PLO8 MTT (donkament) Strategy - Maniac on left

[franknagaijr]

Early in PLO8 MTT, maniac is on immediate left, and he pots close to 50% of his hands, folds 30% and limps 10%. The c-bet is pretty regular, almost guaranteed HU, and it may indicate an overpair, a weak flush draw, bottom two, or even top pair, frequently with no low or weak low. Occasionally accidentally has A2 in hand, but clearly is not waiting for low draws before potting. Hands I noted for potting included JJ68ss, KK2Tss, A2HH, KK58, and other pocket pairs greater than 9 with two random cards.

In NLHE, the typical play is to wait for a high pair, limp with the expectation of a raise, and re-raise or push depending on chip stack. Since even the best O8 hands rarely push 60% favorite, I'm not crazy about that play, especially since I saw maniac knock out at least six players who tried to get it all in pre-flop or on the flop.

Of course, limping medium-strong hands and calling the PR has it's risks too. Maniac doesn't care if he bricks and will bet his high pair, so I either need to cover the screen with my hand, or actually have a piece of the board to c-bet.

Anybody have a consistent approach for maniac on left when you have a reasonable M for seeing and evaluating flops?(greater than 15M (or 22BB) for example.) How strong a hand do you need before you limp into the expected raise? Do you raise lesser hands as a show of strength ?

Do you somehow out-donk the donk? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[JoaoPinto]

[ QUOTE ]
Anybody have a consistent approach for maniac on left when you have a reasonable M for seeing and evaluating flops?(greater than 15M (or 22BB) for example.)

[/ QUOTE ]

You've answered your own question i.e Seeing and evaluating flops against him will give you an edge if you make better decisions, as will playing good hi lo starting hands. The only way to punish these players is patience and good poker.

[Fiasco]

yeah, sort of...

Basically you wanna limp a high quality hand, and then checkraise him all in when you have more of it than he does. This may mean youre gonna need to gamble up a bit. High hands go up in value, high cards probably go up in value too, and emergency lows become better. As always aces are key.

Importanat points of note are:
does he always cont bet?
will he fold to a raise/checkraise?

[comic2b]

I'm more familiar with cash game strategy in this situation. I think it's actually a pretty good spot. Here is the key I think. NEVER EVER raise preflop. You can reraise with your true monsters AA suitedness with wheel cards, this is if you can get it all in.

I think by keeping the pot small it gives you a better chance to outplay after the flop. It can also herd the other players around to you, then you can c/r and likely get it heads up with the best hand.

Hands that are good to play as well are the 4 cards above a 10. With those type of hands you can hit wraps or two pair with straight draws.

Good luck and prepare to be chip leader or busted.