How should you play against an extremely loose player?

[Nilsson]

Hi,

This is my first post so please be gentle...
My question: When you're sitting to the right of a player who’s raising everything both preflop and after, how do you play against him? The guy I played against raised with 10-5o, 22 and other lousy hands. Sometimes he had some really good hands like QQ. So I lost some and won some against him. Which hands would you recommend to play against such a player?

[crockpot]

you have a big advantage sitting to this guy's right. this way, after he raises, you will be able to see how everyone else reacts, and if you have a big hand you will be able to trap the field for extra bets.

that said, you should still be playing tighter that normal because the pot is being raised. assuming a couple of players have called the raise, i would proably play hands like AA-TT, AK, AQ, AJ and maybe KQ. remember that your implied odds for drawing hands go down because the pot is constantly being raised preflop and bet on the flop, so you will be charged a higher price to draw. i definitely would avoid playing hands like JTs here. you want to flop top pair, not a draw.

[Nottom]

Will he 3-bet with the same hands? If so, you might be able to bet some of your marginal hands into him (ATs, KJ) and let him 3-bet and clear the field getting it heads up, but this would only work if people don't lower their 3-bet calling standards too much so it may only work a couple times before others catch on. You should also consider taking advantage of his aggressive tendancies by limping with your best hands (AKs, AA, KK, maybe a couple others) and 3-betting or capping when it comes back thus trapping the field for multiple bets.

Really, the key is to try and use his aggressiveness to work for you. Either by checkraising with you strong hands or having him raise your more vulnerable ones to hopefully thin the field.

[Louie Landale]

First off, 22 is a MUCH better hand than T5.

Second off, if he's raising the vast majority of the time they you shouldn't be surprised no matter what he's got. He raises with T5, 22, and QQ? No kidding.

Third off, speculative hands like 87s go down in value with the increased preflop investment and presumably less players.

Fourth off, you cannot loosen your trouble hand requirements since they are based on position and likelyhood of losing to better hands: if you would normally not play KT for one bet you cannot play it just because the maniac raised: yes, you probably have HIM beat, but that's not good enough.

Fifth off, you generally will NOT know in the show down whether you have the best hand or not. Expect to pay off and to bet the losing hand fairly often. So be it.

Sixth off, you need to know if he'll routinely 2-bet but will only 3-bet with good hands. Keep that in mind when deciding what to do.

Seventh off, you need to know if he's a maniac before the flop but generally plays somewhat reasonably after the flop. For example, if he raises after the flop does it mean he's sure to have a pair?

- Louie