Do you like to play against maniacs? Some people do, and some don't. Many players don't like to be run over; others think they hurt the integrity of the game. I've never quite understood that one; as far as I'm concerned, the more action, the better. Give me a Gus Hansen, David Pham, and five drunks all in the same game; I love it. It's not that I'll necessarily win every time. I may not even get my money in with the best hand, as these guys are hard to judge, but I still love it.
When you make a hand against these guys, you'll probably get paid off. You may even be able to win some big pots with no hand, as maniacs are often on a stone-cold steal and can't handle a raise. Win or lose, one thing is certain with these guys; there will be action. Most poker players are degenerate action addicts, and although I've always denied this of myself, a little of this disease may live deep inside me.
As much as I love to play with these guys, another thing is certain; maniacs can be dangerous! As I said, they often pay you off when you make a hand. The flip side to this is that you will often have to pay them off when they have a big hand. That is how I went out of the main event at Bay 101.
Another way that they can be dangerous is when they go on a suicide mission against you. If you have the courage and conviction to call a maniac down (or play back at him), you will usually love the results. The rest of the time, it's one more bad-beat story you can tell your friends (or write about in
Card Player, if you're lucky). Here is how my friend Chau Giang went out of the same event. Let's take a look at three of the most amazing hands I've seen in a long while.
The first one happened shortly after I was moved to the same table as Chau. I had about $20,000 and he had about twice the chips that I had. There was a guy whom I quickly identified as being an action player. He did a lot of raising, and I suppose that he knew that we all knew this, too. This must be the reason this hand came down as it did. It was the worst beat I've seen in years.
The blinds are $100-$200 and the action player brings it in for $700 from early position. Chau is right behind him and makes it $2,000, gets called, and it's heads up to the flop. The flop comes Q-7-2 with two spades, which is not a bad flop for Chau's pocket queens! Chau bets $3,000 after the action player (whom I'll now refer to as the maniac) checks. The maniac quickly makes it $7,000.
Chau now has a decision to make: reraise a small to medium amount, reraise big, move in, or just call. If he reraises a small to medium amount, the cat's out of the bag anyway (he has about $31,000 left after the $7,000, and the maniac has him covered). The advantage to this is that the maniac can still come over the top of him with a flush draw or a complete bluff and still hope to make Chau lay his hand down. A big raise or a move in will put the pressure on a flush draw but will take away his option to do something crazy.
The final option (unless you consider folding top set an option) is to just call. This will give Chau's opponent plenty of rope to hang himself. It's the riskiest of all the options, but has the greatest profit potential. Chau weighs his risk-to-reward ratio and does what I probably would do, smooth-call.
Fourth street brings an offsuit king and the maniac moves all in. Chau calls and shows his three queens. The maniac rolls over the J
10
. The river brings the 7
, and Chau wins a big pot and lives happily ever after.
I'm just kidding about the 7
; it was an ace, and Chau was on the rail. As if that wasn't bad enough for poor Chau, the maniac stands up and says, "No one's going to push me around!" at least 15 times. I guess where this guy comes from, top set's not much of a hand.
This gentleman was really feeling his oats when another guy I'll call Maniac No. 2 gets moved to our table. It was like a contest for the title of "Top Maniac of San Jose." These two clash several times before the following hand comes down:
Maniac No. 2 raises and Maniac No. 1 reraises. They're both real deep in chips by this point (at least $100,000 each). The flop comes K-Q-2 rainbow. Maniac No. 2 checks and Maniac No. 1 fires out $7,000. Maniac No. 2 raises $15,000 and gets called. The turn brings an offsuit 7 and Maniac No. 2 bets out $35,000. Maniac No. 1 studies for close to two minutes, then calls. The end brings a 5 and Maniac No. 2 quickly moves in all that his opponent has left and is just as quickly called.
To everyone's surprise, Maniac No. 2 turns over pocket threes. Everyone at the table keeps looking at the board, searching for a 3 that would give him a set, but it just isn't there. Even more surprising is Maniac No. 1's hand: 10-7 offsuit!
Remember, he called a $15,000 raise on the flop with no pair, no draw, no overcard! Maniac No. 2 made a great read, but Maniac No. 1 reread him. This made me think that Maniac No. 2 had to be steaming badly, and that's what set up this next hand:
I'm in third position and the blinds just went up to $600-$1,200 with a $100 ante. Player No. 1 limps in, and so does player No. 2 (Freddie Bonyadi). I look down at pocket nines. I have about $24,000 and can play this in one of two ways. A raise right here will probably win me a fair-sized pot of about $5,000. I'm pretty sure that player No. 1 doesn't have a big hand, and I put Freddie on two big cards that aren't A-K and probably not A-Q.
If I limp and see a flop, I might win a monster. I'm also minimizing my risks, as I'm not really looking to race with two big cards at this point. If the flop comes big, I'll go out losing only $1,200. If it comes with three babies or I flop a set - bingo! There's one more piece of info I need to factor in: I know that Maniac No. 2 is steaming. If I limp, I'll probably induce a few more limpers, and that will look awfully tempting to a steaming maniac.
I limp, as do several players behind me, and lo and behold, Maniac No. 2 raises $4,000 more. The blinds and the first limper fold, but Freddie goes all in after a long study. He's thinking like I am, I know, so I don't give him a big hand; A-J or possibly a pair smaller than mine. Also, he has about $20,000, so there will be a side pot. I also go all in, and to my surprise, so does another player behind me (what could this guy have?).
Well, I pegged Freddie perfectly, A-J offsuit. The caller behind me had Q-10 suited (he must have had too much wine at dinner). So far, I have the best hand … but then, K-K for Maniac No. 2; damn! I knew he might have had a hand, but I was willing to take my chances. As I said, maniacs can be dangerous! (His kings held up, by the way, making him the chip leader.)
