We are playing a live 1/2 NLh game at a excalibur casino in Las Vegas.
We got to table and bought in for $150. $200 was about the average on the table. One guy tho is opening every hand. So we decide to take the seat open directly to his right so that we can limp and see what he does and everyone else at the table is going to do. We decide to also add $100 on to our stack to cover maniac.

OTTH

Hero in Late position with AKo.
Folds to the guy to right of villian who opens to $20 with around $65 behind.
Hero next to act flats the $20.
Maniac villian to our left 3B to $60. (As we said, opening every hand.)
Hero knew villian was just trying to isolate the short stack and push hero out.

What would you do at this point when it gets to hero and guy to his right sticks in his remainder of chips.

So we have three options.

1. Flat the $60
2. Fold
3. Shove all in over the top for $220 effective

Jamming and feeling pretty good about it.

Shove. In general 3 bet this guy a ton to isolate him, then just play like a calling station when you have a pair. Some maniacs raise anything pre but don't 3 bet that much so be careful 4 betting weaker hands like 99 or AQo but AKo is certainly good enough to shove here.

Depends on how he responds to being 3b

In general you can widen your preflight calling range.

Post flop depends a lot on how he plays post. Some guys are super loose preflop but slow down considerably postflop

As played I’m probably calling. Without info on how he plays against a 3b I can’t intelligent suggest flat/shove


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Yeah "it depends" is always the right answer...BUT IME guys opening 100% like to bluff a lot post flop. And if our 3 bets result in getting 4 bet...well that's fine as long as we isolate him because we can 3 bet hands like 88 and AT and KQ and happily GII if he is 4 betting a ton. If he tends to flat (more common IME) then we can go to the station plan.

It's pretty easy to tell if he bluffs post flop. If he bets ridiculously often he is usually bluffing. And since his PFR is freaking 100 it will take all of 15 minutes to get an idea how often he is betting. And IME...the maniacs who like to bluff post tend to do it absurdly often. Most I've encountered bet literally every time you check. If we show strength and bet or raise they may fold but station mode is the maniacs nightmare.

Bonus points if you can differentiate when he's bluffing from when he has a hand. Maniacs are generally terrible players but in low stakes games they tend to be virtual ATMs. More often than not I pick up a tell for when the maniac is strong. It's relatively easy because since they bluff so much it doesn't take long to correlate their behavior to hands shown. Most common post flop pattern I've seen with maniacs is fast, reflexive betting and raising when weak and slower, more considered betting when strong. Also they often throw the chips more forcefully when bluffing. And the more serious they look the more likely they're strong. Note these are just some common patterns make sure to actually observe them before you start heroing triple barrels with K high...

Can't see why you would want to do anything other than shove.
If he wants to fold and give you a free $60 in your pot vs the shortstack that's awesome.
If he wants to call with something like AT that's also awesome.

gii

Shove. Who cares if he folds? It’s AK, not AA. Winning what’s aready in the pot is an optimal result.

In general we want LAGS on our right and NITs or tight players on our left, you can't fold here given dynamic , completely ok with ripping this in , idk if u have any FE , if u do even better

I think OP got this one OK though. A guy opening 100% on your left is good because you effectively close the action every time he makes a move. It gives you a lot of power preflop to squeeze the overcallers with the top of your range.

Yes I think this is called having relative position

I like having maniacs on my left because they are so predictable. We can use them to raise for us when we have a hand by just limping or flatting. Postflop we just x/c. Also where I play there is a MS straddle and maniacs often straddle every hand, so having one on the left makes me second last to act or better almost always.

I am jealous of your game.

grip n ship

Two things. First shove. Second, perhaps see a psychologist about multiple personality disorder.

You want a LAG on your right. You want a maniac, which is what this guy is, on your left for the reasons Shai and OP gave.

100% stick it in preflop when it gets back to you. Im fine if he folds or if he calls.

Maniac Snap calls AI.

Says I know you got AK.

Board runs 67869

Maniac: 55

You have 2 choices when playing with a maniac like this.

Choice 1) Be willing to stick it all in the middle in spots like this where you are most likely
a) coin flip vs pocket pair QQ or lower
b) 70% favorite vs smaller Ace
c) 60% favorite vs random hands
d) every once in a while you'll be dominated by AA/KK

All the better when you have another $60 in dead money in the pot like this.

Choice 2)...Change tables

I love when fish "put you on AK" for absolutely no reason. They just decide that's what you have because it allows them to call with 55 or whatever. Or call down post flop any pair on a Q high it lower board.

I always chuckle when people randomly divine my hand (usually incorrectly, but either way).

Anyway if he's getting it in with 55 he likely does so with A9s, ATo, KQo, JTs, and a host of other hands where we are 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 favorites. Sucks you lost but theres no mistake here.

Shove not close

Well played.

In the future, you're going to jam TT+ for value against him and get the easiest double up of your life.

He can go way wider than TT+...

Good to hear from everyone that I made the right decision to GII.

What do you think of flatting the twenty from the guy to my right knowing the maniac on my left will re raise with a lot of dominated hands?

I feel like if I had made a big raise over the $20, maniac would have been quite suspicious. But probably get it in anyway.

So we all agreed getting it in is the best option. Was flatting and shoving over the top a correct play?

shoving here

Feel pretty good about shoving here, I would want to be on this maniac's left if possible, 3b him loads and iso him preflop.