Not having a great session. Probably down about 50.. playing 1/2. Villain 2, the maniac, is acting all kinds of absurd. He is 3 betting 100 preflop with 35o. He is raising 20 pots to 60 or 70 on the river when he thinks the original bettors don’t have the nuts. Hopefully, that’s enough backdrop.

I’m not really enjoying the game though it’s full of horrible opponents. Raises of 15 or 20 are called 4 or 5 times. Can’t really c-bet, almost never connecting on flops. Just doesn’t feel like poker. Would love some advice on this

The hand:

Hero has 190. Raises to 10 preflop with QTdd UTG (yeah, shoot me)
Villain 1 calls with about 30 behind. Villain 2 (maniac) calls — I cover him. He has around 150.

Flop: Qs 8s 4s

Hero bets 16. V1 calls. V2 makes a strange face and then calls — I interpret him thinking of a raise or even folding — point is I don’t think he is very strong. I honestly feel when he calls that I’m ahead of his range

Turn: 3h

Hero?


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With such a good game, we really should play better cards in better position.

As played we have neither.

Clint Eastwood: "Do you feel lucky?"

Not a good plan for +EV decisions.

Pre is just terrible against this particular table. Just think about it. Hard to make a dumber open.

Flop - nothing wrong with small bets for value on monotone flops but not here. Bet 25. Given stacks and images, TPMK is more than strong enough to GII with either of these two. Plan to do it on the turn against V2.

Turn - Check. When aggro V2 tries to take it away, shove. He'll probably call if he has a spade. Sometimes he'll have two, but when you play against an aggro, avoiding variance is not an option.

Pre isn't as bad as people are saying. It's still a fold but meh

As played betting flop seems good cause getting any spade to fold is great. However we are multiway and likely to get raised by the maniac and then hate life so there's some merit to checking flop.

As played I would check turn.

Getting raised by the maniac is not a bad result. We should be well ahead here most of the time. SPR = 5. Just GII. Earlier the better.

Yikes. A bit harsh. Me + one maniac + several preflop stationy types? I love bloating pots at tables like these preflop. Vs frequently don't recognize I tighten up flop+ and rarely pot control well or play back effectively on later streets.

Yeah. But think about. You are putting 6%-10% of effective stacks pre. You will flop a FD maybe 11% of time, and you will be OOP once you do. This would be fine if you could push people out after the flop, but at this table trying to push people out like that is a terrible idea. Especially OOP. Maniac may float you every time. It's bad.

I actually miscalculated. I had a bit less so SPR would even be smaller.

I see the reasoning in betting big on this wet flop. But then, I am getting close to committed especially on a blank turn.

When the turn came a blank and the pot was roughly 75, I only had 140 left. I really felt like I was ahead and if I bet around 60-75% pot, I’m in a real sandwich for a lot of rivers and committed to pot. Also, why allow him to get a free card? Hoping for the favorable runout doesn’t feel to be my style.. but maybe that is incorrect

So I did something strange - I shoved on the turn



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I refuse to think about it!!!!!!! j/k

I'm infrequently trying to push people out in these situations, although opportunities do arise; especially if the table views me as the anti-maniac (not 'tight', just opposing force). I'll trade the raw equity to keep the table moving and average stacks increasing.

Otherwise, what? Tighten up and wait for a few spots to 70/30 the maniac, assuming they come? I'll do that too if I'm approaching the end of a session, or already down a couple but ins. But not as the default approach.

Maniacs without action don't become non-maniacs. They get bored and leave imo. I want them to dump and leave. If I haven't already made my piece I have time after they go to do so. Can't do anything if they pick up.

Yup. That's how you make money off a maniac. 60/40 is good enough though. You don't get that by telling the maniac what you have though. You have to play backwards quite a bit. Don't worry about entertaining the maniac. The maniac is the entertainment and loves nothing more than a weak tight table he can run over. Just loosen your range a bit (not too much) and play for stacks (preferably not too deep.)

It's not the only way

Great, auto emojis.

Preflop is OK if your post flop play is intermediate+

Probably c/c turn. If it checks around value bet any non spade rivers.

I rarely open limp pre, but I would here.

Don’t know if anyone saw my last post. I shoved the turn... maniac villain pretty much insta called. any guessers?


*******

spoil:

Villain had AQc

River was a blank


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Pre isn’t that bad. QTs is a good hand.

Maniacs primarily make betting mistakes. How can he do that when you’re shoving into him?

You’re turning your hand into a bluff on the turn by shoving. Just check back and call a river bet. Don’t be too focussed on letting the opponent see free cards, especially when you don’t have much of a hand worth protecting.