesurate with his raising range that may be AQ+/88+ which means you're only behind AK and AA. On top of that you have a redraw to the nut flush.

I'm torn between calling (with the hope that he'll continue to throw money into the pot) and pushing. I think the stack sizes are large enough that just a call may be warranted. (The reason I wouldn't raise is that may get him out of the hand with a hand he would continue to bet with, something like qq/kk). Plus calling gives him the least information about your hand.

I'd expect him to bet 1/4-1/2 pot on the turn and you can push then. (Unless it just made your flush, then I'd just call hoping he'd fire again on the river.)

good luck

[trev]

Andy - I guess this is a debatable play, but the reason I only raised to 3xbb preflop was that I wanted to get reraised. I figured AQs was miles ahead of his 3betting range here given the history, especially when I'm making a small raise from the button. Obviously I didn't want the BB in the hand as well. Does this sound reasonable or am I making life difficult for myself?

Mcatdog and Yorib both nailed my thought process here, I was torn between calling and shoving. The big blind did worry me but he was poor and loose - I'd been playing $25NL for the past couple of weeks and only just moved up, but at that level there were alot of shortstacks who would play like that with any half-decent ace.

LAG hadn't shown down any hands at this point, or at least not any of the hands he'd been playing aggressively.

Results (in white incase anyone else wants to comment without seeing them)
I shoved, LAG folded, turn was a blank, river a spade. Shortstack had AhKh.

[andy-akb]

Shit, my bad, didnt realize you had the nutflush draw, thought it was just TPQK with no draw, given this you arent folding the flop. I push this flop to look like Im isolating against the shortstack, a lot of times the LAG will fold because he was just cbetting, but he should call with a range we are decently ahead of.

Sorry about not reading the hole cards correctly, I still stand by what I said about preflop though. Given your history I would wait for a spot where his reraise essentially isolated us, we are probably ahead of his 3bet range but I think the shortstack complicates things too much. If the raise got it heads up then this would be fine.

Christ, I need to work on my reading comprehension, when i first read this I didnt see the suits or the PFR numbers, just saw LAGG, etc.