Tonight's session features one of my favorite types of opponents to play against when you have position: The maniac. This is the type of player who players 80% or more of his hands, and 50% or more of those are for raises. I have to admit I only did a mediocre job. I wasn't aggressive enough postflop.
Hand #1:
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Ad, Td.
UTG raises, 3 folds, Hero 3-bets, UTG caps, Hero calls.
Flop: (8.40 SB) 3c, Kd, 7d (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, Hero calls.
Turn: (5.20 BB) 4h (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, Hero calls.
River: (7.20 BB) 4s (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 9.20 BB
Now in general, ATs is a 3-betting hand in my book. Against this player, I would go significantly lower. How low? A2s seems pretty good to me. And I'm willing to simply check-call to the end unimproved out of position. He bets 100% of the time when checked to, especially if he has the lead. I lost in this hand to KJo. Loss of 4.5 BB. That's how it goes.
Hand #2:
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is Button with Kd, Qd.
1 fold, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BB calls, MP caps, Hero calls, BB calls.
Flop: (12.40 SB) 5d, Qs, As (3 players)
BB checks, MP bets, Hero calls, BB calls.
Turn: (7.70 BB) 4c (3 players)
BB checks, MP bets, Hero calls, BB calls.
River: (10.70 BB) 8h (3 players)
BB checks, MP bets, Hero calls, BB calls.
Final Pot: 13.70 BB
This was a more interesting hand because of the presence of the third player. Everybody is going to adjust to the maniac. Not everyone knows how to adjust. You raise more preflop to isolate when you can, and you call down more often with your mediocre hands, and you try to extract as much value as possible postflop with your made hands (top pair and above). This particular player seemed to be doing okay. I was more worried about being behind him than I was the maniac.
The seat to the left of the maniac is best because it gives you the first shot at his money, but what it also means is that you're going to have to make tougher decisions in multiway pots. In this case, my hand is strong enough to call and hope I beat the other player. The ace is very worrisome because lots of the hands that would call a 3-bet from the big blind contain aces. The rest of the range is something like pocket pairs and broadway (though I wouldn't generally recommend calling with the weaker offsuit broadway). We both lost in this hand to 54s. Another 4.5 BB gone.
Hand #3:
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is CO with Qh, Tc.
1 fold, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, 3 folds, MP caps, Hero calls.
Flop: (9.40 SB) 5s, Ad, Ks (2 players)
MP bets, Hero calls.
Turn: (5.70 BB) 2s (2 players)
MP bets, Hero calls.
River: (7.70 BB) Td (2 players)
MP bets, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 9.70 BB
QTo looks like a weak hand, and it is. But against a player who is raising nearly 70% of his hands, it stands up quite well because I very often have two overcards to his hand, and even when I don't I have two overcards to his bottom card. Given position as well, this is worth playing. Postflop is a little more dicey in this case. I'm not quite as comfortable going to the end with Q-high as I am with A-high. On this board, given my draw, I would make a sort of "game-theoretic" calldown unimproved (because I do beat enough bluffs). I'll often lose to some random pair and sometimes I'll lose to a stronger hand, but that's how it goes. In this case, the river ten saved me from his 66. 4.5 BB coming my way.
Hand #4:
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is CO with 9c, Qc.
1 fold, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, 3 folds, MP calls.
Flop: (7.40 SB) 7d, 9s, Tc (2 players)
MP bets, Hero calls.
Turn: (4.70 BB) 6d (2 players)
MP bets, Hero calls.
River: (6.70 BB) Ah (2 players)
MP bets, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 8.70 BB
Even though QTo is a hand I'm willing to play and Q9s is somewhat better than QTo, I don't think I would go much below Q8s. The reason is that the suitedness does not significantly help your hand. You will sometimes flop flush draws that you'll be forced to chase (and miss 65% of the time). So I'm really looking for hands that can help me get to showdown. This also means that hands like 98s also go down in value.
I lost to T5o. 4 BB going his way.
Hand #5:
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9d, 9s.
Hero raises, 4 folds, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.
Flop: (6.40 SB) Th, 9h, 6c (2 players)
BB bets, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, Hero calls.
Turn: (6.20 BB) 5h (2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.
River: (8.20 BB) Kd (2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 10.20 BB
This hand is more interesting because I'm the first one to raise the pot. 99 would often be a value capping hand, but in this case, I simply call the 3-bet. The reason is that I'm already thinking about getting to showdown, and I would much rather have him take the lead and bet whatever garbage he has instead of trying to take his initiative away and be stuck with the question of whether to value bet. Also, if I cap and he still leads into me, this is more often a value bet than a pure bluff.
At this point, I had enough information to put in another raise on the turn and still call down. My failure to do so cost me at least 1 BB, but more likely 2 BB. One psychological aspect of playing a maniac is that you hate to put in extra bets with the worst hand and reward him for his screwy play. You don't mind calling down, but you hate when he gets in a value raise on you and you're still calling down. I would raise this turn almost all the time against a regular player, so why not do it with a very aggressive player? It's all in my head.
I won this one against KQo. I win 5 BB. Notice that I win more than I lose. This is one of the key elements of playing against a maniac. You will get more wins than losses because you're more selective. But when you win, you must make sure that you win at least as much (if not more) than you lose when you have a strong hand than when you have a weak hand.
Hand #6:
PokerStars 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (6 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: HTML)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with 5d, 5h.
Hero raises, 2 folds, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls.
Flop: (6.40 SB) Qs, 7d, 2h (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, Button folds, BB calls.
Turn: (4.20 BB) 3c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.
River: (6.20 BB) 2c (2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 8.20 BB
This was somewhat earlier in the session. I already knew he was a maniac, but the rest of the table didn't know me. Their HUD stats were pretty tight, and I was taking advantage of that by raising this hand to try to get heads up with the maniac. It worked. This is a bad play in a setting where players are too willing to see flops with the maniac. You won't get the isolation and you won't be in good shape with your small pair.
This was one of the few hands where the maniac was on the passive side. I'm not sure why. There is no reason on the river donk to think he has trip 2s. However, what this means is that he is often bluffing and will not call if I raise. But he might 3-bet if I raise, and I don't want to put in 3 bets on the river with my tiny pair. So the call on the end is standard. Another line to take is to value check the turn and call a river bet blindly.
There were a few other hands, but they were all pretty straight-forward. I think these are the more interesting ones.
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