A Cop, a Rock and a Maniac

There were these three guys, a Cop, a Rock and a Maniac. One day they sat down to play a little poker...........


This post is about three handed play. This is discussed in HPFAP2, where they discuss how often you should call (and reraise) a Maniac. (It also applies to other poker.) They say that 3-handed you don't have to play as often as you do in 2-handed since in 3-handed play, the two other

players can *share* the burden of keeping the maniac honest.


But what if one of the other players calls too much (a Cop) or not enough (a Rock). This changes the burden on the other player. It seems that

HPFAP2 does not go into more details and say how to play 3-handed with a Maniac and either a Cop or a Rock.


Understand that the terms Cop, Rock and a Maniac are *relative* to standard good 3-handed play.


So how should you play against


(1) a Maniac on your left and a Cop on your right ?


(2) a Maniac on your right and a Cop on your left ?


(3) a Maniac on your left and a Rock on your right ?


(4) a Maniac on your right and a Rock on your left ?


It seems that (1) is good and (4) is bad.


Dirk