playing with a maniac: lessons from frustration

[tyler_cracker]

Last night found me in a 4/8 game at Bellagio with a maniac. I ended the session up only $9 after 4 hours of grinding. I'm going to try and make some lemonade from these lemons, though, and talk about some things i did well and some things i did poorly during the session.

I have no illusions that any of this is groundbreaking or even very interesting, but maybe it will give some of you something to think about.

The most important thing: Location, location, location

Within my first orbit, i identified the maniac (the preflop 3bet with Q5s was the big tip-off) and immediately made it my top priority to get into the seat at his left. This is trickier online than it is live, but you must do whatever you can to get good relative position on the maniac. Check/raising is fun, but acting after the maniac is critical. Not only can you isolate with your strong hands, but you can take advantage of those times when he limps or folds to play weaker speculative hands cheaply.

Know your enemy

Not all maniacs are created equal. Some of them just bet or raise whenever it is their turn to act. Some of them wait until they have an A or two cards that look pretty before they put in a lot of action. Some maniacs are trying to play poker, while others are just pushing chips around.

One thing that will help you understand your maniac is understanding his motivations. Again, this is easier live than online, but the chat box may give you some insight. Some maniacs act like bullies, trying to make other people lay down good hands by naked aggression. Some of them are gambling and just enjoy seeing a lot of money in the pot.

Figuring out which of these approaches applies to your maniac will help you figure out how weak a hand you can isolate with and how aggressively to bet and raise for value.

You're going to showdown, so pick your battles accordingly

Isolation is one of the biggest keys to profiting from a maniac. By definition the maniac's raising range is very wide. We punish him for his excessive raising by re-raising with hands that figure to crush his range. Our re-raise also puts pressure on the rest of the table. If we can get it heads-up with the maniac, we should win a lot of pots unimproved since we are playing better starting hands than the maniac. Since maniacal play makes for big pots, we want to do whatever we can to maximize our chances of winning these pots.

However, we can't go too crazy with this approach. I made an isolation 3bet last night with KTo. The play worked and i got it HU with the maniac, then called down UI and lost to A5o. KT was a favorite against his range preflop, but when i failed to improve, i was unable to fold and was compelled to show down with K-high. Hands like QJs are nice to look at and hit a lot of flops, but win few pots when they fail to improve. Hands like A-high and pocket pairs do much better in these situations.

Brags, beats, and variance

Because you're going to be re-raising and showing down with many marginal hands, you are going to experience wild swings during your session. You must be prepared for this. It is frustrating to build a giant pot with a quality starting hand like AQs and watch all those chips go to an opponent who coldcalled 3 bets with Q4o.

I have been coming to terms with my problems with tilt lately (inspired by Joe Tall's Well thread as well as some Tommy Angelo articles), and last night's session brought this into focus for me. Remember that you are playing on a high-wire, and that you only need to win one or two of these giant pots to come out winner for the session. Remember that for your strategy to work, you must wait patiently for cards good enough to withstand a lot of pressure. Remember that no matter how well you play, the cards have no memory and no sense of justice.

That said, this is no time to be meek! When you finally flop a decent hand, you need to bet and raise your hand for value against the maniac and for protection against the field. The pot will be big, so you must be bold in trying to win it. If the pot goes the other way, brush yourself off and get ready to do it all again.

If you feel your discipline slipping, take a break. I took a long walk last night after a couple of solid starting hands got cracked. When i returned to the table, i had regained my composure and felt calm and comfortable at the table once again.

If the long walk doesn't work, quit. Spewing off a bunch of money because you can't keep your emotions under control is not how you profit from a maniac, and you will not thank yourself in the morning. There will be other chances, other maniacs, and other pots.

Remain vigilant and make adjustments

Just because you are playing better starting hands than the maniac doesn't mean those hands are any stronger against everyone else's ranges.

If you attempt to isolate the maniac with A8o but find yourself in a 5-way pot, you're going to have a hard time winning with A-high. If a normally passive opponent wakes up and gives both you and the maniac a lot of action, you must proceed with extra caution.

Do not focus so much on the maniac that you forget about your other opponents. Bad players aren't adjusting correctly to the maniac, so when they get aggressive, they usually have a quality hand. If a tight player is calling down alongside you on a dry board, you may have to release some of your weaker holdings.

And in the end

Playing against maniacs is a high-risk, high-reward form of poker. As long as you keep your wits about you and apply the same controlled aggression that you practice in your regular game, you will come out ahead in the long run. Good luck!

[ckj]

VNH sir. I have trouble playing against maniacs and it was nice to see some basic strategies laid out to combat them.

[Schalock]

Thanks for the insightful post. I remember being confused the first times I ran into maniacs and this post will definetly help.

[ottsville]

excellent post Tyler

One of my most satisfying moments playing live 2/4 was against a maniac who was being a real prick at the table. He's on my right, it's heads up at the river...I have 22 and the board is 10, 2, Q, 10, 2. We're heads up on the river and raising back and forth(no cap) - after about the 5th raise, I look at his stack, he looks at his stack(he's got like $60 bucks left and the pot is huge), looks at me, says I'll go to the felt, and I laugh out loud and call...he flips over Tx for the full house against the quads and stomps off.

[MrWookie]

Good content, and written well. Nice post.

[NIX]

Good post. Nice work Tyler. This should definitely be in the next Digest.

[OrigamiSensei]

That's some excellent work, Tyler. Definitely should be in the next digest.

One other item that I find helpful with maniacs is to back off the aggression a bit. As you so correctly note you're going to showdown, thus there's no need to play back at the maniac in trying to meet the aggression head-on. Duck, weave, call, and then counterpunch at the appropriate time. By all means play aggressive pre-flop to knock other people out, but after that it's time to take a measured approach.

Anyway, great stuff.

[bozlax]

[ QUOTE ]
excellent post Tyler

One of my most satisfying moments playing live 2/4 was against a maniac who was being a real prick at the table. He's on my right, it's heads up at the river...I have 22 and the board is 10, 2, Q, 10, 2. We're heads up on the river and raising back and forth(no cap) - after about the 5th raise, I look at his stack, he looks at his stack(he's got like $60 bucks left and the pot is huge), looks at me, says I'll go to the felt, and I laugh out loud and call...he flips over Tx for the full house against the quads and stomps off.

[/ QUOTE ]

This would be a much better story if you'd had QJ and he'd had AK.

[Hoskinator]

excellent post

The worst thing with a maniac is coming in on AK, missing the flop and then he is off raising again.

It also puts pressure on your draws but its like your usual game of poker except the money won and lost is maniac multiplied normal winnings.

it can be a nail biting time but if you keep making logic plays then you should come out on top.

I often check my draws agaisn't maniacs. I don't know if this is the correct play because it means when I win, I win less but when I lose I lose less.

it just takes a bit more patience to wait for a stronger hand when playing maniacs and then the raising is a joy to behold