I have decided for this post instead of going through all the hands and discussing my thought process I would talk about playing versus a maniac. There are all types of players at the poker table:
- Tight - these guys don't play a lot of hands
- Loose - these guys play a ton of hands
- Aggressive - when they play they usually bet or raise, putting their opponents to the test
- Passive - when they play they usually just call or fold, hoping to trap opponents
I play a very Tight/Aggressive Style when I play poker. So I don't play a lot of hands, but when I do play them I play them aggressive betting and raising a large percentage of the time. A Maniac plays a Loose and OVERLY Aggressive style. Well in this session I had a Maniac at one of my tables. When I got to the poker I sat down with a bunch of tight/passive and tight/aggressive players. The pots were typically $15 a hand and not much more than that. After about a half an hour I realized I cannot make a lot of money at this table in a short period of time. I would have to win a whole bunch of small pots to build my stack. Not the goal of this challenge. So what Gary decided to do was switch tables. I looked around and saw a good table where every pot was $50 or more. I thought to myself, self...huh? we need to go to that table. Got the table change and off I went. I sat down to the right of the Maniac. He had good position on me which was bad, but I thought I would be able to still capitalize with my short stack. The idea was let him raise and then shove all my chips into the middle after everyone calls his raise. I did this twice and put my money in with WAY the best hand. He called and just so happens so does 2-3 other people. Well that is not good, because I want to be heads up with him not 3 other people too. Over about a three hour period of time I tried that strategy twice and it went bad every time. I got A
J and shoved all my chips in only to get beat by an IDIOT who called with 69o. Then I got heads up with the maniac the second time...I bought in for $100 the second time so I would be able to get everyone else to fold. He raised with QJo got 3 callers I shoved my money into the middle with AKo he called everyone folds. The board ran 852JJ he wins with the worst pre-flop hand again. After trying and failing twice to make this strategy work, I decided to switch seats and move to the left of the maniac. This is what I wanted to do the entire time I was sitting for the first few hours, but no seat opened. So now I was down to my last $50 that I was playing for the night and went through a series of double ups. I shoved on him with $50 he called I won. My stack was at $100. I shoved on him again he called and I won my stack went to $200...I was now even. I played my 3rd hand against him where I got A
Q everyone limped in and I raised form Late Position to $15. 3 people called including the maniac. The flop came:
J and shoved all my chips in only to get beat by an IDIOT who called with 69o. Then I got heads up with the maniac the second time...I bought in for $100 the second time so I would be able to get everyone else to fold. He raised with QJo got 3 callers I shoved my money into the middle with AKo he called everyone folds. The board ran 852JJ he wins with the worst pre-flop hand again. After trying and failing twice to make this strategy work, I decided to switch seats and move to the left of the maniac. This is what I wanted to do the entire time I was sitting for the first few hours, but no seat opened. So now I was down to my last $50 that I was playing for the night and went through a series of double ups. I shoved on him with $50 he called I won. My stack was at $100. I shoved on him again he called and I won my stack went to $200...I was now even. I played my 3rd hand against him where I got AQ everyone limped in and I raised form Late Position to $15. 3 people called including the maniac. The flop came: JT3
T3 everyone checked to me and I decided to check with my gut shot straight draw. I needed a King to make a straight there were 4 left in the deck which gave me about an 8% chance to hit it on the turn. That was a small percentage and I didn't want to bet and have the maniac raise me and I have to fold. The turn came:
K
This was a blessing and a curse. It completed my straight, but also gave anyone with two s a flush. Everyone checked to me again and I bet $50. The two people folded and the maniac raised me he shoved all his chip in. He had me covered so if I call and lose I lose all my chips. I thought for a little while, and remembered seeing him do this SEVERAL times throughout the session with air, and when he did catch a good hand he would bet small to hope to get action. So his range in this spot was wide, meaning the number of hand combinations he could have had was a lot. He could have KJ, KT, JT, K3, T3, J3, Q8, two s, or nothing. I called him and he had...NOTHING. I took down the pot and won a pretty large pot. At this point he only had $20 so I decided to rack my chips up and leave soon after. The moral of the story is position is KEY. It is almost more important than the two cards you hold in your hand. You always want to sit to the left of loose players, and to the right of tight players. Anywho below you will see a picture of my starting stack and ending stack. Needless to say I will be moving to the bigger table next week playing $200 on a $500 max table. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did...until next time good luck at the tables.
s a flush. Everyone checked to me again and I bet $50. The two people folded and the maniac raised me he shoved all his chip in. He had me covered so if I call and lose I lose all my chips. I thought for a little while, and remembered seeing him do this SEVERAL times throughout the session with air, and when he did catch a good hand he would bet small to hope to get action. So his range in this spot was wide, meaning the number of hand combinations he could have had was a lot. He could have KJ, KT, JT, K3, T3, J3, Q8, two s, or nothing. I called him and he had...NOTHING. I took down the pot and won a pretty large pot. At this point he only had $20 so I decided to rack my chips up and leave soon after. The moral of the story is position is KEY. It is almost more important than the two cards you hold in your hand. You always want to sit to the left of loose players, and to the right of tight players. Anywho below you will see a picture of my starting stack and ending stack. Needless to say I will be moving to the bigger table next week playing $200 on a $500 max table. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did...until next time good luck at the tables.My Starting Stack Before the Session Started ($50):
Chip Count After My Session:
Each of the rows of red represent $100 (20 Red Chips), and the green chips are $25, and the white are $1. I had to re-buy 2 times for a total investment of $200, You see $458 in the rack which is a $258 profit...did I mention I LOVE maniacs when they are at my table?
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