A couple of nights ago we were playing a 7-handed 1/3 game (biggest at the casino), when out of nowhere one guy (nobody has ever seen him before) appeared and sat down with a max buy-in and started raising every hand, winning huge pots and/or getting felted a couple of times and re-buying. About an hour later (around midnight) a second guy (dealers seemed to recognize him) appeared and also bought in max, and the game became 9-handed. Except that it wasn't...

The two LAGs got into a war every hand, that soon the rest of the table tightened up and were mere spectators. Preflop raises and reraises with 92o, and J7o, big huge bets on every street, call down a pair of deuces which were good, etc. Only one LAG seemed to be winning most of the pots. The second guy was just losing, losing, losing, to the first guy, until he made a lot of his money back from other players at the table. I was folding every hand until I got AA, which I limped with UTG (I usually hate limping with AA, people who limp with AA, and especially ones who limp with AA UTG) and let the 2 LAGs bet and raise the flop over which I shoved at which point they both called and tripled me up.

Could this possibly be collusion?
Are these pros who have history against each other and was this above board?
Is this just how GTO play happens at higher stakes and they just descended on our table because it was the biggest game?

You have just described 2 maniacs that you played extremely well against.

I've been at similar tables, and these are the best, but highest variance tables. Once you feel out the range that the two are playing, you construct a set of hands you are willing to play for stacks with and then stick to that script.

You will often win a lot of money, but if you run bad or just happen to catch their good hands, once in awhile you do get busted here.

This is definitely not GTO play or collusion, as they are taking each other's money. They are also not pro's because contrary to that one hand they air on TV, real pro's don't often go postal with garbage. This is just two guys gambling it up, which is awesome for you for the exact reasons you described.

My advice: Play the same time same day next week and hope to see them again.

The way you played AA was great, but you don't need to sit there and wait for the nuts. This COTM should be helpful:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...niacs-1514764/

If it's collusion, they're not doing it right.

Great, thanks for the responses @starpoker and @Jay S thank you also for the link to the COTM which is indeed very helpful.

Yes, I was a wuss, hence I was waiting for big pocket pairs. Also a bad nit, because after tripling up with AA, I got scared that I'd go busto and 3 bet KK twice, and QQ twice to which I got them both to fold preflop having put $15 in the pot (who knew?) instead of limp shoving again. (I suppose I should be happy about the $60 in free money I picked up that way!)

The other players at the table were all calling (never 3!, I told them as much when they started talking at the table once LAG2 left, and after a half an hour of getting bored LAG1 also left) and winning small pots or losing big huge pots and stacks when the LAGs actually had weird 2pair hands.

The reason I was worried about collusion was because LAG1 bought in for ~$1000 and left with $3500 while LAG2 bought in for ~$2000 and left with $900, and while a good chunk of LAG1s money came from LAG2, together they took ~$1400 of the money already on the table from the calling stations. Who's to say LAG2 wasn't LAG1's buddy who was visiting him for the weekend?

But yes, after this has happened at many a table, I agree that it is more likely that they were maniacs gambling it up.

Played in a similar situation last week, the time I got AA the maniac cracked them with 22 after we were all in preflop for $1300 haha, but I ended up taking most of it back later.

I'm willing to just shove in big 3 bets with AJ+, 99+ vs guys if they will call them with literally any 2 cards. I see so many missed opportunities to stack these types from other players at the table who just want to see a cheap flop with their QQ to make sure there are no overs before they try to make their move. Preflop is where you really put bring the pain to maniacs, just gotta put your fear aside.

Note that when you're limping to reraise, be wary of other players you perceive as being decent-strong players limping in behind you/in front of you as well.

Totally agree, but super hard to do when you're trying to build a bankroll to really play effectively. I was scared to death, and you can't really play poker like that. This is where these guys, maniacs as they might be, really have the advantage over the rest of the table that are unwilling to 3-bet them wide. So much respect to them.

My limp did induce four callers, and I was annoyed as hell in my mind that I was going to see a flop seven-ways with AA UTG. Thankfully all four of them were fit/fold and folded when LAG1 led out on the flop with a huge bet.

Probably just a couple guys that normally play much bigger stakes. If you are scared to play big pots with somewhat marginal holdings, that does play into their favor.

I would just simply play exactly the way you played: very tight, limping in with monsters, and doubling/tripling up if our hand holds after we check/raise to setup trivial stackoff SPRs. We could perhaps open up our range a little more from "very tight" but this will be a real rollercoaster; make sure you can mentally handle what will be huge swings, otherwise just play uber tight. Once I double up and become a deeper stack, I'd likely table change unless you are super comfortable playing deep in these conditions (short is trivially easy, deep not so much).

GcluelesstwomaniacsnoobG

Sounds like a DREAM game to me, and sounds like you played it perfectly. Glad your aces held up. I would not leave the table until both of them are gone and I 100% would chat it up with them to try and make "friends," so that it is more likely they will want to play with you again should you meet up in the card room next time.