Limper in my way

[Nate tha' Great]

Party $10/20, 6-Max.

Let me tell you about my opponents.

UTG. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is a typical 6-max player (already pretty loose aggressive) and 10 is a bona fide maniac, UTG is about a 7 or an 8. He's raising and reraising with 50% of his hands preflop (I'm not exaggerating; that's his pokertracker number), He is, however, considerably more conservative/sane after the flop.

CO. I don't know much about CO. He's just sat down. He's not in my database. All I know is that he bought in for exactly $308.

BB. BB is a whale. He's got $2000 in virtual chips in front of him but is just an awful player. He'll see about 60% of flops, and doesn't seem to be sensitive to the number of bets it will take to do so. He'll never raise before the flop himself. He's a calling station on later streets.

Button. That's me.

I have a great hand. An Ace and a Ten, and they're both red.

Anyway, UTG predictably open-raises, and the CO cold calls.

Now if it was just me and UTG, I'd 3-bet here in a second. But the CO is in the way. And the BB is about fifty percent likely to come along for the ride even if I do 3-bet.

Do I cowboy up and 3-bet my ATo for value here? Consider a cold call instead? Just fold it?

[bad beetz]

with a coldcaller and a loose ass big blind, it makes a big difference to me if they're suited or not.

Suited I say coldcall or three bet it's close either way.

Unsuited I say muck.

[Clarkmeister]

Against the players you describe, with that hand and the button, I am 3-betting every single time.

[elysium]

hi nate
the player UTG that you're describing is not the classic maniac. but let's say he was just that. and let's say that from the button with your AT, you could get him heads up. i know, i know.....but let's just say.

you should still fold the AT.

we all have heard that if a maniac is on your right, we should raise to get him heads up with hands like AT. but this is not true when the maniac is acting UTG or UTG+1 and raising into many. in those cases you still need a reasonable hand to call that raise.

just like wine improves with age, the maniac improves as his RHO's check. you need this special ingredient to give the maniac brew its robust aroma and full flavor. if his LHO's then fold to you, we speak of the maniac as being 'in the keg'. i took on just such a maniac in '99, a very good year.

once you have the maniac all to yourself, and the checks to him have caused the fermentation process to sweeten with all the weakness shown, you can now lay ax into the barrel and have a maniacal shower of fun. but remember; the little ol' winemakers like me know that the best maniacs are those who are not only maniacal on the vine, but who also have early weakness sweetness and have preciously been checked to.

[Ulysses]

[sam h]

[ QUOTE ]
just like wine improves with age, the maniac improves as his RHO's check. you need this special ingredient to give the maniac brew its robust aroma and full flavor. if his LHO's then fold to you, we speak of the maniac as being 'in the keg'. i took on just such a maniac in '99, a very good year.


[/ QUOTE ]

i disagree with you ely, but i don't care. this was just too good. up there with your hendrix burning the guitar on stage metaphor of some time back.

[glen]

"just like wine improves with age, the maniac improves as his RHO's check. you need this special ingredient to give the maniac brew its robust aroma and full flavor. if his LHO's then fold to you, we speak of the maniac as being 'in the keg'. i took on just such a maniac in '99, a very good year."

[rigoletto]

In a shorthanded game I favor the raise because: you need to 3-bet with a variety of hands to stay hard to read. You tie your opponents to the pot when you hit (because you'll 3-bet with a variety of hands) and the BB helps finance your raises. With the mainiac in there it's in effect a 20-10-20-20 game.