Head Games: Have a Battle Plan for Maniacs and Loose-Aggressive Cash Game Tables

The Pros: Lex Veldhuis, Matthew Janda, David Yan

Craig Tapscott: How does your game shift and adjust when you’re at a very loose-aggressive cash table?

Lex Veldhuis: When a table gets really loose-aggressive it kind of ties my hands. People expect me to be very loose regardless, so when a table gets really aggressive they won’t have a problem looking me up or playing high variance against me. I could do two things. 1) Play even more aggressive, which I don’t think is very viable. 2) I can tighten up a bit. I know I will get paid off when I have good hands now, and it’s something they won’t expect from me. The most important thing is to adjust and be unpredictable. How do they perceive your playing style? How do they think you will adjust? That is key. If you can be one step ahead of them in that regard, you can completely throw them off. They also won’t notice it very much; because they are too busy playing aggressive against everyone. You will start hearing things like, “Just my luck that you happen to have kings there.” That comment shows they haven’t noticed that you’ve tightened up and that you’re playing with an overall stronger range now.

Matthew Janda: Players who are too loose and aggressive don’t fold often enough and bet too frequently. This allows us to value bet with weaker hands since our opponents will call with worse hands than they should. It also encourages us to call a bit more liberally with draws when there is lot of stack depth, since loose opponents will likely pay us off if our draw hits. Against these types of players, I would go out of my way to avoid calling with hands on the flop or turn that I know I’m likely going to fold to further aggression. For example, if the board is K 9 6 4, I would not likely call a turn bet with tens if I plan to fold to a river bet. That’s because I expect my opponent to bet the river at a high frequency, and what I really want is for him to check on the river so I can win at showdown. But since overly aggressive players rarely check, calling the turn with the intention to fold to a river bet is likely a losing play. So I would go out of my way to avoid calling with these marginal strength hands on the flop or turn unless I can improve on future streets or think I’ll be able to profitably call down.

David Yan: In general, I would play a bit more conservative and look at passing up on marginal opportunities in situations to steal since players on this kind of table generally fight back a lot more both preflop and postflop. I think I would also have to look at defending or calling a wider selection of hands since these types of players are more aggressive and steal wider, so hands which I would normally fold may actually play quite well against players who attack with too many different hands. For example hands like Q-J or K-10 which may be best to fold against some tighter players could now be played as they make strong top-pair hands and excellent bluff catchers. Against aggressive players we may also have to call with a wider range of hands after the flop since they will typically be betting with both a wider value range and more bluffs. If the players are very loose, hands that have the potential to make the nuts can be very powerful too because often hands in loose tables will go multiway, meaning having the nuts is very important. Hands like suited aces which can make the nut flush can play quite well against such players. Finally, against many aggressive opponents, simply being patient can be very effective. Some players are too aggressive and will take every opportunity possible to bet and bluff, so if we pass on marginal holdings and wait until we have strong bluff catchers, we will often get paid off just by calling down.

Craig Tapscott: There is a maniac at the table who is tough to read. What’s the best way to deal with this type of player?

Lex Veldhuis: The most important thing when you’re playing against a maniac is to try playing hands in position. Of course this is not always in your control, like when he is to your direct left. If that’s the case you just have to accept that your life is going to be hell and tighten up. Start raising a bit more from early position because he will attack those opens less. When he is not to your direct left it’s important to not defend your blinds too lightly, because then you’re out of position with a relatively weak hand. If you have no reads on him and he balances everything pretty well, you should try and play a bit tighter against him, because that will make your decisions easier. Another mistake I see a lot of people make when I’m playing really aggressive is they raise me too much. I will reraise them preflop, and then continuation bet on K-5-3. They call and then for instance, a jack comes on the turn. I bet again, and now they raise me. This is a huge mistake. You have to let me bluff it off. Maniacs drown in bluffs sometimes and you have to give them the chance to. Don’t take the bluffs out of my range by “protecting your hand.”
 
Matthew Janda: I would try to play a lot of hands against a maniac since his range is very weak and he’ll often be taking senseless lines postflop. It’s important to remember that the maniac will not last long, especially in online games, where skilled players are trying to win his stack before someone else does. So I’d be willing to take many small risks to try to flop a reasonably strong hand and stack him, and I wouldn’t be afraid to get all-in with only a marginal hand if he’s rarely folding. If the opponent’s range is close to any two cards, then it helps to be able to count how many combinations he can have in his range that beat us. For example, it’s very useful to know that on a Q 8 7 flop there are 27 total combinations of two pair (9 each of queen-eight, queen-seven, and eight-seven) when we hold an overpair. This is good to know when deciding whether or not to commit our stack. Usually, if the opponent’s range is so wide that it includes aces and five-three offsuit preflop then it will rarely make sense for us to fold any pair on the flop, much less top pair, since the opponent has so many weak hands in his range. It’s important to remember that we want to take any line with a positive expected value against the maniac and not just wait for the perfect opportunity to stack him.

David Yan: Against this type of player you have to remember that even though he can have the nuts, or a very strong hand, he is on average still going to be bluffing more than most players. So sometimes we just have to close our eyes and call with bluff-catching type hands knowing that in the long run our call is profitable. Also these maniacs tend to bet most of the time they have an opportunity, so trapping with really strong hands both before the flop and after the flop can be very profitable. I would also generally classify a player like this as either “good-aggressive” or “bad-aggressive” and play a bit differently based on which category they fall into. For example, a good-aggressive opponent typically times his bluffs a bit better, is aware of his image and can also make better decisions in general. Against this type of player I’d rather not play too many hands, because they are going to be very difficult to play against postflop, and folding some marginal hands against these players preflop is often going to be a good decision. ♠