Quote:
Originally Posted by abuljooj
UTG was a LAG maniac who could be raising UTG with ATC. The range I put HJ on was 88+ & AJ+ knowing that with his stack he'd be willing to call a shove from UTG.
OK, But still I would like to tell you guys what my friend, real friend has told me about playing against maniacs. This friend is no other than J.C. Tran. The champion and this dude has lots of poker in his heart and tons of experience. Since I'm following this strategy it seems to me I make more money in those situations vs. a maniac. OK, here it is a copy-paste of an old eMail from JC:
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Playing against a maniac when you have position on him
If he’s to my right this is the best situation, you know, Alex.
I find a lot of players making the mistake of coming after the maniac. You should never come after the maniac because you could set yourself up for lots of mistakes. The most important is to play position on him. I honestly don’t recommend raising the maniac. Let him betting into you especially when you have a big hand, and if he draws out, oh well .., so be it. If you’re willing to raise him, be ready for a 3! or an all-in from him. The most important is let him come to you. You don’t go after him and sooner or later he’s gonna break and make a mistake, you know .., and you get his chips.
I don’t recommend raising to isolate the maniac. You know, raising the maniac is a good chance you gonna get re-raise. I also recommend don’t play too many drawing hands because if you flop like a draw it’s gonna be very expensive to continue. Play like pairs trying to hit a set or if you play drawing hands, play like strong big suited cards and big suited Aces because when you try to draw you also can hit a big pair too: AKs, AQs ,KQs if you hit top pair you’re willing to put some chips with it beside the actual draw. You know, don’t play like 76s and flop comes like 7,3,2 because you cannot go with that three streets of betting. Play solid hands and try to flop a good hand and he’s gonna break sooner or later and he’s gonna pay you off, he’s gonna bluff into you. My suggestion is don’t bluff him.
Also, don’t play Ace-rag hands against maniac. You know, maniacs are entitle to good hands too, you know. If he’s raising six hands out of ten, it doesn’t mean two out of his six raising hands he may have a good hand or a monster. Since you have position, you just call and let him fire into you three streets and just play position on him and make decision on each street like flop, turn and river. Don’t force yourself to play hands just because you want to isolate the maniac. If you are not deep stack and the maniac raises and you call with 76s and what happens if you flop a pair or what happens if you flop a draw? Now you have put yourself in a situation to go with it and you risking on drawing your stack into the pot on a draw or a weak pair. You are better off staying with a pair and try to flop a set or even a big pair. You know, a lot of players try to isolate by re-raising with AT/AJ and now the maniac moves all-in. Now you’re facing such a big decision. You hand may be strong against his range but if you have another player in the hand that try to squeeze and now you have 3-way pot and before you know he maniac moves all-in. Now what you do with your weak Ace when you have another player in the hand? - My suggestion is being patient and try to have a solid strong hand and sooner or later he’s gonna fire right into you and you break him. I’ve dealt with many manics all my life and I know how I made lots of money in my cash games over the years. The way I just told you I think is the most profitable way.
JC
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Last edited by outdonked; 07-27-2017 at 06:56 PM.