DECISION POINT: You are in a live $2/$5 cash game where most players are loose and passive with wide calling ranges and little regard for odds, with the exception of MP2 who you’ve observed as aggressive. The action folds to the MP2 player who raises to $20, the Hijack, Button, and you call from the Big Blind with 5♠7♠. The flop comes 4♠6♣8♣. You check, MP2 bets $25, both the Hijack and Button call, and action is back on you.

What do you do here?

PRO ANSWER: We are playing a live $2/$5 cash game with most players having around $500. The majority of our opponents are playing very loose and passive with wide calling ranges and do not appear to be making decisions based on odds or implied odds. The exception is MP2 who is an aggressive player and has chipped up to nearly $900.

We are dealt 5♠7♠ in the Big Blind. Action folds to the aggressive player in MP2 who opens to $20. The Hijack and Button call while everyone else folds. We have to call $15 more and are closing the action against three other opponents with a speculative hand.

This is a great spot for us to make a small investment preflop to hit a hand with high potential payoff. We decide to call. The flop is 4♠6♣8♣ giving us the nut straight.

We could consider leading on this board as it is quite coordinated, which means that under normal circumstances we couldn’t necessarily plan on the preflop aggressor continuation betting. However, we have a read that our opponent is aggressive based on hands we’ve observed during this session, so we decide to check and MP2 bets $25. Both the Hijack and Button call.

It can be very tempting to slowplay in this position. If we look closer, MP2’s bet size is quite small and by just calling in this spot we potentially allow three other players to see the turn for cheap on a board with many draws. More importantly, we have a read that these players are calling very wide ranges and do not take odds into consideration when making decisions at the table.

If we’re against opponents who are unlikely to be able to fold over pairs, top pair, or flush draws this is a prime spot to make a big raise and build value with our hand. With just over $150 in the pot right now a large raise to $225-$250 is a great way to maximize value on our made hand in this multiway pot.

Raising big is the best play.