LC: Strategy Question

Background: I play mostly micro-limit poker online, and do fairly successfully. I've been through SSHE a couple of times. Occasionally, I'll play $1 or $5 SnG and have won more than I've spent, though I concentrate my reading and practice on Limit games.

The problem:
I play a live game at work once a week that is a fixed buy-in, 10 minute blinds, 50chip start, winner take all no-limit game. It is anywhere from 4-6 handed. Generally, it is an easy game, and particularly post-flop I feel like I can read others well. However, there is one maniac in the game. He folds less than 10% of his starting hands, and is aggressively raising and goes all-in often. Most of his aggression comes pre-flop. He does with anything from rags (like 84o) to premium hands.

Calling his all in or re-raising his hands with good but not excellent cards is a risky proposition, but so is letting this maniac build a stack by stealing a ton of blinds. I think he's been given the (good) advice by someone who plays to make his bluffs and bets before the flop, since he can't outplay anybody after the flop (when he does, he makes dumb plays like raising his 2pair into betters with a 4 flush on the board).

I've read a little from Slansky's Tournament book about the Gap Concept, but in general I'm not much of a no-limit player.

I'm looking for suggestions for an approach to this game.

[microbet]

Not really enough info, but... the game is winner take all, which calls for an aggressive strategy and if the blinds/antes are large, AND it is short-handed, AND people are folding too much, it calls for a VERY AGGRESSIVE strategy.

I don't really know the situation well enough to say this for sure, but - raise more preflop. If you have a good hand, and this "maniac" has made a raise preflop that doesn't commit his stack, you will probably be in a good position to make a big reraise. A lot of maniacs will fold to reraises pretty easily, knowing they are stealing enough blinds to make up for having to surrender a raise once in a while.

[pineapple888]

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Calling his all in or re-raising his hands with good but not excellent cards is a risky proposition

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Welcome to no-limit poker.

Pop him back, all-in if possible, whenever you are confident you have the better hand. That'll slow him down real quick.

If he shows a monster or outdraws you, such is life.

[SonnyJay]

Just some vague general comments, because based on the info I don't know if I can give any more:

1) Blinds are important. If there's 50 chips and 1/2 blinds, you start with really shallow stacks. It won't be long before your stack will be gone if you sit and wait for premium hands. You'll need to be aggressive in this type of format. As is general 2+2 procedure, if you have less than 10 big blinds in your stack you should be looking to move all in to play a hand. And since you're playing winner take all, it's even more reason to play really aggressive.

2) You'll need to try to catch him when you have a hand, and how good a hand will depend upon the range of hands you put him on. I'll rarely advocate calling a hand like AA preflop, but if he's raising frequently and pushing a lot of flops, maybe you call his raise with premium hands then pick him off when he pushes the flop. In addition, since you won't be getting these hands very often, you should probably look to re-steal his raises with hands that you think are much better than his average hand. People often like to play aggressively but cower when they get played back at (they can't make decisions when faced with aggression). You'll frequently pick up blinds, hopefully be ahead if you get called, and possibly discourage him pushing into you if he feels he'll get played back at.

3. Something that I pick up whenever I play games with more casual players:
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it is an easy game, and particularly post-flop I feel like I can read others well

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Your primary reads you should be making are in relation to putting your opponents on hand ranges. I constantly see people trying to pick up physical tells, which at home games can help but should not be your primary decision making tool. People that are joking around and not paying much attention all of a sudden get really serious and try to "look into their opponent's soul" and see what he has. It's not very reliable, and people usually do this instead of replaying the hand and trying to logically figure out the situation. Huge mistake to do...make sure your reads are towards "20 minutes ago, he checkraised the river and then threw his cards into the muck when he got called" and not "he blinked twice...I call."

4) Post specific hands. This forum is fine if they relate primarily to the SNG format, but if they're more about the home game in general there's a Home Poker forum that may be more helpful. Read the FAQ in the SNG section for the information you should include in your post in order to get a reasonable response.

Hope this helps a little. Best of luck.

-SonnyJay

Sorry I left out the blinds info. Everyone starts with 50 chips, blinds are 1-2 and go up every 10 min.

Thanks everyone for the quick responses so far. It seems to be the consensus to get more aggressive, and I agree. A complication though: I've tried pushing back when I have good hands, and his response is usually to push back all in. He was coached to use aggression to counteract his weakness of play. Sure I call him when I have a good hand, but now I'm just rolling dice. I was hoping for some type of strategy that takes advantage of the fact that I can play circles around him post-flop, rather than playing on his terms. However, if I don't raise with good hands preflop to try to not encourage him to reraise, then I'm allowing other callers in that could pick up draws.

So I guess my questions are better put as:
1) Do I try to sit left of this guy so I know what he's doing before I act? Or, since he's raising so often, do I sit right of him to see how the other players react(as this varies more than he does)?

2) How do I play the game aggressively and still take advantage of what I see as a post-flop edge?

As for "reading", I should have been clearer, I just meant that I usually can place them on a hand ranges, and no what cards they are happy about.

Sorry if the thread is in the wrong place. I've read for a while here, but this was my first post. I put the LC: in since i wasn't hosting a specific hand, but I didn't realize it might be better suited for the homegame forum.
Thanks,
-thoolihan

[pineapple888]

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Sorry I left out the blinds info. Everyone starts with 50 chips, blinds are 1-2 and go up every 10 min.

... I was hoping for some type of strategy that takes advantage of the fact that I can play circles around him post-flop, rather than playing on his terms.

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Nope, with that blind structure, he's doing the right thing by turning it into a pre-flop game. You just have to learn how to outplay him before any cards hit the table.

[pineapple888]

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[ QUOTE ]
Sorry I left out the blinds info. Everyone starts with 50 chips, blinds are 1-2 and go up every 10 min.

... I was hoping for some type of strategy that takes advantage of the fact that I can play circles around him post-flop, rather than playing on his terms.

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope, with that blind structure, he's doing the right thing by turning it into a pre-flop game. You just have to learn how to outplay him before any cards hit the table.

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Or, change the meta-game and give everyone 200 chips instead. Even then, you'll get to pre-flop poker fairly quickly.

[Slim Pickens]

The fact that it's a winner-take-all structure is very, very good for you in terms of dealing with this guy. You need to get all the chips to win anything, so there's no extra value in waiting for other people to bust out. You can push a marginal advantage early without taking the $EV hit you would in a more balanced payout structure. There's a mathematical argument there, but I think it's also intuitive.

That being said, here's the strategy. Any time you pick up a top 20% hand and the maniac still has cards, raise 6BB if the pot is unopened, 2x the total pot if it has been opened, and if that's more than 35% of your stack, go all-in. This assumes you';re not facing action from any of the non-maniac players, in which case you should just play normally. You're probably not going to get a shot to play this guy postflop, so you have to take your advantage where you can get it.