Villain is an older 50 year old gentleman. He play poker as a stress relief. He is definitely a recreation player. He plays to take a break from his sick wife that he takes care of.

Villain play in every pot. His vp$ip has to be in the 80%. He a high variance rollercoaster every session. He call every hand and will not lay down any kind of draw. He has no fear factor in him.

Read on villain is he will bet real big when he hits his draw. But sometimes will bet big too on his occasional bluff. But if board is draw heavy and he is still in the pot then he defiantly drawing.

But his preflop tendency is crazy. Here is a hand I played with him the other night.

9 handed game 1/2 nl hold em

Hero ($700)
Villain1 ($215)
V2($48)

Hero dealt QQ utg+2
V1 is utg+3
V2 is btn

Btn Mississippi straddle for $5
Sb calls, bb calls utg folds, Hero opens to $20, V1 calls and Mp calls and everyone folds to button and then V2 goes all in for $48, ands folds back to hero. I decided to isolate and so I raise to $200. Villain 1 calls n Mp folds.

V1 Ad9s
V2 99
Hero QQ

Boards runs out and V1 spikes an ace.

V1 will stack off preflop with marginals hands like all Broadway hands especially if he is already stuck in the game.

So my question is how do I play against this player?

I figured to bet my nut hands and lead hands for big value. But pf is another story. Villain will play a high variance against anyone and is very unpredictable. We defiantly xan not bluff villain

Would like to hear someone insight on this

Would you have posted this if you won the hand?

Yes because I am not asking how to play the hand because I know I played it right. I was giving example on how the villain plays.

I wondering on what is tge best strategy to place against this player?

You got it right in the op. If he is truly a maniac fish try to get a seat on his right. Play tight and let the table react to his aggresive plays and punish with value hands to target all the dead money in the pot. If you are heads up let him do your value betting for you and don't chase him out when you make a hand

Seat on his immediate left if possible. You want to act after him. This one change can completely alter your session.

Is this a trick question or something? Valuetown the ever-loving crap out of him, and make peace with the variance that's involved.

Edit: the example & description do not make this guy sound like a maniac. They make him sound ridiculously loose. Maniacs bet and raise; they don't take call/call/call lines.

Should I keep the pot small if I know he is drawing? Because he has no regards to pot odds..and u can not bet him out

You got the money in as a substantial favorite, I dont know what else you want.

just change your range in every spot to be a large merged value range. read up on what a merged value range is if you need to.

just dont widen so much that other players give you trouble. go for as thin value as you can without spewing yourself

the opposite, bet more cuz you are ahead. just pot it

you played it fine. don't keep the pot small vs him bc your afraid hell hit. bet bigger for value vs him with a wider range and embrace the variance. when you play vs players like this expect your results to have bigger swings. if you cant handle them find a new table that's tighter, but imo this is exactly what you want id want to play vs him everyday for the rest of my life. punish him with PSB all day! id try and pick up tells off of him asap so id have a better feel for when hes hit or miss for times when a scare card rolls off on the turn or river.

Thanks, this is good advice and I figured this is what the best strategy out there. I just want to see if there any other options I have against a player like this

This questions sheds light on some problems in your thought process.

Why would you want to bet him out when he has a draw??

You pretty much asked : "Should I keep the pot small when I know I have the best hand because this villain doesn't care about pot odds and I know he will call any bet?"


Against this villain you can not only make the pot big, but happily shove all your chips in the middle and fist-pump when he calls with a draw!

It does not matter if he hits his draw this hand, or next hand, or the next 10 hands. Don't get caught up in winning or losing the pot, it makes you have a scared mentality. That's the only reason you would want to keep the pot small when you know you have the best hand and he'll call with worse.

If you're worried about single pots, maybe your bankroll is much too small.
He is pretty much the easiest villains to play poker against. Good players will not allow you to take their chips easily.