How to adjust for a maniac

Axiom_1

A question for Dave, or anyone else who would like to answer:

What adjustments to your play (both pre-flop and after the flop) do you make when there is a maniac at your table?

I spent a few hours playing 2/4 on PartyPoker last night with a genuine maniac: this guy just kept the bet/raise button checked. I was surprised that a loose/passive preflop strategy some players were using seemed to work really well, and I'd like to know whether it was actually correct, or just a run of good cards for a few players.

Hammer

Just tighten up and punish him when you got the goods.

BBC Z

The low variance approach is to tighten up. The high variance approach is to call him down with 2nd or 3rd pair since he's likely got nothing much.

Unknown

...and I'll take the high variance approach any day of the week...

yubyub1978

try to adjust your game to the other players at the table.The maniac will always be a maniac its what they do,but the other player at the table who are are now playing loose passive(assuming they played some what desent poker before) are your targets.Keep your pre flop callings tight,unless your heads up with the maniac than loosen up marginally.Trap as many people as you can, they will be expecting to call one raise if you raise and the the rest of the table calls maniac reraise'sm that two four bet people will feel compeled to call when they shouldnt have even called one.Of course expect to take so wild beats when your huge hand loses to marginal at best holdings when they make two pair,but if you dont lower your standards think about all the pots youll win when your aces kicker plays because everybody is playing any ace.

PokerEH.com

Isolate the maniac!

I like to use his or her agressiveness to my advantage, by forcing out weak holdings with re-raises. I'd rather be heads up with 1 player with a random 2 cards (the maniac) v.s. my 2 strong cards, then allowing 1/2 the table to come into the pot. Cold call his raises less, and re-raise your strong hands more. I often follow around maniacs using the buddy feature on many of the online poker rooms.

You need to often call down the maniac with hands you would normally fold. Second and thrid pair are good examples, but often with even less. Never semi-bluff the maniac, and (obvously) never bluff him/her.

I have a friend who will often put in a straddle (under the gun blind raise) at our local poker room. This creates a lot of action, and people perceive him as a maniac. The truth is, he isn't a maniac, he is just very agressive, and sometimes a bit wild. He does know his poker, and is a consistent winner. What I've noticed is that these blind raises cause many players at the table to cold call the raise with hands they never would think of calling otherwise. This is why isolating is so important, because it is often the other players in the hand who will beat you, if not the maniac him or herself.

On a side note, my friend will get paid off on his big hands more then anyone I know. He can literally flop 4 of a kind, and get callers (and sometimes raisers) all the way to the river. Not that I am suggesting playing like he does

Axiom_1

Where do you prefer to sit with respect to the maniac? I was sitting 2 seats to his left, so I was usually able to isolate him when I got big hands. Mind you, he kept cracking my JJ with 84o, but I'm still confident that the isolation plays were good.

The players that seemed to be doing the best were those immediately to the maniac's *right*, not his left. After thinking about why this might be, I realized that having a maniac on your left means that you will always know if any of the non-maniac players are still in the hand when it gets around to you. It's almost like being permanently on the button.

These players were seeing a lot of flops (for 2 bets), and basically folding their mediocre hands if anyone other than the maniac was still in, but playing them to the river if they were heads up with him. It seemed to work really well, so I'm considering trying to sit to his left the next time I spot a maniac.

ScottyZ

Try this thread for a good discussion of where you'd like to be seated relative to a maniac:

http://pokerforum.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=1439

ScottyZ

SlantNGo

You want to sit to the right of the maniac in a limit game. You get hand protection by betting out, maniac raising, and forcing everyone else to call two cold, and you good great value on your draws by being last to act, allowing you to take one off for weak draws, or pump the pot with strong draws.

Unknown

You want to sit to the right of the maniac in a limit game.

IIRC, this is what started 'left vs. right-gate' back in tha day. Have a look at the link Scotty posted to view the carnage.

Regards,
all_aces

ScottyZ

You want to sit to the right of the maniac in a limit game.

No I don't.

Can you imagine how brutal it would be to sit on the maniac's immediate right if a smart player was to his immediate left? *shudder*

ScottyZ