Trying to incorporate the plus' of the maniac strategy into my game

[Zybomb]

Im sure you have noticed a maniac at your table from time to time... you know the type, raising every other pot preflop, firing hard, impossible to put on a hand, reckless... he pays people off sure, but he also is very unpredictable, makes the enitre table uncomfortable, takes control of the table, tightens players up and can win large sums of money very quickly

of course the downsides come, the fact that he can be slow played to death, goes through huge swings, and in the end he has a strong possibility of eventually losing it all.

I became interested in a maniacs positive qualities though, and was wondering how you could use them to incorporate into your own game, combine it with your intelligent poker (as opposed to their idiotic poker) and thus improve your game.

I realize this is a tough topic, and im not expecting many responses, but does anyone have any commentary about incorporating some of the things that work for a maniac into your smart poker strategy in order to improve your play? Most strategy out there incorporates a tight aggressive approach, what about the loose aggressive approach (without going over board like they do)

[Windbreaker]

The thing I learn the most is unpredictability. If you ever play a player like that, that consistently raises the same amount and over bets consistently....is that you can never really put them on a hand. Of course most players can just wait for nuts and make them pay as a result.

Generally most 'solid' players play a tight aggressive style. They also play hands in a similar way in similar situations. What the loose aggressive players do is play hands in a similar ways in every situation.

Generally if you're playing a lot of good players, you want to play similar hands in a variety of ways. You want to add the element of guess work for opponents.

However when you're playing - most of the time there are enough fishes on the table, that will pay off the tight aggressive style that makes it unnecessary to play in that matter.

[Van_Broke]

I have been experimenting with a LAG style lately, especially in those bingo type tournies with ridiculous blind structures. So far in cash games, I've been somewhat unsuccessful with it. Sometimes it works great, other times it doesn't. The biggest thing seems to be if players are either bad enough (calling stations) or good enough (solid but not weak), it just doesn't work. If people are willing to call a big bet with second pair then it just isn't worth it.

I think the classic supersystem plays are viable for a LAG style which are some of the things I tried to incorporate. Moving in with a good draw if you run into resistance, putting in a big raise in LP with a bunch of limpers, putting in a big re-raise with an opener and a few callers, etc. I like to raise the SB everytime he completes if I'm in the BB heads up.

Another thing I found helped was distinguising which players will just call with TPMK as opposed to raising to see where they're at. Same goes for second pair. It can help you determine whether they are drawing or not on boards like JT5 etc. Same goes for players who will call the flop bet with AK or two big overs on a rag board, and if those players will fold the turn if another brick comes off. You could say the same for players with small or med pairs when some paint hits the flop. Things like this helped me to learn if I should keep firing or bail.

There have been times when it has worked great for me, and it's awesome. The most enjoyable poker there is imo. Overall, I lost a little with this stategy though, but I still think it was worth trying. Maybe going into a game with the mindset of playing LAG isn't the best idea, but I found that doing that helped me change gears if I thought the table was prone to a LAG style. Don't know if that helps any, but that's my thoughts on it.

[BlibbityBlabbity]

I find this easiest to do at a site with a "bet pot" button. Try betting the pot any time after the flop if you have a reasonable part of the hand (assuming you are not up against calling stations) or any reasonable draw. Never bet less than the pot, never more, so as not to give any indication of the strength of your hand. The key, IMO, is to leave yourself with outs if you do run into a hand.

I think the mistake in the typical maniac play is not having ANY selection in their aggrssion and getting in drawing dead (or close to it). The key is to pick your spots while still making it APPEAR that you are indeed a reckless player.

Add to this, then just about when the table is thinking they have you pegged and you are going to start getting check raised (you will be able to FEEL this coming), tighten up a little (be a little more selective with the type of hands you want to play aggressively) and hope to catch some flops really hard and THEN get checkraised.

There is a lot of variance to this type of play. Sometimes you get raised all in on the first hand and lose and you are done, other times you will find yourself with a massive chip lead with 3-4 players to go.

This is NOT a full table strategy so much as it is a 6 player or less (at the final table or in a SNG) strategy.

Good luck and push wisely.