Maniacs

I've been running into a slew of them recently, online and off.


Maybe the moon is in Sagitarius at the moment, maybe black cats are sleeping on tombstones at night. Whatever, these people are being drawn to me like magnets. I'm enjoying it immensely.


So why is a maniac a maniac? I'll give you an example from several sessions over the past few days.


I had noticed this guy post UTG, which immediately caught my interest. He open raised, it was reraised etc, etc. The end result was many big bets by the river with a basically trash board. His opponent took it down with QQ. Manny the Maniac typed a delberately mispelled obscenity into the chat window as his 22 was shown. He then went on to type "What kind of game is this?"


He proceeded to either open raise or reraise for the next couple of hands, succeeding in stealing either the blinds or on the flop. I was keenly interested by now but unable to challenge him. Then he open raised from one off the cutoff. The cutoff called and I reraised from the button with KJo. The big blind called, Manny reraised, cutoff folded and I capped it. The blind called. The flop came trash. The blind checked and Manny and I did our thing to the river. My king high won and I wasn't very surprised. What did surprise me was that he typed "At least you know how to play poker."


Before the flames come, please, this is not about my play on this hand. I was testing a theory, that's all, and it happened to work. As an aside I continued to enter five capped hands with him, winning four of them. The others finally caught on and started to party too. Fortunately I felt I'd pressed the limits as it was and to my great delight his Q5 ended in a boat to his opponents AA etc.


So what makes a guy like this tick? What does he want when he puts his chips on the table? Obviously I like him in the game, but it's a bit sad too. Especially when others start criticising his suckouts and he leaves.


Thanks for any insights. Billy (LTL)

Suicide mission or a drowning guy taking people down with him come to mind. I think a lot of players seek to self destruct. Maybe it gives them a feeling of control over their demise when they don't get that feeling in life.

Hello Billy,


Since you asked so politely and did not criticize my brethern too harshly I shall attempt to explain our thought processes. It will not be either easy to explain nor understand but will do my best.


First the early post: This is an attempt to intimadate the table ASAP. You will see IMMEDIATE results from this simple act alone. A refined, knowlegdable and astute poker player such as yourself will understand the mistake so I must then raise to confuse even you.


Second the consistent raising: My hands are never exposed using this strategy. When I do flop a monster or make a miracle catch I get paid off handsomely and collect a monster pot. Ocassionally the KJ high hand you describe will fold if unimproved and I am able to flash my 72 Sooooted and smile broadly while raking in my chips.


Third my departure: It is critically timed as to apperar that I am offended by the criticism. In reality this is the pinacle of my session and can derive little pleasure after I have shown and proved my superior knowledge and their inferiority. Ocassionally I will come back to the table and lurk hoping to acquire more insults annomously.


Forth do not be sad: I will return either with the chips I have won or with a fresh stack. I can afford to mess with the minds of low limit players for as long as they can take it. My highs do not last as long as in the past so I must return for a recharge more often but as long as the bankroll is there so I will be too.


Signed Maniac Mike


(---aka Jimbo /images/smile.gif ---)

see you at UB soon Billy !!!

egotism fuel the maniacs.

Maniac Mike's words speak for themselves. But those are not his words,but the words of his friend,"Ego".

A maniac,such as Mike,does not play his own cards. He surrenders all his cards to his friend "Ego" who enjoys squandering Mike's chips.

Since "Ego" is Mike's friend , Mike doesn't mind giving his chips to "Ego" to play for him.

After all,neither one gives a "hoot" about money.

For most poker players,playing poker is sometimes a humbling experience.

However,there is a group of players who have taken anti-humbling syrums. These players are known as "maniacs".


Happy pokering,

Sitting Bull

Nick the Greek said that on a deeper level, "We all get what we want out of the casino". I agree completely.


By playing in a loose-aggressive manner in medium ante ring games (where the optimal mode should be tight-aggressive), the maniac is attempting to fulfill some positive intention for himself thru the behavior of playing like a maniac. And I emphasize the word POSITIVE intention.


This positive intention could be "excitement", "challenge", "to fight boredom", "to feel powerful", "to win" (as in the case of the maniac who is unknowledgeable of which gear is optimal where), "to attract attention", and so on depending on the specific "maniac" in question.


You see, metaphorically, we all have parts running inside each and everyone of us. We have a part that wants to enjoy and have fun; we have a part that wants to be respected; a part that wants to achieve; a part that wants to make money; a part that wants to belong, and so on.


Each of these parts carry out behaviors that have a positive intention(s) for us. Furthermore, and this is the most important point of this post, each of these behaviors (make that, all of our behaviors) are appropriate in some contexts and inappropriate in other contexts. For example: the behavior of shouting is appropriate during a sporting event but inappropriate inside the library; the behavior of killing is appropriate when you're trying to rid your kitchen of cockroaches but is inappropriate when you shoot a fellow human being with an AK-47 assault rifle along the 101 Freeway; the behavior of overeating could be appropriate if you just got rescued after having been isolated in a deserted island for four months, but is in appropriate if you're at the Bellagio buffet, just ate 8 prime ribs and are about to puke and can barely breath - a day after your doctor just told you to watch your cholesterol level or else you'll die of a massive heart attack within a few weeks. You get the picture.


What has happened with the maniac is that he is bringing a positively intended behavior (for example, playing loose aggressive in order to bully the table with the positive intention of "to feel powerful") into a context (a fullhanded medium ante ring game) which is inappropriate for such a behavior. Yet if you ask him, "What's your motive for playing poker?", he'll answer you with, "To win, of course. Why else would I be playing!". This is the conscious mind talking. Yet he is behaving in such a way that is INCONGRUENT with what he is saying. There is something else going on at the unconscious level.


What the maniac is really experiencing is what's called "inner conflict" between two or more of his positively intended parts WHILE he is operating within the context of a fullhande limit ring game. The part of him that inappropriately wants "to play in a maniacal manner"(Part B) has been interferring with the part of him that appropriately wants "to play optimal poker and win in the long run" (Part A).


In order to resolve this conflict, the person must first realize that there is nothing wrong with him. He has just merely been termporarily having a positively intended part that tends to carry out it's positive intentions thru a behavior that is not appropriate within a given context. He must, therefore, thank this part for it's positive intentions (this part is an ally and a friend not an "enemy from within that has to defeated" as some misguided though well intentioned people would want you to believe) and guide it in finding a choice of 3 or more contexts within which it's behaviors are appropriate. And to commit to carrying out those behaviors WITHIN those contexts ONLY instead of within the context in which it's positively intended behaviors was inappropriate and possibly "destructive". This process has to be done on a person to person basis because each person, in this case the "maniac", has different positive intentions and different degrees by which he carries out the behaviors that attempt to accomplish these positive intentions within the inappropriate context.


I hope this post has given some useful insights into why maniacs are maniacs, and more importantly, why otherwise intelligent people tend to do things that on the surface seem very stupid, incongruent, and so-called "self-destructive".

Excellent answers all and lots of food for thought. The one observation I made while I was out-maniacing Manny is that it was a hell of a lot of fun. As you know online play can be very fast, and capping each round without even bothering to look at the cards does produce a bit of a rush. Not a habit I plan to get into, but there is a certain excitement involved.


One interesting point. As Manny took the pot with a Q5 boat (capped as usual) his opponent started making comments about Manny's play. Among other things he typed something like "Let's play head-up tough guy."


Head-up my money is on Manny the Maniac. The tight-ass sore loser "expert" wouldn't stand a chance I reckon. Best of luck. Billy (LTL)

Why don't you just send me a check and get it over with!