Playing Against the Maniac - Part I

The addition of a maniac to the table has a very dramatic effect upon what the good player needs to do in order to avoid getting thrashed against the rocky cliffs of the Pacific Coast, if you will. This column will focus on strategies for playing against the maniac, while Part II will discuss understanding how to adjust for changes in the whole table as a result of this wild player.

The first important point I want to make is that you will benefit greatly by understanding what drives a maniac to play in his reckless, hyperaggressive manner. One thing I have noticed about most all of the maniacs I have encountered in poker is that they really don't put much effort into being liked by others. They don't care too much if their behavior upsets their opponents. In fact, they seem to get a charge out of driving the rest of us into a frenzy of frustration.

This is similar to children at an early stage of their development, when they are completely obsessed with themselves and in fact enjoy doing everything within their power to emotionally upset the adults around them. It is an ego-driven and highly volatile behavioral pattern. Beware, oh ye sons and daughters trying to play correctly!

Also, the maniac is not overly concerned with whether he wins or loses. How could he be? If he kept track, within a half-dozen sessions he would see that he's on the quick road to bankruptcy. He is concerned instead with the action (how it stimulates his own emotions), and provoking an emotional reaction in others. The action part plays out in his obsessive tendency to play almost every hand and to raise compulsively whether it has a strategic intention or not. In this way, he controls the table and forces other players to respond to him. He is, in a word, infantile.

When you find yourself playing heads up against a maniac, remember that his desire is to throw you from your centered and strong strategic calm into a more reactive and confused emotional turmoil. But he barely even recognizes this! Do 2-year-old children actually know why they are being so self-centered? Doubtful, but they certainly know how their behavior affects their parents.

One key piece of advice is to slow yourself down when playing against him. Imagine a child doing something naughty and then staring up at you with that fiendish grin, looking for your distraught reaction. I like to remain very calm, look at the maniac as he raises my bet, and simply contemplate. In this totally "present" moment, you have to remain connected to your intuition, because sometimes the maniac has a good hand, and other times he has no hand. The mistake that lots of players make is either resigning themselves to calling him down in case he is weak or becoming overly aggressive in an attempt to establish dominance.

These are both reactive non-solutions. As I have discussed previously, every player is bound by tendencies. The maniac is no exception. The difficult thing is that he is acting in ways that are outside the generally common realm of adult poker players. His tendencies are childish, unpredictable, and provocative. But if you think about it, they lack forethought. Does a 2-year-old child plan when to throw his next tantrum? No, he does it at the next available opportunity, to exert his extreme self-centeredness.

Even though these self-obsessed players love to upset us good players, I have noticed that they become somewhat tempered against the very good players. There is a point within them where their own fear gets activated, which overrides their recklessness. It doesn't happen often when they are on a winning trend. When luck is with them, I actually recommend staying out of their way almost entirely. It is not a strategy based in mathematics, but the honoring of a certain mystical truth. Streaks are hard to predict but are absolutely real. When these guys have it going on, they create more angst than any other element in this game.

However, if their luck is a bit dry, they tend to become inhibited against very calm, tight players who are not outwardly affected by their aggressiveness. You should never try to outdo them by being more aggressive. Instead, you should aim to mix it up by sometimes trapping and sometimes betting into them unexpectedly. This neutralizes and confuses them. Think of reacting in unusual ways to the 2-year-old child. If you laugh sometimes and then appear not to notice other times, and calmly explain how he won't get his ice cream or other desired treat on other occasions, the child becomes unsure of himself. The reactions he wants are replaced by behaviors he doesn't understand or even dislikes.

Obviously, I don't suggest treating your child this way. But a maniac? Absolutely. It is very effective to rob him of the emotional reactions that feed him. Plus, it is doubly annoying when you consistently beat him. Once you have him off his maniacal game, you should see his patterns much clearer. What I mean is that you will be able to better recognize the true strength of his hand and avoid allowing him to control you.

Here's one final note: With very few exceptions, do not try to bluff the maniac. He hates to be bluffed and will even pay you off with a jack high sometimes, just to communicate to the table that he is not to be bluffed. The sickness runs deep, and the money he flushes away is another great mystery of this bizarre world. Allow it to make its way to you.