Satisfying the maniac that lives inside

[knightunner]

Every once in a rare while, I find the need to satisfy my manical tendencies. I realize that this is quite a leak in my game, but I alleviate the damage as much as possible by dropping down to a lower limit table and by never playing this way for more than 30 minutes. After a hand last night, I am questioning myself though.

Hold 'em, 5 person table, $1/2 limit.
I am dealt A4 clubs in MP. UTG folds, I raise blinds to 2 dollars hoping to buy the pot. Button folds, both blinds call.
Flop comes K clubs, Q spades, 4 hearts.
Small checks, Big bets, I raise (I feel that this would be proper strategy for a number of reasons in this situation, but I would like other opinions). Both players still in pot call me.
Turn is 7 of diamonds.
It checks around to me and I bet, again hoping to buy the pot. To my horror, both call me.

This is not how I would normally play the hand, but like I said, It was a rare maniacal moment for me.

Salvation came on the river when a 4 hit, again I was checked to, I bet and they all called and I won the hand.

Maybe I am questioning my overall style because playing like a maniac sometimes brings you big wins. I know that this is a horrible long term style, but certain aspects of this hand seem to make sense looking back on it (ie: raising on the flop with a backdoor straight, backdoor flush draw, overcard, and hopes of driving the small blind out). Please let me know what you all think.

Thanks
~knight

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Look. Don't over-analyze your maniacal tendencies. Just drop WAY down in limit and play like a TOTAL maniac. That will satisfy your "urges." When I used to play online, I'd bring like $500 to a 5c-10c table and raise every hand to the river NO MATTER WHAT, and keep doing it till I "gave someone a bad beat." Now that I play only live, I might occasionally do the same thing at a 1-2 or 1-3 game, or in a small home game, should the opportunity come up. 72o UTG? RAISE! It's three bet to you and you have 92s? CAP IT! Now THAT's satisfying! /images/graemlins/grin.gif If you were worried about how you played this hand, then you didn't drop down low enough to where the money made NO difference at all.

Hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

al

[playerfl]

I play .01/.02 no limit tables for this purpose, go all in preflop until satisfied.

[Dynasty]

This isn't even close to maniacal play. Do the same thing with T4o and you'll understand what playing like a maniac is.

What you described is just slightly over-aggressive play.

[Dov]

Depending on how you read your opponents, this might even be the right way to play the hand, IMO.

The only real problems that I see are that:

1. Playing strong poker seems to 'get you off' rather than being your normal course of play

2. You didn't realize the full value of your hand until after it was over.

I would say that this type of play is very opponent dependent. It looks like you misread the calling stations as people who could lay down a hand.

If you would have raised me on that flop and I had the K, you would have seen a turn check-raise from me. Since your opponents are so passive, you could have still been in the lead even on the turn.

It sounds also like you care too much about winning or losing each pot that you play. Refocus your attention on making good decisions and you'll feel much better at the table.

GL

PS - The real question is: What do you do if you ARE C/R'ed on the turn?

[Victor]

Play live and straddle. OR goad the person next to you into straddling then restraddle. I have seen 4 ppl straddle at once before. Of course it was capped after all that too. Talk about gambling.

But there is a bit of a strategic purpose to it. It always loosens the table up and a lot of times it puts everyone on all out tilt.

[knightunner]

Thanks everyone for responding. It is good to see that I am not the only one out there who does this. Dropping to an even lower table (specifically a no limit table) is a great idea since it minimizes damages.

~knight

[tolbiny]

"But there is a bit of a strategic purpose to it. It always loosens the table up and a lot of times it puts everyone on all out tilt."

yeah, but victor- YOU TILT along with them.

that four sraddle day was wonderfully fun.... if only i had one.....
not as good as my sraddle, your restraddle, and them me rasing into the girl with AA all the way down.... now that was fun....

[M50Paul]

You guys are cruel. I do that with play money

[CurryLover]

I entered a MT limit tourney by mistake the other day. I decided to bust myself out because I can't stand limit. I raised on just about everything, chased every hand looking for miracle cards and generally just played like a big fish.

I still lasted well over an hour in this tourney! I couldn't believe how difficult it is to lose all your money fast in limit poker.

I personally find that it is difficult to take online play too seriously anyway. I try to play well and everything, but I can't help myself from just having a laugh. I save my serious play for my B&M pot-limit cash games and tourneys. So I guess I satisfy the manic that lives inside through all my online play.

[Louie Landale]

Yes, maniacs sometimes make big wins.

But as for your original question "How best can I satisfy the maniac within?". Try these things.

[1] Be the maniac on the button when there is no raise. Play any hand any way your want. Only on the button when there is no raise [2] Play your draws very aggressively whenever there is any chance you can get them to fold. But there must be a chance they'll fold for a reason you actually think of; it must be "reasonable" even if not likely. [3] Always cap with draws in multi-way pots [4] Wreap the rewards of the maniac by only doing it once in a while. They'll remember that: nothing like capping with the obvious AA and having two players with small pairs call you down "just in case".

- Louie

[Victor]

ahhhhh....memories