How to beat The Maniac?

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shinmenkami said:
So how do you explain what happened just now? I was in the button with 2 pairs on the flop, betted 2/3 on flop and full pot on turn bringing the maniac down to 1/4 of his stack. Turn out he had 4 outs and found the straight draw on the river.

I believe i played right but i still lost because the villain is a madman.

God i hate freerolls
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The first thing I'll say is that the right game and freerolls can't go together 🙂 You must understand that 🙂 The second thing is that I do not know how you played preflop, maybe you made a mistake there. It is very difficult to keep a maniac out of the game, and it is almost impossible to knock him out when he sees the flop and he has at least 1% success rate... Therefore, the main game against the maniac is based on preflop. Or you should give him the table and throw away the cards on the turn or flop, if you see that the river can kill you... It is difficult, but sometimes it can save your chips and participation in the tournament...
 
Badday94 said:
The worst thing is having a maniac at the table when you're short stacked and slowly getting swollen by BB. Other than that, I love maniacs since all I have to do is be patient and strike with precision. Don't get frustrated and wait for your time, it will come.
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They are not 'maniacs'. Usually they have enough high stack to steal with any hand, even 80% of their hand is good for an allin call against any hand, if the rest players are short stack, even if few not. They are the ones whose end up on FT more often than the average, and the money is on the FT... especially, you described an ITM situation, at least most of the time it happens in ITM or ITM bubble...

Pretty basic, odds count, and if you are in the money what else target you have like reaching FT with an average+ stack, that's rarely happens waiting for monster hands....
 
The maniac is particularly prone to any kind of bluffinduces. He likes to bluff, so give him the chance. If there's one type of player who slowplay makes sense, it's against him. Reduce your demands on a good hand. Your opponent is bluffing a lot and otherwise weak hands become the nuts. The concept of relative hand strength applies here. Against a maniac you can go broke preflop in steals situations with 99+ and AQ +, post-flop with top pair topkicker. Be consistent. Either you fold directly or call until the showdown. Own bluffs don't work against maniacs.The fluctuation in your win rate is huge against a maniac. Keep in mind that in the long run you will win against him. You have to accept the fluctuations.
 
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shinmenkami said:
The Maniac shoves with Ace high and find a nut flush on the river.
The Maniac raises UDG with 82o and find a set on the flop.
When the maniac is about to lose he finds a table straight and chops the pot.
How to beat such a entity as The Maniac?
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understand, thanks that there are such players and poker has not died because of such maniacs! if you really do not know how to win with them, poker is not yours!
 
The short answer is you let the maniac hang himself by bluffing into you. You don't try to bluff them!

My latest video is all about how to crush a maniac 🙂

 
if he likes to be aggressive with a strong hand like the check-call bet line, naturally depends on the board and dynamics. Well, in general, there is no point in bluffing it without equity - there is no, only with a strong draw. It is difficult to suggest anything else without knowing the exact information.
 
Nathan Williams said:
The short answer is you let the maniac hang himself by bluffing into you. You don't try to bluff them!

My latest video is all about how to crush a maniac 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgKF_gDt7-g
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I was kind of dissapointed, when I watched this video Nathan. I was looking forward to see another bad beat from 2NL or 5NL, and then you posted something totally different 😛
 
I play with maniacs. If I have a good hand I JAM on maniacs and 80% of them will call.
 
I think you just make a note of the fact that he might play aggressively preflop with a wider range than most people and stop folding so much.
 
shinmenkami said:
The Maniac shoves with Ace high and find a nut flush on the river.
The Maniac raises UDG with 82o and find a set on the flop.
When the maniac is about to lose he finds a table straight and chops the pot.

How to beat such a entity as The Maniac?
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Play good solid poker. Players like this will hand you over chips. No need to get out of line just because this player is getting out of line themselves. Let them hang themselves when you have a strong holding, raise them whenever you have the nuts, and largely value bet all your strong holdings they are not betting for you. They will beat you sometimes but it doesn't matter -- good poker will always smash players like this in the long run of things.

Edit:: Oh!! And NEVER bluff players like this, they're not much into folding so it generally doesn't work out.
 
We have a maniac at our home game that plays foolish but gets 60% of the chips in play in the first hour! The only way to beat him is to stick to your own style and let him beat himself! I have played with said maniac for several years and 90% of the time he beats himself. Playing with him for so many years I know many tells he gives off and he doesn't even realize it. He likes to talk crazy when he plays and gives his strength or weakness away. even with a monster hand I let him try to buy the pot and he never disappoints! He does make it to the money once in a great while but never consistently.😀😀
 
shinmenkami said:
The Maniac shoves with Ace high and find a nut flush on the river.
The Maniac raises UDG with 82o and find a set on the flop.
When the maniac is about to lose he finds a table straight and chops the pot.

How to beat such a entity as The Maniac?
Click to expand...


Patiently wait for a strong hand and punish the scumbag for rudeness 🙂
 
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