Opponent Profiles: The Maniac
Introduction
In this article
- Position is everything
- There is no sense in bluffing. Let strong hands look like bluffs
- Be careful: Maniacs can make you forget your A game
A maniac is the extreme loose aggressive player. Not only does he play a lot of hands, he plays them with extreme aggression. He fights for every pot and his main concern is winning as many pots as possible. He loves to bluff and hates being bluffed.
His presence at the table often leads to players playing for much larger pots than they normally would. The pressure he creates with his maniacal aggression makes him an uncomfortable opponent, not only for beginners. But playing against a maniac can be very profitable when you know how to play against him. And that's exactly what this article will be about.
What is a maniac and how can you recognize one?
Maniacs like to punish weakness. As soon as they think they sense weakness in their opposition, they try to put the pressure on. If you give him the chance to take over the game and push his opponent around, he will try to do so. In general, a maniac's stats will look something like:
- PFR: 25%+
- AF: 4.0+
You can also spot a maniac without the help of Elephant stats. He plays a lot of hands, and he plays them very aggressively. He bluffs a lot and is sometimes proud to show his worthless hand after succeeding in forcing an opponent out of the hand. He may even try to provoke opponents with his chit chat.
Why do maniacs play this way?
Maniacs don't pay much attention to hand ranges and board structure. He basically only knows one concept: If your cards can't win the pot, aggression can.
And he takes this to the max. He's probably seen some big bluffs on TV and is dying to be the cool guy.
You can spot a maniac off the table by his social behavior. He loves standing at the center of attention and taking the initiative.
As a poker player, he is the type who doesn't really care about the money and uses it to put constant pressure on his opponents. He sees every player at the table as his own personal enemy and would love to win every pot against every opponent. The result: Every time he plays for a pot, he gives himself the chance to win the pot with a weaker hand without seeing the showdown.
The characteristics of a maniac
Just like with all the other player types, there is not only one kind of maniac. In fact, one maniac's style is often quite different from an other's. It's important to understand these differences in order to adapt your game accordingly when you have are playing against a maniac.
How does a maniac decide how much to bet? Does he vary his bet sizes? Does he make smaller bets/raises when he has a strong hand? Does he overbet his monsters to make it look like a bluff? Is he using minraises or limp/minraises to keep his play intransparent?
The tiny variations in bet sizes help you get a read on a maniac and put him on a hand range despite his permanent show of aggression.
How does the maniac play in 3-bet pots? Does he 3-bet pre-flop often and making big contibets on nearly every flop? Or does he suddenly start playing passively as soon as he finds himself in a 3-bet pot?
The more aggressive his contibets in 3-bet pots, the lighter you can re-raise and the more willing you can be to go broke on the flop. Now, when we say lighter re-raises and a willingness to go broke on the flop, we don't mean start 3-betting with T9s pre-flop and bet/pushing on a AQTr flop. You should only get involved in 3-bet pots with strong starting hands when facing such a maniac!
If the maniac tends to suddenly play passively when in a 3-bet pot, or even folds a lot of his hands to a 3-bet, you can take advantage of this and play in more 3-bet pots when you have position on him.
How willing is he to go broke before the flop? How often does he raise a contibet? How often does he bluff on a scare card on the river? How often does he try to put the pressure on with an extra dose of aggression on draw heavy boards?
As you can see, you can also create a profile of individual maniacs by observing his play over time. Once you've identified his weaknesses, you can start exploiting his play.
What is the best way to play against a maniac?
From a psychological standpoint, you should not let the maniac intimidate you. This could happen to you if, for example, you just moved up a limit, if you are practicing aggressive bankroll management, if you have scared money or if you simply have a tough time making the right decision when confronted with the kind of aggression maniacs display.
If this applies to you, you should simply avoid playing at tables with maniacs. They can be very profitable opponents, but if you don't know how to adapt your game correctly you might end up being his profitable opponent.
When you play with a maniac, the game can get pretty swingy. You can't let yourself go on tilt. You will have to fold more often on later streets. And loose players who see more flops than tight players will suck out and win on bad beats from time to time, which can be difficult to digest, especially since you will often be playing for a big pot.
When you play against a maniac, being able to control the pot (with respect to your hand strength) is even more important. It follows that being in position is of an even greater advantage when you are facing a maniac.
You have three options when a maniac raises in front of you: fold, call, re-raise. You should fold all hands that have little high card value, weak implied odds or that offer little deception. These are hands that are not very profitable, neither heads up without initiative against a maniac or in a multiway pot (KTo, for example).
You should cold call with hands that have high implied odds or that offer deception. Cold calling often leads to multiway pots, since the other players are more inclined to make looser calls after another player calls a maniac's raise.
You should only re-raise with very strong hands. Of course, 'strong' is a relative term. Being ahead against your opponent's range is often enough. And since he raises with a lot of hands pre-flop, you can often re-raise with a hand you would otherwise have folded.
0.50/1.00 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
CO $100.00
Hero $100.00
Pre-flop: Hero is BU with A
J
2 folds, CO raises to $4.00, Hero raises to $14.00
By re-raising you create a situation in which you can win the pot pre-flop or play heads up in position with a relatively strong hand.
You would fold if a tight opponent had raised in this situation, but you can re-raise when facing a maniac, which has another advantage: Other, stronger hands behind you (like AQ, 99, TT, JJ) are more likely to fold. The blinds will fold very often not knowing how weak your hand really is. They are also caught between you and the maniac and know he might decide to raise again before seeing the flop.
Being out of position can be a very uncomfortable venture since you have fewer options after the flop. You won't be able to take free cards and will have to fold to your opponent's aggression more often. You may also be confronted with quite a few pre-flop 3-bets. You should be aware of this when deciding how to play your hand before the flop. If your opponent tends to 3-bet very often, you can try to create profitable situations to 4-bet for value by making tighter open raises.
It's very important that you adapt your game according to the maniac's aggression. This means playing more passively in general and with even more aggression in certain spots. You have to change the way you look at your hand in relation to the board structure. You can use a lot of good top pairs and middle pairs as bluff catchers. This is the best way to exploit his aggression and get the most value for these hands.
You can also get your money in on the flop when you have a very strong draw with a lot of equity. You can generate a lot of fold equity and have decent chances of winning the showdown if he puts his stack in, too.
When facing a maniac, it is very important to understand the concepts of pot control and maximizing value and apply them to your game.
How should you play heads up against a maniac?
There are three things you need when you are heads up with a maniac: patience, tilt resistance, and balls.
Patience and a resistance to tilt are self-explanatory. You have to wait for the right spots and can't let yourself be tempted to semi-bluff or make a loose call with a medium strong hand.
A good spot is all you really need to win a maniac's stack when he has decided to bluff you out of the hand. Having the patience to wait for this spot goes hand in hand with staying off tilt. Sometimes you have to wait a long time for the right spot and then it still doesn't work out - you can't let this put you on tilt.
You can't try to win "your" money back and start a feud with a maniac. Once you start taking it personal you will not be playing your A game and will not be playing as profitably as you could be.
The maniac wants to intimidate you and make you afraid to make the right decision. It takes balls to stand up to him follow you read and call down with 2nd pair or to make a move on the board.
In general, you should slow down and wait for the maniac to make mistakes, or even to provoke him into making a mistake. There are two ways to exploit his aggression: You let him bluff, or you play aggressively and put him in a tough spot.
0.50/1.00 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $100.00
BU $100.00
Pre-flop: Hero is UTG with A A
Hero raises to $4.00, 2 folds, BU calls $4.00, 2 folds
Flop: ($9.50) Q
J 4
(2 players)
Hero bets $8.00, BU raises to $30.00, Hero reraises to $96.00 (All-In), BU calls $66.00 (All-In)
Turn: ($201.50) 2
River: ($201.50) 5
BU shows KT and wins.
Even though you ended up losing to a runner runner flush draw, you hade a very big advantage in equity on the flop. You were ahead with 73% on the flop and won quite a bit of money from a long-term point of view. You can't let the fact that the maniac got lucky and won this one influence your game.
0.50/1.00 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Stacks
Hero $100.00
BB $100.00
Pre-flop: Hero is BU with T K
3 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, SB folds, BB calls $3.00.
Flop: ($9.50) T Q 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.
Turn: ($9.50) 6
BB bets $8.00, Hero calls $8.00.
River: ($25.50) 2
BB bets $22, Hero calls $22.
It doesn't really matter what the maniac has. You were able to accomplish two things by checking behind on the flop:
- You signaled weakness. The maniac will now be more likely to bluff.
- You kept the pot small and did not give him the chance to check/raise.
You could have also contibet the flop, then checked behind on the turn and called a river bet. The disadvantage of this betting sequence (cbet flop, cb turn, call river) is that it gives your opponent the chance to check/raise the flop. You would then be forced to play for a relatively large pot with just a 2nd pair hand.
In general, you should play hands with good showdown value more passively to avoid getting caught in large pots.
If you pick up a draw on the flop you should usually play passively according to pot odds (with the implied odds in mind, as well). For example, if you are deep stacked and facing a maniac who can barely bring himself to fold a pair, you can call with a hidden gutshot based on implied odds.
When you are heads up and out of position, playing your hand correctly is even more important. You will have a hard time playing your standard game and contibetting on many different boards. As a rule of thumb: Take the passive route and check/fold hands with little potential when you don't have a very good read(s).
When you have a monster you can exploit your opponent's aggression and balance your check/fold like by check/raising the flop for value. A lot of maniac's have a hard time interpreting this line and think your check/raise is a bluff; this often leads to a re-bluff or at least a call.
You can play very strong draws with decent equity against most hands very aggressively on the flop. The key is getting all your chips in on the flop when you have such a draw, since your equity will sink dramatically if a blank card appears on the board.
How should you play against a maniac multiway?
Maniacs won't try bluffing as often in multiway pots. In other words, you can generally play according to your hand strength and board texture and with regard to the total number of opponents in the hand. There are two exceptions you can make to your standard game when you have a maniac in a multiway pot:
Use aggression and reduce the number of opponents in the field when ...
- … you have a medium strong hand and are in position.
- … you have a very strong draw and are out of position.
In these cases you want to take advantage of the maniac's aggression and will either raise his bet directly when you are in position in order to force other opponents out of the hand, or check/raise the field as a semi-bluff with a strong draw when you are out of position. Such a check/raise indicates enormous strength and will generate a high amount of fold equity. And if you do get called, you will usually have your money on the table and a fair amount of equity, meaning your check/raise was +EV overall.
Try to induce a bluff when …
- … you have a (very) strong hand on a dry board and are in position.
If the maniac bets the flop, you can call to provoke another player to make a loose re-raise and to induce the maniac to bluff again on the turn. He won't see your flop call as a sign of strength and will very often bet again.
Conclusion
As you can see, when you are facing such overly aggressive opponents you can adapt your game to exploit their individual weaknesses. When playing against a maniac:
- Being in position is even more important.
- Play strong hands should be played aggressively, whereas weaker hands should be folded more often.
- Draws should be played passively in general. The maniac will take care of building up the pot.
- Pure bluffs rarely work against maniacs. You can however semi-bluff in certain spots.
- Maniacs are the best opponents for trapping. You can, for example, let a strong hand look like a bluff. Slowplaying vulnerable hands is rarely a good option.
- Medium strong hands are very suitable for inducing bluffs when you are heads up against a maniac.
- If you feel yourself going on tilt or just can't make the right adjustments to your game, leave the table.
Playing against a maniac can be very profitable, but it's not every man's game.
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