The flop came, Td9s5h– a great flop for me with my overpair of Jacks I thought. He bet $100. He had another $100 left. I had a few hundred more. I made it $200, putting him all in, figuring he had his typically random hand and was just acting crazy. He called with his final $100. We flipped over our hole cards as was the custom in this club when players were all in. I showed my Jacks and he revealed Ad5d. The turn was the 6d. The river was the ah. He laughed and raked in the pot, saying “I knew that Ace was coming – I was due.” marked cards
Though I had lost $230 I wasn’t discouraged – though it would have been easy to be upset. I just saw it as an inevitable swing against this loose and aggressive player. I hoped for some solid cards later in the night, knowing that if he continued to play this way, and if I got some cards, I’d eventually come out considerably ahead of him in the long run.
On the other hand, if your maniac opponent has already limited the field for you, then you don’t need to raise before the flop or if you are still on a drawing hand. He’s already assured you of the heads up match that you want – without you having to put more chips at risk. marked cards for poker
So, for example, if the maniac is on your left and you have asks and you raise and are then reraised by him, knocking out all other players, then you would just call – since you haven’t yet made your hand and would like to see the flop. There’s no need to escalate further since all other opponents are already knocked out. If the flop hits with an Ace or a King you can then bet large or go for a check raise, depending on your read on whether he’s likely to fire another barrel.
Play More Hands
The second basic change in your strategy is to expand your playing options to include hands that you might otherwise toss. If, for example, you are dealt a pair of nines in early position and called for $2, you might typically fold it if there were a raise and a call from typically solid players. If, on the other hand, the raiser is a maniac, then you might re-raise him, hoping that he and the player who called him might give up their hands right there or that the maniac alone would call. You’d figure that you probably have a stronger hand to either player, since the maniac raises with substandard hands, and the caller was good enough to have raised in an attempt to isolate the maniac himself if he had a legitimate raising hand. card cheating
