How do you beat a maniac?

[RollTide77]

Ok, here's a general question. I'm a decent "novice" player. I play at the 5/10 6-handed tables right now. I'm able to play and win money or at least break even almost every night until I get a maniac to sit in. There's several of them. These guys come in and just raises every pre-flop. I call. Flop comes and he raises post flop. I raise. He re-raises. EVERY TIME!!! If you call, its pretty much a coin flip each time. And how many coin flips can you survive without losing your stack? How in the world do you play against a guy like that?

I figure the only way you can be sure to beat him (and make the big calls) is to have top pairs that are preferably suited so that at least if your pair isn't top you might hit a flush. But who's gonna bet that way? Clearly he is playing the odds, but at a 6-handed table (the tables I play right now) you can't afford to sit and wait for the 1 in 200 hand (top pairs) because the blinds will eat you up. So what do you do?

I've been playing against these guys all week trying to figure them out and have ended up losing my stack each night.

I don't want to just move to another table cuz if I see a maniac at at tourney I want to be able to play him (or at least not just shut down waiting for him to bust out).

/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[kolotoure]

I think you're in the wrong place

[Perk76]

Reraise them preflop > calling.

Think of it as if you were gonna open raise, then reraise. If they are that maniac post flop, let them do the betting. Obviously any time you have TP strong kicker, you need to be willing to call down.

When I see a maniac, I try to get in as many pots as possible with them IP. His post flop routine probably will be the same, and you can decide when to play hands past the flop.

[ama0330]

These "maniacs" you are talking about sound like they are actually the sharks particularly at 5/10 - are you talking about 1000NL or 10NL? Id say just leave the table if its 1000NL

[Tiki]

The easiest thing to do is to be patient. When the pots are large in comparison to the blinds play tight. These maniacs often rely upon unsettling other players thus tricking them into playing badly. Don't let your ego play your cards and remember: overaggressive donks are easy to trap.

Possibly the optimal way to play these maniacs is to loosen up on your pre-flop re-raises and generally play back a bit more post-flop. Such a course has a high variance though but it can slow them down. You have to gamble.

Good luck and above all else keep your cool at the table.

Edit:Try and sit to his immediate left.

[crookdimwit]

1. Sit to the left of the maniac. Be able to react to what he's done, not the other way around.

2. Tighten up and wait for good cards to take to battle.

3. Reraise preflop and postflop in most hands vs. Maniac. These guys love weird drawing hands and love to see all seven cards. Don't make it cheap for them to suck out on you ont he turn or river. If you hit a flop, bet it aggressively.

4. Play at a level where you can't be intimidated by a big bet. Be willing to get your chips in with a strong hand and more often than not, you'll be ahead.

[RollTide77]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you're in the wrong place

[/ QUOTE ]

Whoops. I meant .05/.10 tables. not $5/10.

[Sir Winalot]

A good thread on the subject a little while ago. (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=microplnl&Number=7739589& Searchpage=1&Main=7738904&Words=maniac+ticks&topic =&Search=true#Post7739589)