Playing the Maniac -Part 2
#1 You are out of position (you act first on every round of betting) raise pre-flop to 2x the blind (200), maniac believes weakness and re-raises to 700. The flop comes out. You check, Maniac pushes in.
#2 You are out of position and raise 3x the blind (300). Maniac re-raises all in, counting on the fact that you will fold.
#3 You are out of position and raise 6x the blind to (600). Maniac contemplates for a moment, then calls. The flop comes out and you push in. If the maniac has hit any card or has a good draw (sometimes even a bad one) he calls.
#4 You are out of position and push all in. The maniac will consider his hand and you. Whether it is his favorite 69 suited hand, or if he considers you a threat to his manhood he will call.
#5 You are in position (last to act each round of betting). The maniac raises as he has done any hand he desires to play. You re-raise all in. The maniac will consider his hand and you. Usually he will fold if his hand is very weak the first or second time. (If you do this 2 or 3 in a row, about 95% of the time, he will call the second or third time with any two cards to protect his psychological manhood as there is no way he will allow you to "outplay" him.)
#6 You are in position and the maniac has limped in. You re-raise all in. The maniac will fold most of the time. If the maniac has any sort of good hand, he will raise and raise hard.
For the following scenarios, the maniac player has 4 or more times your stack size:
Well, there is no need to even create the scenarios, if you aren't the first one in the pot, he will probably push in, unless he has no chips in the hand to that point, and even then he may call.
Ok...so what is the right play. How do you push him out of the pot? Simple answer, usually you will not push him out. Your stack in the pot to the mind of a maniac is the chance to add them to his stack and he does not like to be outplayed. He views high pressure as a challenge and rarely cares about odds expecting that he will hit his hand. Since he bluffs constantly, it is his expectation that you are bluffing constantly. Below are rules for playing the maniac.
#1 Attempt to keep the pots low and stay on the offensive. Do not show weakness or you can expect him to push in. You should expect that he will call your bets, so better to lose a few chips when he hits his two pair than a lot.
#2 Do not slow play weak hands (single pair) hoping he will put in chips. Don't you worry, if you slow play, he will put in chips, but your weak hand may not hold and you have doubled him up. Better just to bet and keep the betting under control as best as possible.
#3 Checking from a maniac, generally means he has a huge hand. Betting generally means weak to strong hand.
#4 Do not call an all in weak or to "protect the blinds", just because it was the maniac that pushed. You will find they get dealt AA at times too.
#5 Do not try to push out a maniac on a bold bluff. Most maniacs call if there is an ace in their hand, whether they have hit or not and even on bottom pair. A bold bluff into a maniac is a poor play and is really what the maniac is counting on. The majority of maniac players are new and have no clue at odds. Trying to bluff a bad player makes a bad player of you.
#6 Realize that these players are the ones that you want at the table. They are the ones that will pay off your big hand. Realize they will hit the long odds sometimes, but mostly will give away chips.
#7 Make sure you get your chips in the pot with the best hand, and keep him at the long odds.
#8 Control your emotions. Even give him a "nice hit" comment afterward a hand and ignore his responce. Since usually these players run on testosterone, lower his levels and appear to be non-threatening from a psychological sense.
The more you play, the more these will make sense. Good luck!
