Playing the Maniac - Part II: The Rest of the Table

In Part I of this column, I discussed the underlying drives of the maniac poker player. To recap briefly, I presented the idea that the maniac is acting as a 2-year-old child would, intent on commanding all of the attention from those at the table and deriving pleasure from evoking emotional reactions due to his hyperaggressive behavior and drawouts.

In this follow-up column, I will address issues that we need to keep in mind regarding how the presence of such an individual changes everyone's behavior and actions. We must learn to pay attention simultaneously to how our other opponents' tendencies are altered as a result. In other words, it is not sufficient just to be able to outplay the maniac heads up, but to be able to leverage the maniac's aggression to maximize your chance of winning.

Before the flop, expect a raise!

If the maniac is to act after you, expect a raise before the flop. Therefore, when looking at your first two cards, don't play those borderline hands with which you like to limp in, hoping to see a cheap flop. A great example would be Q-J or 10-9 suited. These kinds of hands are much better to play when you are in later position and already have a sense of what the field and the price are looking like.

Always raise and reraise with your strong starting hands, especially if you are sitting near the maniac, be it to his left or right. I don't advocate the safe attitude of waiting to see the flop with pocket jacks, for example, so you can exit quietly if an overcard flops. If it becomes three bets to come in, you may get someone to lay down A-J or K-Q, which could save you the pot. The problem is that in California, the tendency is for players to create and chase the big pots. Tossing in three bets cold with the 10 9 before the flop in a loose game is common, and should never shock you – even if there is no maniac at the table!

After the flop, be prepared to quickly exit if you hit second pair or worse. In normal games, the pot odds can make it worthwhile to see another card, but in games with a maniac present, think more like an Omaha game. If you're not drawing to the nuts, you're often throwing good money after bad. This is probably the hardest discipline for the good player to actualize. What applies in more tame ring-game environments is overridden when the maniac is present. He forces us to anticipate a greater price to continue in the hand.

Blinded by big pots

To compound that, other players who are not very skilled or aware often are so enamored with the possibility of scooping these big pots, they cling to long-shot draws and, in odd ways, reduce your edge. This is a somewhat anti-mathematical concept. Essentially, what happens sometimes is this: The pots get so big that you have three or four players hanging on, correctly or not, to ridiculous draws, and your ability to maneuver the game is virtually negated. Whereas normally if you raise the turn and force three players to call a double bet cold, most of them will release their marginal hands, the presence of the maniac stimulates recklessness in them and they no longer know what to believe. They start to wonder if your raise means anything at all. And to top this all off, they don't even know any of this consciously!

For this very reason, I advocate playing much tighter in earlier positions to avoid getting trapped in these ballooning pots with very little chance of victory. When you are near the back, you have the advantage of seeing the situation unfold before you are forced to act, allowing you to make more educated decisions. Don't expect to get the respect you think you deserve, even if you have perfectly crafted your image. As I indicated in my last column, the maniac is very effective at evoking reactions from the other players. Good players are better at remaining detached emotionally, but the majority of players are caught up in the storm. They aren't noticing us as much as they should. They want to exert their own maniacal tendencies and get some of that money back.

Ready, set, muck!

As I wrap up this discussion, I want to elaborate on that last sentence. Let's assume we all have an inner maniac, if you will. Somewhere within us exists the suppressed desire to have the entire world (or poker game, as it were) respond to our every whim. The maniac's presence at our table ignites a little of that in most recreational players. Therefore, you will be saved a lot of grief if you anticipate everyone getting a bit wilder as the game progresses. This means your pockets kings and aces won't likely hold up as often. Also, when you flop a set, don't start spending your money before it is pushed to you. Prepare to release big hands earlier than usual.

The true nature of poker includes a thorough awareness of elements, such as the maniac and all he brings to the table … and all he brings out of the other players. We can reach a point where this no longer frustrates us, because (a) we are prepared for how it affects our results, (b) we have enough chips to absorb the beats (notice I didn't say "bad beats"), and © we accept that this is an integral part of the game. Attitude is the ultimate multipurpose tool needed to make it at the poker table.