Dumb move to leave the table...you make your money by letting them bluff their chips to you and calling thinner. No point in pushing back with aggression or leaving the table. You just walked away from money in front of him that he's ready to throw at you.

I agreed 100%. I didn't plan to stay til mid-night or pass that. I have a regular decent job. I play 2-3 night a weeks for 4 hours afterwork. At this point of my life, my job is more important that poker. I don't play it for living. I want to learn, have fun & be better at it.

Just read your sticky; great stuff. Don't think you are posting to much.

It cost $3 per orbit to fold.

If I play top 20% of hands, I'll average 2 hands per orbit that are +EV. It may take many hours for those averages to work out, but I think it is worth it.

If I call a big PF raise with low suited/connectors and know that maniac will cbet 95% of the time and I miss the flop 66% of the time and fold; I need a flop heater to come before I go broke.

When I know it will cost $20-$80 to see a flop, I'm willing to wait for good hands. I'll call off work the next day and play as long as he is on the table.

Don't call raises with suited connectors. Don't call with much of anything really unless you plan to trap someone else in the hand. You should be 3 betting him like a fiend and calling off. Suited connectors should disappear from your range. A high should be played like the nuts.

It will take hours for the averages to work out and more than likely the maniac will be gone. I'm not saying it isn't +EV, it's just not nearly the most +EV.

Good stuff here ... The best part is sitting on his right, not left ... Spike has this down pat. 3-bet to get all the dead money in the pot and play this guy HU 'in' position to bloat pots when you hit them.

We have 2 of these guys at our room. I call them 'The benefactors'

Siting in left or right depends. The deeper we are the more I want to be on the left.

Are these manics on or off their meds? Is it possible they are actually in a depressive state and not manic? That might make a difference.

Others have beat me to this but I want to emphasize that I think this is a really bad way to adjust. If you start calling his big pf raises with these, you will often be an underdog, even against a lot of garbage. You could be calling with a hand like 87s and be a slight underdog against hands like Q3 and T4.

You don't need a flush or straight to beat this opponent. You're not up against 5 opponents. Also, you're much more likely to beat this person with A high if you play a hand with an ace than you are to make a flush or straight with suited connectors. One gappers are even worse.

Cash out rather than trying to beat something you don't understand.

Quite frankly, when you don't really understand how maniacs operate, using advices that others mentioned in this thread will simply get you in deeper holes.

You'll be stuck 3 BI and wondering...god, those 2 + 2 people are ******ed.

Some of us are.

I think this is what I will trying to do next time.

1. If my stack was less than 100bb, I will try to sit on his right and jam when I got a real hand.
2. If my stack was between 100~250bb, I will still sit on his right. 3 bets heavy on some really good hands & 3 bet normal w/ good ones (if he 4 bet, I probably will call, depends on the situation or even jam) & call w/ ok high hands (like Ax, K9 or middle pairs).
3. If my stack was <250bb, I choose to sit on his right. Play my top 20%, then play accordingly. If I hit top pair or better, I will be more aggressive than usual.

What do u guys think.

Note: I think I understand why I shouldn't play low cards & gaps now.

Well, if I'm not playing on the weekends, I don't want to gamble against him. I don't want to get stuck & stay longer than I plan to. I know he will bleed his chips out eventually, but it's not guarantee I'm the one who get his stack first.

Good advice ITT. Several have told you "how" to play vs this villain. Richard makes a good point to "understand" why they've told you how. If you're not sure, don't play vs him.

btw... I dream of these villains. Yes, it can be higher variance, but very profitable.

Move to his right so you can see what other players do his beta before action gets to you and pick your spots. Depending on how deep you are will effect how you play against him. Is he an aggressive maniac or does he call light as well? Is his pfr range any two or is it like all scs ace and king rags and better? Does he tripple barrel with air a lot, how often does he fire a cbet after raising? Is he ready to double people up with any pair or just top pair or will he call a shove with two overs....etc etc

Answer these questions for yourself and I'm sure you will know what to do.

As a recovering maniac he may have some guilt issues and gets off on giving people his money at the poker tables, he might be bored with the game which might be him projecting his dissatisfaction with life through the poker table, or he might get off on dominating a table. It gets weird when players know better but play like this anyways.

Edit...Btw, it feels good that my advice somewhat matches the advice that other players gave in the thread

If you and V are both $400+ deep, then set mining for $20 pre-flop is still very +EV and lower variance. You'll almost always get flop and turn bets from V. Playing fit or fold for $20 with Ax suited is another low variance, +EV way to get some of Vs stack. You kind of have to anticipate the pf action though. You can do it for $20, but not for $60. If V is the initial raiser, then jump in. If someone else raises pf and you know Vs going to bump it to $60, then just fold.