$Freeroll NLHE MTT: A5o on the button vs. loose CO attempting steal

Villian Stats (VPIP/PFR/AF): 64/22/0.44

Hold'em No Limit - 75/150 (15 ante) - 8 players, 258 Entrants, 170 remaining

UTG: 7,343.00 (49 bb)
UTG+1: 2,355.00 (16 bb)
MP: 2,305.00 (15 bb)
MP+1: 2,265.00 (15 bb)
Villain (CO): 21,871.00 (146 bb)
Hero (BU): 3,880.00 (26 bb)
SB: 2,260.00 (15 bb) [Inactive]
BB: 2,335.00 (16 bb) [Inactive]

Pre-Flop: (345) Hero is BTN with 5♦ A♠
4 players fold, Villain (CO) raises to 645.

1. Your move?

I believe your calling here is a mistake. I would have folded or 3bet him here. A5o is not that great of a hand but you are likely ahead of his loose range and with both blinds inactive he could be raising anything.

On the flop you have nothing but back door flush and straight draws. While you ace maybe ahead there is no point in calling 1/3 of your stack. You could shove all in but would he fold? I fold to his bet here.

Is your shove a mistake? Probably it was. At this point he is pot committed as your shove is not for enough to get him off his hand unless he was on a total I have nothing bluff.

This type of player can bluff a lot but he has bet the flop and turn and should have something at this point unless he is totally nuts.

Here's my full thinking throughout this hand:

This guy is a passive maniac/gambler type. His raise tells me he has some kind of strength in his hand but nothing premium. If he had something weak and wanted to steal, I think he would just call here instead. If he had some kind of pocket pair or an ace in his hand, I think he would have just raised all in. So at this point, I assume he has some kind of broadway and narrow his range down to KTs+, QTs+, JTs, KTo+, QTo+, JTo and think my A5o is ahead.

With him, I think that in any case whatsoever, he would call me, so not wanting to entirely gamble from preflop, I call to see the flop playing my position on the button. He's first to act and raises me pot size. I figure that this is a last desperate attempt to get me to fold because I think if he hit a pair of 10s, a flush draw, or an open ended straight draw, he would feel enough strength to raise me all in immediately without hesitation since his initial goal was to steal or he would check/shove. Being as passive as he is, I didn't give his aggression credit for signaling an actual hand.

I put his range on KhQh, KsQs, KcQc, KhJh, KsJs, KcJc, QhJh, QsJs, QcJc, KJo, QJo and think my hand is ahead. He's pot committed and he surely will call even if I shove and he has those cards in his hand.

I consider the ITM bubble which is top 25. With 170 remaining, I figure there's still a ton of hands left to be played.

With all this in mind, what is the optimal play? I do realize there is a mistake somewhere in here, but I find it so hard to fold if I have this kind of read on my opponent. What I'd really like to know is if my ace high is ahead, what's the reasoning for why I wouldn't continue playing this pot? Why is it not worth it even if I am ahead? I think understanding this part is what I've been missing in my game.

Pretty standard freeroll stuff here. If this was a real tourney I would have folded either pre or on flop. All that needs to happen to blow your logic out of the water here is a single "slow played" pair. Not really worth it imo if there was any buying involved.

I think here we have to fold. Your call is a very controversial decision for which you will pay 1/5 of the stack. I wouldn't push. You have here a slight fold equity and if the villain plays a call you will have a coinflip.

Even though, this is a freeroll tournament. We have to fold here because A5o is too weak to continue. There is no reason for us to analyze his open range. Sorry for a short reply.

Calling is the worst option.

You should 3bet villain or fold.

I would just not get into a battle with villain with A5 because it's not too strong of a hand.

I would fold.

Here Villain isn't loose player! This's caller passive donk player. With this Villain and from this possition and stack I play here 3bet AI. For me call isn't good, becouse your stack is small and I don't want pot committed with big stack!

It's a fold.

his sizing is too big for us to call profitably this weak, we would need to 3b and based on his large sizing and our remaining stack we would basically need to 3b jam.

that's too big of a jam for the strength of our hand and we are in bad shape vs his calling range.

I would jam a range of something like 44-JJ and AJ, AQ, occasionally jamming KQ and occasinally flatting with it.

I would 3b call off QQ+ and AK.

flatting: it's tough to flat profitably a bunch of hands because of his large sizing but I'd flat with suited aces, KJo+, AT, and all the suited 2 broadway cards and maybe a couple larger suited connectors such as T9s,89s,J9s

this is all predicated on the blinds being "inactive" meaning we are guaranteed to see a flop heads up in position.