2/3 NL

V - crazier than anyone you've ever played with. Can run $300 up to $2k in an hour or lose $2k over the course of the night. Usually bets pot size or bigger, gets crazy value from TP hands (cuz of his image). Nearly always tries to squeeze anytime there's any kind of money in the pot preflop with any 2 cards. Understands fold equity and uses it to his advantage but doesn't realize that's not enough if his image is FOS. $800.

Hero - We're definitely friendly towards each other although we play hard against each other. I'm one of the very few that will play back at him, such as limp-reraising as weak as AQ when I know he will try to squeeze 90% of the time. I know that he views me as a tough opponent as I'm probably up $800 against him in the last few sessions and I'm one of the few opponents he has a fold button against instead of constantly trying to outplay me/push me off the pot. $600.

V raises UTG+2 to $20. H calls in MP w JdTd, one call behind me and one of the blinds call.

Flop ($75)~ Ad Qh 7d
BB checks, V bets $55, Hero?

Call

Any difference in calling/raising if it's heads up here vs. multiway?

No. But it's good to understand the different situations anyhow.

As it stands you're getting 2.5-1 and you need like 2.75-1 to draw one street profitably. The other callers may pad these odds giving you correct odds even if you have no implied odds, which is hard to say this this guy is a manic but also respects your bets. Honestly I probably flat here in either situation since I don't want to get blown off my draw by the manic in a HU situation, and because I want to see what the players behind do in the multiway situation.

Against said V, I'm calling and not even thinking of raising. Any ace has you beat and based on V's image, it doesn't look like he's going anywhere OTF. If you raise here, V is only folding when he COMPLETELY missed the flop. Otherwise, it's a standard c-bet from him. Furthermore, you have 2 guys left to act behind. Best not to bloat pot with just a draw. Let's try to get this hand heads up and reassess after the turn.

Not exactly relevant when we still have two streets to go.

Why do you think that to be the case? Maniacs don't fold?

There seems to be a common misunderstanding of what a c-bet is. A c-bet is a flop bet by the preflop aggressor, and it is generally considered a "bluff" bet.

Pretty bad logic. Why not bloat up a pot with just a draw?

How can you "try" to do anything when you are just calling?

Although villain has a label of "maniac," he would still have to be pretty clueless to be firing into 3 players on a wetboard. At 200bb deep, it is not a spot where we could simply overbet shove, so the question is whether to raise, and if so, how much?

There is simply not enough information at the moment to consider raising at 200bb deep, and the great news is that we do have position and lots of equity.

I would call.

Call.
Bink the turn.
Take all his money when he keeps being a maniac.

Easy game.

My default strat against a maniac is to call him down with value hands occasionally bluff catch and sometimes repop them very big with draws if they are the type who know when to slow down.

Having said that, on this board multiway with decent equity and given his early posn raise I'm more inclined to call one street here. Semi bluffing into the field seems meh until we get more info.

This depends a little on the v behind us tho. I would be watching him closely. If he puts in a raise we have good relative position on the maniac and BB. In at least *some* situations I would *consider* a back raise.

Just calling allows us to better range the field caller behind and in the BB who although checked to the raiser can also still have a hand. We have no reason to believe we have fold equity at this point in the hand so I'm not semi bluffing yet.

We have position therefore calling is always better... Unless I am missing something? If we were out of position check raising would be in order given our image and history.

Obvious call is obvious. If anyone raises I would prob jam it in. Limp/raising AQ against a maniac isn't playing back, it's pure value.

People play super passive/weak against him. They check/call preflop, check/call flop, then run away when the bets get huge on turn or river.

I considered raising because he literally could have any two cards and if I win the hand here w J-high, that's a good thing. If he calls, I can at least narrow his range to having Ax, Qx, gutshot or a flush draw. If he has any piece, he will continue.

Anyway, I opted to call because of the players behind, I figured I'd try to flat and hope they come along too.

Turn ($185) Tc
V checks, Hero?

Raising on the flop with a 12 out draw is fine... Especially if you can fold out an A behind you...

Check

Grunch.

Flat. You have two players behind you and not much FE if Villain has Ax or whatever.

raise the flop

Hero calls flop.

Turn ($185) Tc.
V checks, H checks.

River ($185) As.
V checks. Take a stab or give up?

Check behind. Maniac checking here means one of two things. Either he's got nothing and decided he's not going to try to bluff with air, or he has a medium strength hand that he's looking to get to showdown cheaply with. You beat air, and he's probably not folding his medium strength hand since he's a maniac.

Check back you played it fine.

Any maniac I know isn't letting you get away with a river bet/steal with that river. Horrible river for you to try and bluff as he's probably now snap-calling with 2nd or 3rd pair.

Ask the right question...

On the Flop:

1) Is he going to fold his Ax when the flush hits?

2) Are you going broke on a T or J turn?

You said he'll fold to you if you push on him... well, now is a great time to apply some pressure. Make it $200 and take the pot now, or GII against him with lots of equity.

As played, if you don't think he'll bluff you OTR, b/f for 2/3 pot. If you think he'll through a bluff out there, then b/c the river.

That's because I didn't tell you what I did on the river yet. 😬

V checks, Hero bets $115 on the river. V tanks for 2 minutes and calls w A4.

His friend is watching and asks him what the hell he was thinking so long for? He told his friend that "that guy is good and always has me beat." I don't think he calls w Qx there based on how long he took w Ax. I think I push him off everything except Ax because of our history there so still don't know if it was good play or not. Probably should just wait for better spots and avoid unnecessary risk there.

I think I should have gotten aggressive on flop but that might be results oriented based on others folding behind me. I could have definitely pushed him off Ax earlier, but it may have taken flop raise and turn bet. Oh well. If nothing else, it helped my image. I got my money back later anyway.

1) I think he'll fold everything except Ax or 2 pair on the flop. He will fold Ax if it doesn't improve and I follow through on turn. He's not folding 2 pair. He has so much air/weak hands in his range, I regret playing to hit my hand instead of raising and forcing him to call a raise w his weak range. I would have been fine getting it in if he played back on the flop.

2) I would have went broke w the hand on the flop. Could have bombed the turn and won the hand too. I think I could have won the hand at any point up until the river if I had just been more aggressive.

As played, I had position and he checked the river. Do you bet there or check behind?

This guy isn't as crazy as he appears if he played A4 this way. Either that or he's got some clue and is playing this way specifically against you... based on his comments. Seriously though, my grandma would play A4 more aggressively than this guy.

FWIW I think you played the hand fine, although I would probably check the river... That was a value bet OTR right? Looking back and seeing that you "could have moved him off his hand" by bluffing with your whole stack is kinda irrelevant. That would be the case in the majority of hands. Sort of a hindsight is 20/20 kind of thing. I would play the hand the same way in the future.