Exploitive Play: The Maniac

Today we are publishing an essay about the play against maniacs. Playing against these opponents is not easy, but can be very profitable. This essay will show you how to play against them.

Exploitive Play: The Maniac

Introduction

"Exploitive play" means playing in a way, that gives you
information about mistakes in your opponent's play and exploiting
them. In this column we would like to mention the
play against maniacs. You will learn
how to prepare your own play for such an opponent.

The Maniac

You can find him at NL5 as likely as at NL100: The Maniac. His
appearance is very characteristical, thus is easy to identify: He plays
very loosely and is involved in many pots.
Nevertheless maniacs are very aggressive in contrast to a calling
station. They prefer bets, raises and reraises to be their weapons.
While very few players act as a maniac preflop or at the flop “where
bets are rather low“ and play about big pots with good hands, most
of the maniacs at a table are just donkeys (or a mad professional
hand judges, who want to test at a low limit, who is the biggest
luckbox
).

Mistakes by the maniacs

At first sight a maniac has got big leaks: he plays too many hands too
aggressively. But this kind of play also contains certain advantages:
we can rarely put a maniac on a tight range and he puts a lot of
pressure on his opponents, hence, he wins many pots without having to
see a showdown.

Anyway these two leaks can be considered to be a maniac's weaknesses:
due to his loose play he barely holds a made hand at the flop. He often
has to cope with marginal hands like a middle pair, a weak draw as well
as top pair no kicker. Thus he has got similar problems to the ones of
a calling station: he sees to many hands at the showdown dominating him.

The second problem is the maniac's high aggressivenes. On the one
hand he has to operate with continuation bets, otherwise he would have to play
check/fold at the flop too often. On the other hand he will be called
frequently, because other players recognize his aggressiveness and
don't believe him to have a monster. As a result the maniac tries 2-
or 3-barrel bluffs and risks a big part of his stack with marginal
hands or even pure bluffs.

Exploitive play against maniacs

You should avoid playing marginal hands against maniacs. Sometimes you
have no other choice than playing marginal hands, but due to the
charateristic play of this kind of player we would prefer premium hands or
hands we can evaluate very well at the flop.

Let's take a look at some examples.

Example:

0,05/0,10 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A
, J
; Maniac is at BU
6 folds, Hero raises 0,40, BU re-raises 1,20$, 2 folds, Hero ???

Although "concerning the equity" we are in front, we should fold in
this situation. We don't want to 4-bet preflop with AJo. A call
isn't very appropriate either, because we only hit the board in one
third of the cases and the maniac will surely put pressure on us.
Furthermore we will only get a weak made hand if we hit the board. This
is why folding and waiting for a better spot should be better.

0,05/0,10 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 2
, 2
; Maniac is at MP3
5 folds, MP3 raises 0,50, Hero ???

The maniac open-raises in this situation, which can mean nearly
everything. Due to the aggressive play we got high implied odds and we
can undoubtedly call for set value, which should be the best
option here. I would partially 3-bet against different types of
opponents, but this should be avoided against maniacs: we've got low
fold equity and are building a big pot with a marginal hand. Our 3-bet
is not profitable because the maniac runs us away from the pot too
often.

Let's assume we call in this hand, the other opponents fold.

Flop 1:

Flop: ($1,15) A
, 8
, 6
(2 players)
MP3 bets 1,00, Hero ???

This is an easy fold. Due to the fact that the maniac likely goes for a
second barrel, we shouldn't even think about floating him (i.e.
calling the bet at the flop and bet the turn if he checks). This is not
profitable against such a player.

Flop 2:

Flop: ($1,15) A
, 8
, 2
(2 players)
MP3 bets 1,00, Hero ???

We hit our set and are way ahead. Now we want to extract as much value
as possible out of this situation. The board isn't dangerous at all
and we can call easily in order to make the maniac bet again. A raise
by us could eventually be folded by the maniac because he didn't hit
anything. Playing passively, which means just calling, eventually
appeals him to bet the turn and even the river without any hand.

Flop 3:

Flop: ($1,15) 5
, 3
, 4
(2 players)
MP3 bets 1,00, Hero ???

We've got a pair, which is *possibly* good and an OESD. There is a
problem with this hand; we often have to lay it down even if we've
got potentially the best hand: we don't want to risk our stack with
22. But we still have 8 outs and have to allow for some value if we get
the straight. According to this I would call a bet and evaluate again on the turn.

A further example should reveal that you have to call more loosely against maniacs sometimes:

0,05/0,10 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BU with Q
, J
; Maniac is at BB
7 folds, Hero raises 0,40$, 1 folds, BB calls 0,30$

Flop: ($0,95) Q
, J
, 4
(2 players)
BB bets $0,70, Hero ???

We've got top 2 pair and are definitely ahead. We should raise in
order to protect against flush- or straightdraws. Let's assume the
hand continues like this:

BB bets $0,70, Hero raises $2,80, BB calls $2,10

Turn: ($6,55) 2
(2 players)
BB bets $6,80 (all-in), Hero ???

A possible flush appears and we would have to fold against a passive
player, but 2 pair often is sufficient against a maniac. Additionally
we've got outs against the flush wit our J. Despite the fact that
we would prefer a very strong hand, you cannot simply fold in this case:
we are still in front of a maniac's range, thus we have to call.

Conclusion

Playing against maniacs is often not easy: it happens frequently that
we don't hit the board or just hold a marginal hand we don't want
to risk our stack with. So we want to adapt our play adequately: we
have to wait for the right hands against this type of players, which
are basically QQ+ or hands, which can become very strong with the flop
or you can fold easily (e.g. small pocket pairs). Moreover you can play
suited connectors in position, if there are enough players in the hand. It is also easy to estimate at the flop, whether you should stay in
the hand or not.
The biggest mistake to be made against a maniac is to join his
behaviour. Sometimes you will notice people, holding hands as 55 for
example, who answer a reraise by a maniac with an all-in-push (and are
called of course) You mostly don't get more than a coinflip here.
It is better to stay patient: the maniac normally pays us off, if
we've got a very strong hand, thus we don't have to risk stacks
with marginal hands. But it's still very important, not to be
intimidated by raises or bets, if we've got hands, which usually give
us an advantage (such as two pairs), but to play them until the very
end. Although the maniac will show us a set at the showdown every now
and then, we will win the pot most of the times because the maniac bets
with a one pair hand in all of the three cases.

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» Exploitive play: The maniac