Having a maniac on your left

[Drywallman3]

2 options...be a nit and wait for him to get called by a bigger idiot before you start playing anything or u get the nuts

or go hyper agressive he raises u push 9/10 they will call with utter garbage or fold cuz they know ull probs have something

this strategy has caused you to come to chat way to often if you know what I mean LOL soooo not good advice sir

[rghy2]

It's not perfect, but just play tight and either wait til you have a great hand or someone else takes him out.

[makaay1]

Always have the same problem

[dustynuts3185]

play a little more snug and I don't like the idea of limping seems like a good way to get in trouble. RAISE

[royalpat]

have had it happen a feww times and if you get a good hand rereaise after he does it

[jonathan]

yes it happens to me all the time...all the crazy players are on my left..always

[Magyk]

With maniac players, it's easy to get into the mindset, "He's obviously got nothing, since he does this every hand. I can call lighter than normal and still be ahead of his range." While this is typically true, you WOULD be ahead of his range, that wide open of a range can hit more, and bust you. And that is the mentallity that they WANT you to take, because when they actually have a good hand, they will be called by weaker hands, and make bank.

[deedbr]

My main concern is not the maniac, it is the others that might have a real hand after him. If he is calling a lot, then when I have the top 5% of hands, I want my initial raise to be closer to 5 BB maybe a tad more (depends on blind level and starting chips). I don't want to be creating a juicy multi pot.

If he is coming in over the top each time you raise, then a 3-4 BB bet is fine. However, when he does reraise you pop it up again when it comes back to you (be careful of others in the pot). If it is just the two of you then reraise it to 40-50 % of his stack. Let him know that he will be playing for his stack on that hand. If he does call you, then you have to push on the flop, no matter what flops. In this case you have first in vig.

You can't be afraid. He might bust you. He might have a better starting hand. He might out flop you. You got to get all that crap out of your mind. He wants you to be afraid. He wants someone who knows how to make a good lay down. He is going to eat all their chips.

What he doesn't want is someone who will play back at him. Unless he is running hot you know he is playing a very wide range. So if you play a tighter range, you know the majority of the time you will be ahead of him.

Now if you are a LAG player and he knows it, then he is going to keep on punishing you. You either go HLAG like azreal1 said or you go rock tight but either way you need to be willing to fight and put in all your chips. Any sign of fear and he will own you. Heck, he will probably be owning all those chips at the table unless he gets trapped or someone stands up to him.

There is one player here that I can think of that is HLAG and I respect certain parts of his game. He can accumulate a huge amount of chips in very short time. However, he keeps on showing his bluffs with garbage. That's great if he tightens up but instead he keeps playing the same way.

[azreal1]

this strategy has caused you to come to chat way to often if you know what I mean LOL soooo not good advice sir

i said they were his options i try to stick to the first option but other times its harder to do that especially late in the tourney

[MPALER]

I had same problem. What I did was this....early on, I simply never bet unless I'm willing to 3 bet or shove with it. They beat my top pair, so be it. Then again, I proably won't fool around with just one pair unless I have a good kicker, but i might 3 bet of just call if I have other outs. One pair, even top, could be beat by a lucky big blind who hit two pair.