How to beat a maniac - Poker Strategy Guide

We’ve all come up against them, the guy who bullies you out of pots. Makes a show of his hyper-aggressive, outlandish play and generally puts the whole table off their game. The maniac is tough to read and even tougher to play but it can be done. By using their own style against them, you can hope to break the maniac and win big... but you’ll need to man-up to do it! Here are a few tips on how to take down a maniac.

Avoid sitting there waiting for pocket rockets or K-K in order to take your maniac down. In many cases it’ll be just your luck that you’ve timed it against his strongest hand and end up losing just at much on your best hands. Play a variety of hands at the mid to high level too. In many cases your maniac will be playing a lot of garbage, you just need to catch him in the act. Playing A-T, A-J, K-J, K-Q will often be strong enough to secure some wins against him given that he will be playing a lot of junk in between his good hands.

Don’t get intimidated, keep playing more hands against them. It is inevitable you will lose more but it will come back around. The more hands you play, the more confidence you will get and more you will get to know their boundaries if they have them.

Be happy with a call. Calling mid-value hands could see you make some ground. Your maniac will be playing a lot of hands aggressively but on many occasions may well be all mouth and no trousers. By calling rather than raising (on weaker hands), you can protect your stack as you avoid the re-raise that will be likely if you raise a maniac.

Be prepared to play big money when you smell blood. There will be plenty of raises and re-raises in a game with a maniac but don’t shy away from this. If you have a strong hand, you have a good chance of scooping a big pot.

Avoid playing low value pocket pairs or suited connectors. The flop has to do too much hard work in the latter example and the bets required to have a look may not be worth the risk. A suited ace would put you in a much stronger position against a maniac.

Be aware of the other players’ behaviour. With a maniac at the table, most players will change their play. And so they should if they are reading their opponent properly. However, the maniac is likely to be putting them off their game as much as he is you. People will make moves they would not normally make and fire a lot more money into the pot. Capitalise on mistakes by other players and don’t fall into the same trap.

If you have a choice, sitting to the left of a maniac is a stronger position as it allows you to control the betting.

Ride out the increased variance. The way that the pros tend to handle a maniac is to belt up for the ride, sustain the early aggression and exploit the effect of the increased variance as the game matures.

There will be betting patterns that you can pick up on. Despite the fact that most of their bets will be pretty large, they are not always skilled enough to play their good hands in the same way that they play their weak hands. The bets will be comparatively bigger, often detectable when they raise pre-flop. They will be playing so many hands that if you play tight and observe for a while, you will be able to pick up on any weaknesses fairly quickly. Be wary though, the more experienced maniacs will mix up their play, making larger bets on bluffs than strong hands intermittently to scare you off. Make a mental note if they show their cards (less likely with maniacs) and assess what they want you to see as their next action will probably be opposite i.e. they play a bigger than normal bet and show you a bluff, next time it could well be a strong hand.

It can be really profitable to play against maniacs as very often they lose a lot of money but when they win, they win big. If you are prone to tilting, however, or don’t have the bank roll to withstand the massive swings, don’t be ashamed to leave the table. If you’re playing online for fun or just learning, a hyper-aggressive maniac could put you right off. There are plenty of tables in the bigger poker rooms and a disciplined bowing out will see you survive for another day. Software that shows player statistics can be an advantageous investment as you will be able to spot your maniacs before it’s too late.

In short, don’t play a maniac at his own game. Stay cool, bide your time, take a deep breath and use their own wild play against them.