Any two?

[jason_t]

So, there is maniac at my table. He plays any two. He is 95/7/.8 after 215 hands. He jams the board on every street (river aggression 5.62!) with as bad as 5 high. Implied odds against him are huge. The rest of the table is fairly tight and passive and they have no clue how to take advantage of the maniac. I'm in the SB and there are two limpers, he limps (of course) and the BB is a tight nit and hasn't raised preflop out of the blinds. What do you complete with in the SB?

Any two?

[private joker]

No. The strategy against maniacs is to get involved in fewer hands but with a bigger payoff. The other two limpers, fishy as they may be, have statistically better hands than your "any two" especially if those any two are hands like 53o and 62o. It will cost you a lot to hit a pair and hope to beat the maniac, but you still have to beat the fish -- who, as passive as you say they are, won't raise you out of the pot but might call down with a pair of tens to beat you.

Wait for a better spot and pounce. The maniac will eventually bleed you all his chips.

[rmarotti]

I don't understand why you think this would be the right play.

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand why you think this would be the right play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't. I'm arguing with someone over it. I thought phrasing it this way would get the most critical replies. Do you really think that I'd (I'm tight, remember) be for this?

[ckessel]

Wait for good hands and raise to isolate. If he's to your left, raise and let him reraise to knock people out. If he's to your right, check-reraise to knock people out.

If you're in the pot with him you're almost always going raise or fold. You'd like to limit the field to just the two of you as often as possible since you likely have a 2:1 advantage preflop with most good hands. The exception being clear drawing hands (flopped flush draw) where you'd like to use him to drag people into the pot for multiple bets.

[rmarotti]

I thought you had been drinking too much scotch this morning and had turned into a Drinker and Donker. If I have good position against the maniac i will raise anything ten or higher and value bet any pair I flop, but I'm a LAG. Your position sucks however, making this method impossible. Have you pointed out to whoever you are arguing with that playing the same as the guy you think sucks is, even on the surface, a ridiculous proposition? (This is the cold, hard, logic argument as opposed to the nuanced poker theory argument)

[Nick C]

I'm a little confused by the description of the player. (Does the 0.8 AF include preflop? I can't figure out how it would be so low, otherwise.)

Anyway, though, I think you can probably loosen up at least a little in this situation. But since I wouldn't be sure which hands to add, I'd probably basically just play the hands that I'd normally play in this spot.

[einbert]

Any two will do.

He's on your left, so you'll be able to protect your hands somewhat and for every hand, you'll be able to get exactly the amount of action that you want.

I might fold some hands but I'm playing anything playable here, probably at least 50% of my hands.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]
Any two will do.

He's on your left, so you'll be able to protect your hands somewhat and for every hand, you'll be able to get exactly the amount of action that you want.

I might fold some hands but I'm playing anything playable here, probably at least 50% of my hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like poor advice. Also, I read that the maniac was on Hero's right, not left. Since he limped just before Hero acted in the SB.

[blumpkin22]

Thank you! Finally!

If you make two pair, he will in all likelihood CAP THE TURN AND THE RIVER DRAWING NEARLY DEAD! This will be over 10BB PROFIT. I think 0.25BB is worth it for all but the worst hands.

-blumpkin

[einbert]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Any two will do.

He's on your left, so you'll be able to protect your hands somewhat and for every hand, you'll be able to get exactly the amount of action that you want.

I might fold some hands but I'm playing anything playable here, probably at least 50% of my hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds like poor advice. Also, I read that the maniac was on Hero's right, not left. Since he limped just before Hero acted in the SB.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I misread it, but even if he's on the hero's left hero will be able to checkraise to protect his hand quite well.

Imagine you're playing a HU NL match and you're playing against a very predictable player. This player always checks his BB preflop and always moves in on the flop. He has about 24 big blinds in his stack and you have him covered. What hands do you complete (or raise) with in the
SB? All of them, because you are able to call whenever you flop a hand that is a favorite over a random hand on the flop profitably. (This might not be the optimal strategy if this a freezeout, but it is a longterm profitable strategy).

In fact this situation is MUCH BETTER than that hypothetical! We can get 3BB, 5BB, 7BB, however much action we desire against this opponent! You know how people talk about being able to outplay your opponents means you can loosen up preflop to some extent? Well this is almost the ultimate definition of 'outplaying' someone. We can outplay him so much after the flop that any hand is worth playing for 1/2 small bet.

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
Does the 0.8 AF include preflop?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

[partygirluk]

If he really does limp in pf with any 2 and jam every street with any 2 and the other players are unoriginal then you should play any 2. An important factor is that you can c/r any street you want to isolate him, and can figure on making a good amount with as little as middle pair.

[Chris Dow]

I'm with the any 2 camp here. Implied odds? I mean they are astronomical and completely under your control. Plus with two pair or better vs this guy you're on basically a complete lock whereas in the nl example you have to go for the guys whole stack every time you just outflop a random hand, which is still a vulnerable situation.

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I read that the maniac was on Hero's right, not left. Since he limped just before Hero acted in the SB.

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct. Maniac was on my right. Maniac was Seat 8, I was Seat 1.

[CallMeIshmael]

Perhaps not quite any two (though I wouldnt argue with that), but its damn near any two.

It seems some others are almost suggesting to play tighter than usual! By waiting for big hands /images/graemlins/confused.gif

This is way off.

In general, yes, you want to tighten up against a maniac, and only play big hands. But, this guy isnt a general maniac.

He seems to play any two preflop, but limps in a lot. This isnt the sterotypical maniac.

He is giving you the opportunity to hit a big hand cheaply, then jam it for you.

This is perhaps THE strategy against which the highest % of hands are playable.

Playing tigher than usual is just bad.