Pokerwiner.com → Within poker principles
What about a hand at the other end of the playable spectrum? It is not unusual against a maniac to find yourself holding what may well be the best hand with something like bottom pair or ace-high. Here you must know your player. If you know he will automatically bluff or bet something worse than your hand, then you can take the approach of letting him bet for you.
By checking and calling (or merely calling when you are behind him) you give him the opportunity to bluff off his money all the way through the hand. Moreover, you avoid being raised while playing a vulnerable holding. You must read him as best you can though, considering anything you know about what kind of hand he may have played given his position and actions before the flop, and relating this to his subsequent actions and the board as it develops. Bottom pair on a flop of
Does not play the same as bottom pair on a flop of
You might sometimes play to the river with the latter, but must much more often fold the former. In between the strong and marginal hands I have discussed there are many hands such as top pair with a reasonable kicker, and two pair. With these decent but not tremendous poker hands you must adapt your play to the player and the situation. For example, there are times when acting on what you know about your opponent’s tendencies, you might play top pair very aggressively, while waiting until the turn or even the river to raise. Then there are times when you might revert to checking and calling even with two pair after being raised just once on the flop. It all depends on your opponent and what you read him for.
On the River, and Reading the maniac
If you do play a hand with a check and call approach you should nevertheless consider the pros and cons of betting out on fifth street. The decision on the last card is unique, and betting rather than checking will sometimes be correct. Also, when you bet for value on the river in this situation and are not called, you have not always lost as much as it appears when you consider only that your opponent may have been induced to bluff had you checked. This is because when he does fold, you have at least kept your strategy concealed. He does not see your cards, so you have not revealed your check and call approach to your opponent. He will thus be less likely to adapt to it by reducing his bluffing frequency in the future. Remember that just because you are up against a player who bluffs way too often and can usually be counted on to play aggressively, does not mean that you can abandon the thinking and analysis that you normally put into playing a hand.
Don’t do what many mediocre players do. They peg someone as a habitual bluffer, and call him down unthinkingly any time they have anything in the neighborhood of ace high or better, no matter how the board develops, and no matter how the opponent may have recently adjusted his play. Frequently, it is obvious that they are throwing their money away, for some maniacs do think and do not always bet without anything. Furthermore, it is not at all uncommon for a maniac to vary his play during a session. Sometimes he does so as a strategic maneuver, while other times it may be a response to how much he is winning or losing. I can think of one maniac with whom I’ve played many times. I made a lot of money against this player, but I was always amazed to see how well he survived at poker despite his extreme play.
His secret (of which I’m not sure he was actually aware himself ) was that players so often gave him grossly excessive action, always assuming that he had nothing. Yes, they frequently picked off his bluffs, but they also paid him off all the way far more frequently than they should have. Even worse, they too often took something like top pair with a mediocre kicker and engaged in raising wars with him. They were not sufficiently attuned to his play to detect when he was more likely to have a real hand or when his raises had surpassed what he would be willing to do with his bluffs or semi-bluffs. He thus pulled in a lot of pots that were pumped up by multiply wasted bets from his opponents. You must keep reading the maniac’s hand despite his irrational starting standards.
Those players who figure that hand reading is fruitless against a maniac because “he could have anything ” are giving up an important part of their edge on such a player. Though he may be difficult to read, if you take what you do know about his starting standards, betting patterns and tendencies, watch the board as it develops, and observe for tells, you will gain useful information to use in play against such an “unpredictable” opponent. If you combine this with using his aggression against him, keeping in mind the ideas laid out about, you should have a solid foundation for your journey “into the storm.”
The Strategic Moment in Holdem / One Way Not to Fold /
Beating the Berserko: Preflop Against a Maniac /
On Into the Storm: Playing the maniac After the Flop
One Reason to Reraise a Maniac / A Simple Read / Countering a Good Reader
Thinking About What They’re Thinking / Out On the Edge
Considerations in Two Blind Stealing Defense situations
Easing the Transition to the middle Limits: Part I
Easing the Transition to the middle Limits: Part II / Multiple Changing Images