all-in gamble offered by a maniac preflop

[creedofhubris]

Here's our scenario: 5-10 NL, 10 players, $500 buyins. Well-heeled maniac announces that he will call any and all all-ins preflop. He proceeds to bet heavily and call all-ins with hands like QT, A7o, and 52s, refilling whenever he loses. Other players tend to be timid, and a lot of his raises are going uncalled. At this point he is betting 40 with about 2/3 of his hands.

Question: What hands do you push him all-in with? My plan was, big aces and pocket pairs above a five. (I was toying with the idea of any ace...) I pushed him all-in with AK (this is what started the whole mess, our game dissolved around us, we were heads-up, and I picked up AK...) and AJs, lost AKo to Q8s but beat QTo with AJs.

Phase two of not-a-thought-experiment: Maniac announces that he is keeping deal; he will call any all-ins after he raises preflop. However, maniac stops raising preflop nearly as often with junk hands, and now seems to be only raising with things like big aces and pocket pairs.

What do you push him all-in with here? I'm thinking that we now move up to at least jacks.

[Garland]

Wow...Get me into this game.

As to his first offer, I'd say JJ or higher (10s may be acceptable) and AK or AQ suited or not. Other pocket pairs are way too vulnerable to gamble all-ins with (even with random hands). Plus you might have to deal with other players who might take him up on his offer as well!

As for his 2nd offer of calling all-in reraises, I'd kick it up to QQ and higher and AK.

Big bet is a game of big adjustments. If you adjust well, you'll find yourself with a lot of the maniac's money.

Garland

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow...Get me into this game.

As to his first offer, I'd say JJ or higher (10s may be acceptable) and AK or AQ suited or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

Man, that's really tight. Maniac's gonna call you with random cards! A lot of it depends on how many others are in the pot that could call you. But frankly, if everyone is aware of and believes Maniac's deal, I don't think you're going to see any limp-reraising (or limp-calling all-in) - it's more profitable to just get all-in with Maniac. If it's folded to you on the SB and Maniac is BB (admittedly, this is most push-favorable situation) I'd push with K9, 55, all kinds of crap. Assuming, of course, I had the bankroll for these things, and with a $500 buy-in, I definitely don't.

But anyway, I'd push a lot - Maniac will only lose so much money before he leaves, and you want your shot at as much of it as possible.

[Garland]

You're right. I am tight, and I fold a lot of winning hand. I'm not ashamed of it. I simply pick the spots where I feel I have the best of it in big bet. Often times I fold the winning hand because I don't like my odds of finishing in first by the river.

I was given the impression by the post that Maniac has deep pockets and can reload many times.

That said, you're also right. Maniac's offer is for a limited time only, and my line was generic for if many other players had not acted yet. I would make an adjustment for the number of players who have already folded. In the SB vs BB scenario you stated, I would push with a lot more hands such as A9->AK, KQ, KJ and pocket pairs down to 7.

Garland