Maniacs

Hi. Come on in. Goulash today. Everyone's mom made goulash. My mom made it like this. Don't ask what's in it. Just eat.

In some parts of the world, it's still winter. To you good folks, I offer this Poker Player's Prayer in Winter: Grant me days of good luck, and good weather, so I can get to the poker room to take advantage of my good luck.

Things I Wish I Had Known When I First Started Playing Hold'em: You've probably read a lot of conflicting information about where you should have a maniac seated for the most profit - on your left or on your right. You can get a variety of opinions; I'll give you mine. Then, we all can argue about it.

As is the case with so many poker questions, it depends. In this case, it depends on if you are playing limit hold'em or no-limit hold'em. (You've never seen it approached like that before? That's why I get the big bucks.)

When playing limit, where the object is to win bets and extra bets, you want to act after the maniac, so that you will know if you are strong enough to play the hand, because he is most likely going to raise.

But in no-limit, where you are looking to take most or all of an opponent's stack in one shot, you'll make more money with the maniac on your left, so that he acts after you and drives the money around to you.

Let's give you a pair of aces or kings in early position. The maniac is on your left. Instead of raising with your big pair, as you would do in a limit game to narrow the field so that your pair has a better chance of holding up, just call, knowing that the maniac will most likely put in a raise. One or more players who act after the maniac will most likely call with any kind of a playable hand, or even put in a raise, because they have seen him raise with nothing. (That's why he is called a maniac.)

Now when the action gets back to you, there is some meaningful money in the pot that may not have been there if you had raised from early position. You probably would have gotten a call from the maniac, and maybe one other player.

By not raising, and letting the distrusted maniac do the raising, you have trapped opponents with money in the pot. Now you put in a sizable reraise, or possibly even move all in. Your opponents now have to either abandon their interest in the pot or call your reraise; either one is good for your stack.

The maniac probably isn't going anywhere - as he calls everything. (That's why he is called a maniac.)

The only way that you can lose now is to get unlucky, but I like your hand and your situation. I'll gladly cover any side bets that you want to make.

A Poker Player Needs "Selective Amnesia": You should be able to remember how your opponents play, of course. But I'm talking now about forgetting a bad beat that you have taken. You should be thinking about the next hand, not the last hand. The dealer is tossing cards; another hand - a new hand - is in front of you. How are you going to play this hand? Don't be reliving that last hand!

I take this lesson from a baseball pitcher friend of mine from my playing days. If he gave up a home run, he immediately turned his attention to the next batter. He would have time later to figure out what he did wrong in giving up that long ball. For now, he wanted to keep his attention where it belonged - on the next batter. Got the message?

Thought: If you want to be a consistent winning player, you must be willing to throw away hand after hand, until you find one that is worth playing because it has an expectation of winning.

E-mail Question: Is poker a sport? Do you play it like a sport, with a lot of aggression? Or, do you play it like chess, with soft deception? Let me know your preference.

The next time we talk, I'll tell you about a gold mine for insomniacs.

You have a mess all over your chin, nose, and shirt. I've told you to bring a bib when we talk. I have to hit the pillows now for some pleasant slumber. Take some goulash for your breakfast and kill the light on your way out.

Roy West, poker author and teacher, has been giving his successful poker lessons in Las Vegas for more than 20 years to tourists and locals. Ladies are welcome. Contact Roy at [email protected], or (800) 548-6177, access code 03.