Hey guys. First post. Hopefully it's a good one. I wanted to know about situations where we have a very strong non-made hand preflop, we're OOP, and the player in front of us is a veritable Maniac.

For example, say the action folds around to us in the SB with AK. We know that the BB is going to call a raise with almost 100% of his hands and play pretty wildly postflop. Should we open or just flat?

I feel like if he's playing near 100% of hands, we're going to have so much more equity than him on most boards that we could theoretically just barrel a ton against his weak range, but those strong attacking lines get dicey against crazy players who don't want to fold--we've all been there. Would the best play be to raise and then continue strong only on the best boards for us like Axx, Kxx, QTx, 822, etc. and generally give up on the rest? Do our value bets earn enough to make up for all those flops we give up on? (Assuming, for the sake of argument, he doesn't catch on that when we bet, we have it)

Or is a better play to only open made hands like mid to high pocket pairs? And if he catches on and starts folding to those raises, then start peppering in more hands?

And if the answer is open AK, what about more marginal hands like QT, which we still figure to be ahead of his range? I would guess the answer is if AK can be opened profitably, then so can QT, just with less of an edge and a **** ton more variance. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Hopefully someone reads this

Since its the theory forum, I suggest you flesh out more of a description of the maniac in the BB.

If the BB will always call, 100 percent of range, then you earn money by opening AK. However, to “realize” this EV you must continue the hand by making at least break-even decisions for the rest of the hand.

Playing OOP with an AK that missed is not super easy, ofc, hence the thread.

The theory forum is gto enabled, so some answers here would not be applicable to exploiting bad players, which is definitely the most profit and easiest way to earn money.

My first thoughts are, open wider than you normally would, but muck hands that will be difficult to show down in large pots, such as A9o, JTo, etc.

Hey Robert,
Thanks for your response. In regards to a description of the Maniac, I would say that he's continuing a large percentage of the time with a call or a raise when bet into (whether he hits or not), and he tends not play passively when checked to.

Yeah, I figured. Those players will self destruct, and the blinds are quite a common way for maniacs to get over involved in large pots.

However, these types of players are not so far from optimal in the early streets as to be easily exploited on early streets. They will play back at you with 3-bets pre and raises post flop. So your real profit is having the goods and being ready to checkraise and make a larger pot, but less often.

In the end, you will have to lay down some decent hands that just are not worth risking a whole buy-in.

Just keep yourself in line and expect some action. Having this player on your left makes it more difficult.

Having a solid read on any imbalanced player is +EV, but some players are just a nuisance to have on your left, so there is zero shame in just finding another table maybe even where you can have this player to your right, and have position all the more often.

Oh, and I say that our value bets do get more profitable since we are getting more action. Also total air bluffs go wayyyy down in value, but strong draws regain this value. So in the end your total EV is greater, since this opponent is more predictable, yet more difficult to have on your left.

I'll fold the weaker offsuit stuff here that I open as default, but I also raise/call more combos here than I would as default.