Mind Over Poker

Many players head into tournaments, no matter the buy-in, with the attitude that they will either gain a big chip stack early or make a quick exit. It's a difficult strategy to pull off, but one that can be highly effective. Not everyone will be adept at this style, but many will try. It's very easy to characterize a player as a maniac, but that's a dangerous course of action to take without distinguishing what kind of maniac he is. While there are shades of gray, players will fall into one of two different personality types - the Purposeful Maniac and the Clueless Maniac. Both types present unique challenges, but fortunately there are ways to contend with both. First, though, we must recognize the differences between the two.

The Purposeful Maniac is a sophisticated player who possesses a method to his madness. He is aggressive in order to take control of situations. He'll use his chips for any advantage he perceives. If the Purposeful Maniac senses weakness, he'll attack. If he has position, he'll attack. If no one stops him, he'll continue to attack. The Purposeful Maniac will take anything the table is willing to concede. His aggressive style is meant to put his opponents on the defensive. By playing a lot of different hands, he'll be able to hide the true value of his cards, which provides a big tactical advantage.

The Purposeful Maniac may appear to be out of control, but he is not. He's aware that opponents may be laying in wait to trap him and take advantage of his aggressiveness. Many players like to wait until they have a very strong hand and then play back at the Purposeful Maniac. The problem with this strategy is twofold. First, the Purposeful Maniac will easily pick up on your strong hand when you have been playing cautiously. Next, it may not force him out of the hand.

Let me offer an example. Let's say that for the first two orbits of the tournament, the Purposeful Maniac has run roughshod over the table and has worked his starting stack of 5,000 up to more than 8,000. The blinds are still 25-50 when you pick up pocket queens. You are seated two to the left of our maniac. He raises to 200 and you bump it to 600. The action is folded around to the Purposeful Maniac, and he calls. He may call here with anything, for a number of reasons. First, he wants to send a message that he won't easily be pushed off his style. Next, he has a fairly good idea of what you are holding. Finally, he's confident that he may be able to outplay you after the flop if your hand doesn't improve. He knows that you'll have no idea of what he could be holding. For instance, suppose an ace or king comes on the flop and he bets it hard. What if three hearts come and you don't have a heart?

When I'm up against a Purposeful Maniac, I like to pick a hand with which I can isolate him and play back no matter what my cards. I do this so that I can take some control back and send a message. I'll fire two or three bullets at him to let him know that I mean business. Unless he's made a strong hand, that will usually force him to fold while still allowing him to save face that he won't give up easily. If I fail to win the hand, it will make it easier for me to trap him later when I do make a strong hand.

Let's contrast this now to the Clueless Maniac. In low buy-in tournaments, you'll find a lot of loose-aggressive players who really have no idea what they are doing. They are playing solitaire and not poker. If they have pocket queens, they'll play them hard to the end even with an ace or king on board and a lot of action. They'll play trouble hands like K-10 and won't give them up if they hit the flop. The Clueless Maniac is hell-bent on giving away his chips. He is a donor in search of a recipient.

Even though the Clueless Maniac is easy to peg as a poor player, you can't take him on without cards. Since he is playing without a purpose, it will be hard to get him off a hand. Against the Clueless Maniac, I like to isolate him as much as I can as long as I have a medium-strength hand. I don't want to bluff him and I don't want to wait too long to take him on. I want to give myself the greatest opportunity to be the benefactor of that stack he's trying desperately to give away.

There is a certain amount of irony in how you play against these different kinds of maniacs. Many players make the mistake of thinking they need to wait for a hand to take on the Purposeful Maniac, while they try to outplay the Clueless Maniac regardless of their cards. In fact, the opposite is often true. Proper poker strategy can often be counterintuitive to those who don't yet fully grasp the subtleties of the game.

David Apostolico is the author of numerous books on poker, including Machiavellian Poker Strategy and Tournament Poker and The Art of War. You can contact him at [email protected].