Dealing with the MANIAC tag- Live play- LONG!

[omaha]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, not sure where this belongs, I posted in the mtt, got no real responses. Shoulda posted it here first!

I have played a few freebie poker nights (100 entrants, $50+100 prizes), and the action usually goes limp, limp, limp, limp, check check check. Check check bet fold etc. Very very passively.

I have played a fair bit on the net, and have been reading heaps and practicing re stealing blinds, cbetting, and particularly, the sklansky chubukov system, and applying it to steal blinds (basically, raise with ax, kx on button/co with smallish stacks), and the play of small stacks - basically shove/fold mode. I have figured out that the most aggro players either steal the blinds and make it big, or bust out. EIther way, the passive players are mincemeat on small stacks waiting 'for a hand.

Buy into $22 live tourney, same crowd that frequents the freebie ones. Players pretty atrocious, though some are pretty good.

So, I am seriously abusing position almost as much as a catholic priest on a cub scout camping trip, entering all pots with a raise, and a cbet, and am shoving willy nilly (god i hate that term!) on or into a small (14bb or less) stack.

I do many many things that SEEM to be stupid, that the crowd are loving to comment on - He (me) called with k2off- what an idiot (I was bb, was getting 3-1 on an all in versus one player, a couple of isolation plays that paid off, shoved 5bbs with j6 off into the bb).

My general play would be to put the blinds under huge pressure to fold, and then, sooner or later a big stack would play, and would be p1ssed off when i rr him all in with kk.

The table is high on tilt, they have nfi. If someone has shown strength, then i am outta here, unless i have woken up with a hand. On every hand, i am thinking about stack sizes, and where the biggies are that can hurt me. THus, eight out of ten times they here all in , i am prolly only shoving 9bbs or so

No one really understood the isolation plays, or just plain old shoving on the button. Okay, i might have said all in, but was only betting 6 blinds, with a2 off

I lose a big pot, when i am a huge favourite, and am in the sb, down to about 3bbs. I have decided to shove, if it is folded to me. It is, I look down at a true monster, 38 off, shove, and are insta called by aqs. A trey comes on the turn. And the table and crowd go absolutely off. Since i now have a small stack, I am shoving a sh1tloat of flops, and get a few folds, and then build up back to the table bully, where I terrorise the entire passive table, and the situatio repeats itself. Pressure the smallies, get out of the way when strength is shown, then get a hand and bust a medium stack.

This kind of play, and PHILOSOPHY of play seems to be very 2+2ish (indeed, thats where i leant it from!). It is massively different from anything that these fishies had seen before. I can remember three really bad plays i did, but the overwhelming appearance of myself was that I had NFI, and was a lucky maniac on a heater.

Comments were passed left right and centre- Hell suck out on us again, why bother calling, hes only going to put you all in, has no idea, what goes up must come down etc, i cant wait till i get a hand against you, man u been on tilt for the last two hours, suckouts cant last for ever, along with significantly more colourful language!

Had anyone ever looked at when i had played against a raiser, I always had the goods, or a good draw. Being viewed as a maniac, It was easy to stack someone on middle set vs tptk etc.

Now, heres the question. I would assume that most of you guys and girls are even more aggro than me, and your live tourneys are the similar passive plays.

How do you cope with the maniac tag?

On one hand, I feel the need to justify my play, but know that I should NEVER educate someone across from me with a patch of green felt in between us. I dont want everyone else to shove 13bb into me (instead of limping or minraising), when i am the bb! I want a free play, or play against that utg minraiser with KK, against my j10s.

I have thought about just playing up to it- Are you mad? No, my three psychiatrists all feel i am no longer a threat to society, Or, when the bb asks me 'how in the fuuck do you shove with 38 off, I should answer 'how in the fuuck could you possibly even think about calling with AQ suited?"s

I cant tap on the aquarium, but its kinda very very very weird to prolly be by far the best player on the table, thinking about each and every single hand, making correct decision after correct decision, yet being loudly and publicly ridiculed.

I just kinda went into my shell, and tried to ignore the circus going on around me, and concentrate as best as I could.

I assume that the 'circus' follows you 'maniacs' when you either get a run of cards, or a table full of fish to carve up.

Any tips on how to deal with it?

[PantsOnFire]

Sounds like a bit of a brag to me.

So how do you deal with being a better player that most others?

Be humble.