How do you play against a maniac? (Big action session)

[johnp158]

It seems like you hear a lot of people say that you should wait for premium hands and really cash in with them against a maniac. Typically, this is what I do, but I was in a funny mood tonight.

I wasn't even gonna play tonight because I'm at my parents' house and don't have my computer with pokertracker, but I was bored and decided to work on a Pokernow bonus, just playing 2 tables b/c the monitor kinda sucks.

So when I sat, it was obvious there were several donks at the table. Well, I played it up, praising the guy who went all-in preflop with 44, talking about how I pretty much would do the same thing with any pair because you're gonna be up against overs and be a favorite most of the time. For some reason I decide I want to get the image of a really loose donk, but try to play my regular game. However, pretty soon I realized there was a maniac who I wanted to bust. Here are some hands:

(There are a couple of hands where I put the results in white, so if you want to tell me what to do, maybe do it before moving on, because my stack size in subsequent hands might give it away)


First hand that I played: This was one of those typical guys who will min-raise you with a weak hand, blah blah. Do you do anything differently?

***** Hand History for Game 2525710330 *****
$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 13, 00:18:11 EDT 2005
Table Table 37138 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 7
Seat 3: pokerhatei ( $47.10 )
Seat 5: TruePresence ( $73.75 )
Seat 6: rivergym ( $107.35 )
Seat 1: johnpmaniac ( $50 )
Seat 8: Fishism ( $55.90 )
Seat 2: Swede54 ( $62.10 )
Seat 4: JRBAK ( $35.68 )
Fishism posts small blind [$0.25].
johnpmaniac posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to johnpmaniac [ 7s Ks ]
Swede54 folds.
pokerhatei folds.
JRBAK folds.
TruePresence folds.
rivergym calls [$0.50].
Fishism calls [$0.25].
johnpmaniac checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, Kd, Qs ]
Fishism checks.
johnpmaniac bets [$1].
rivergym calls [$1].
Fishism folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5h ]
johnpmaniac bets [$2].
rivergym raises [$4].
UNOUCME420 has joined the table.
johnpmaniac calls [$2].
** Dealing River ** [ 8d ]
johnpmaniac checks.
rivergym bets [$3].
johnpmaniac calls [$3].
rivergym shows [ 6h, 9d ] a pair of sixes.
johnpmaniac shows [ 7s, Ks ] a pair of kings.
johnpmaniac wins $16.65 from the main pot with a pair of kings.


First big hand (actually the very next hand with the same guy)

Typical flop a set kind of hand. I usually come out betting but this table wasn't passive, I was pretty sure I would get a check-raise in. Was the raise enough?

***** Hand History for Game 2525718653 *****
$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 13, 00:19:33 EDT 2005
Table Table 37138 (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 3: pokerhatei ( $47.10 )
Seat 5: TruePresence ( $73.75 )
Seat 6: rivergym ( $98.85 )
Seat 1: johnpmaniac ( $58.15 )
Seat 8: Fishism ( $55.40 )
Seat 2: Swede54 ( $62.10 )
Seat 4: JRBAK ( $35.68 )
Seat 9: UNOUCME420 ( $50 )
johnpmaniac posts small blind [$0.25].
Swede54 posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to johnpmaniac [ 4c 4d ]
johnpmaniac: thought i was gonna have to call a bigger bluff
pokerhatei folds.
DCY1986 has joined the table.
JRBAK calls [$0.50].
TruePresence folds.
rivergym calls [$0.50].
Fishism calls [$0.50].
rivergym: wait
Taktarov has joined the table.
johnpmaniac calls [$0.25].
Swede54 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 4h, Th ]
johnpmaniac checks.
Swede54 checks.
JRBAK checks.
rivergym bets [$3].
Fishism folds.
johnpmaniac raises [$8].
Swede54 folds.
JRBAK folds.
rivergym raises [$12].
johnpmaniac is all-In [$49.65]
rivergym calls [$42.65].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
rivergym shows [ Qh, Ts ] two pairs, queens and tens.
johnpmaniac shows [ 4c, 4d ] three of a kind, fours.
johnpmaniac wins $114.80 from the main pot with three of a kind, fours.

So this is the first hand that I get involved with the maniac. I have been watching for a few hands, and he's been showing down utter crap.
Results in white at end of HH.

***** Hand History for Game 2525944571 *****
$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 13, 00:57:55 EDT 2005
Table Table 37138 (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 3: pokerhatei ( $45.65 )
Seat 5: TruePresence ( $50.40 )
Seat 1: johnpmaniac ( $121.18 )
Seat 8: Fishism ( $53.90 )
Seat 7: jrtixx ( $165.10 )
Seat 6: pokemon3 ( $51.95 )
Seat 4: Stayin29 ( $48.75 )
Seat 10: Walter52mnx ( $48.50 )
Seat 9: fx6893 ( $50 )
Seat 2: xaiviax ( $50 )
johnpmaniac posts small blind [$0.25].
TruePresence: i thought you were nuts before, you have proved me wrong
xaiviax posts big blind [$0.50].
fx6893 posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to johnpmaniac [ Td 6h ]
jrtixx: i like to play
pokerhatei did not respond in time.
pokerhatei folds.
Stayin29 folds.
TruePresence calls [$0.50].
pokemon3 folds.
jrtixx calls [$0.50].
Fishism calls [$0.50].
fx6893 checks.
Walter52mnx folds.
johnpmaniac calls [$0.25].
xaiviax checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2d, 6s, 3h ] I go ahead and pot this, intending to fold to a raise or give up if I get any resistance, but not wanting overcards to stick around cheaply
johnpmaniac bets [$3].
xaiviax folds.
TruePresence folds.
jrtixx calls [$3].
Fishism folds.
fx6893 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ] Still feel pretty good here. Pot is 9, I bet 7.
johnpmaniac bets [$7].
jrtixx calls [$7].
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ] Hmm. Not a great card for me. What to do?
johnpmaniac checks.
jrtixx bets [$20].
johnpmaniac calls [$20].
jrtixx shows [ Qd, 3s ] a pair of threes.
johnpmaniac shows [ Td, 6h ] a pair of sixes.
johnpmaniac wins $60 from the main pot with a pair of sixes.

So there were more in between but this is the biggest call (in terms of money) I've ever had to think about making.
Results in white at end of HH.

***** Hand History for Game 2526069175 *****
$50 NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 13, 01:20:17 EDT 2005
Table Table 37138 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 3: pokerhatei ( $43.30 )
Seat 5: TruePresence ( $53.35 )
Seat 1: johnpmaniac ( $167.13 )
Seat 8: Fishism ( $49.50 )
Seat 7: jrtixx ( $126.10 )
Seat 4: Stayin29 ( $62.75 )
Seat 9: fx6893 ( $45.60 )
Seat 2: xaiviax ( $50.05 )
Seat 10: Octavian888 ( $50 )
TruePresence posts small blind [$0.25].
jrtixx posts big blind [$0.50].
Octavian888 posts big blind [$0.50].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to johnpmaniac [ Qs Qh ]
Fishism folds.
fx6893 folds.
Octavian888 checks.
johnpmaniac raises [$2.50].
xaiviax folds.
pokerhatei folds.
Stayin29 calls [$2.50].
TruePresence folds.
jrtixx raises [$4].
Octavian888 folds.
johnpmaniac raises [$13.50].
Stayin29 folds.
jrtixx calls [$11.50].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3c, 2s, Jd ] He's overplaying every hand he gets, and he's not slowing down on big pairs (I saw him play KK fast preflop, so he seems to only have one speed). So I almost can't imagine being behind here
jrtixx checks.
johnpmaniac bets [$20].
jrtixx is all-In [$110.10]
TruePresence: trouble in paradise
johnpmaniac calls [$90.10].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 8d ]
johnpmaniac shows [ Qs, Qh ] a pair of queens.
jrtixx doesn't show [ Js, As ] a pair of jacks.
johnpmaniac wins $252.45 from the main pot with a pair of queens.
yes!@


And then I had one more big hand where I took down a big pot with KK against a K6 who apparently didn't respect me anymore because I kept talking like an idiot.

When I cashed out of this $50 NL table, my stack was at $315.53. After a couple of rebuys on another table, I ended up making $250 in just over an hour. This is by far the biggest cash game session of my short poker life, and it felt pretty great.

So to briefly get back on topic, how do you typically play a maniac? I think I loosened up my preflop standards a bit, but mainly when I was in position with a hand that I could break the maniac with. So I was looser with connectors I guess, but I threw them away like normal postflop when I didn't hit.

Overall, I think I played my normal game with the notable exceptions of those hands where I led out early with vulnerable hands and ended up calling river bluffs. This is something that I haven't really done in the past (can't remember many instances of calling pot-sized bets on the river with weak pair weak kicker), but the reads just felt right. This is the first time that I've really felt like I was making real reads in NL (especially without gametime), and it was pretty cool.
Maybe I'd be singing a different song if I lost those big pots (of course I would). But anyway, it was a fun night.

So feel free to congratulate me on my newly-earned riches, critique my play, or both.

that took forever to type.
Edit: I do realize that I didn't post any where I called the river and was wrong, but I'm pretty sure that didn't happen at all this session. I must be smarter than God

[Zybomb]

Great pots -- and nice winnings

There comes times when you have to take your reads and go with them -- even if it means making a play or a call which normally doesnt make sense

When I see these types of players at the table you do the opposite of what is normal -- bet less and call more -- these guys never stop firing

Another great move is when you have a strong hand, to bet it out on the flop (and be called) then bet it bigger on the turn (and be called) then check the river if you are first to act. I find that these type of players 80% or more of the time will make a huge bluff bet here (it is evidenced in one of your examples above)