Against a Maniac (Two Hands)

[lehighguy]

I'm playing against a maniac. He huffs and bluffs ALOT. But he does fold sometimes if he is convinced he is beat. Nevertheless, total maniac. I don't have stats, but to give you an idea:

VPIP: 75%
PFR: 40%

He's all in alot. The following are two hands I had questions about.

BB = $6
Hero Stack Covers
Villian (maniac) $800

Hand 1:
Hero has KK in CO

Hero raises to $30, villian (button) calls, SB calls, BB calls

Flop: J,9,9 rainbow
check, check, hero bets $110, villian raises all-in, fold, fold, hero ???

Hand 2:
Hero has ATo on button.
Hero open raises to $36, fold, villian BB calls.

Flop: J, 5, 2 rainbow.
villian check, hero bets $70, villian calls.

Turn: T
Hero bets $200, villian goes all-in, hero ???

[diconoclastx]

Hand 1 I call.
Hand 2 I fold.

[surfinillini]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1 I call.
Hand 2 I fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hand 1 call

Hand 2 - call if you won hand 1

[lehighguy]

I found both of these very diffucult. The fact that he went all in with two behind really freaked me out. He isn't going all-in every hand, but is doing it alot. I can totally see him showing me 95o or something.

I was working under the premise that I was either really behind or slightly ahead.

[adanthar]

[ QUOTE ]
I was working under the premise that I was either really behind or slightly ahead.

[/ QUOTE ]

Vs. a maniac on a J99r board, you might be really behind, but you are just about never exactly slightly ahead.

[montechristo]

i think we need more info about the maniac... does he overvalue top pair, etc? I would call hand 1, he either has a 9 or you have him crushed. Hand 2 looks like a fold- only thing you are beating is air or worse ten. since you open raised from the button though, very possible you have the best hand, he has air and thinks you have AK or something. tough but I think you should fold.

[creedofhubris]

Hand 1 is an easy call, hand 2 is not.

[Garland]

Hand #1 is an easy call. Expect to see anything from a lone J to something like QT or T8 or maybe even another pocket pair. If he has a 9, so be it, pay him off and stack him later.

Hand #2: Due to his maniac tendancies, I would seriously consider checking the turn behind and induce him to bluff on the river. As played, I would fold.

Garland

[gomberg]

Yeah, Hand 1 is a call.

Hand 2, you NEED to check behind that turn - what's the point of that bet?

[FromTheSouth]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Hand 1 I call.
Hand 2 I fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hand 1 call

Hand 2 - call if you won hand 1

[/ QUOTE ]

[lehighguy]

My feeling was that if I showed enough strength on the turn it would keep him from raising me. If he called I planned to check through on the river since I had posistion.

[gomberg]

[ QUOTE ]
My feeling was that if I showed enough strength on the turn it would keep him from raising me. If he called I planned to check through on the river since I had posistion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like a good plan against a semi-straight forward player. Against a maniac, you usually have great equity in picking off bluffs. If you check the turn, you will induce him to bluff MORE, which is good for you, and you control the pot size to be reasonable. If you have a really good read that he will check-raise you big there w/ only a bluff, then obviously it's a good play /images/graemlins/wink.gif