a hand I lost

Sitting in a $4-$8 game featuring two maniacs who I've been playing with quite a lot recently. Maniac one raise utg. All fold to me on the button and I repop with a pair of red 10's. Maniac two calls in the small blind. Big Blind folds. Maniac one caps. Call. Call.


Flop KcKs4s


Maniac two checks. Maniac one bets. I raise. Maniac two calls. Maniac one reraises. I cap (Am I putting a good case for being renamed manaic three here?) Maniac two and one both call.


Turn 2h


Maniac two checks. Manaic one checks! I bet. Maniac two check raises. Manaic one folds. I call.


River 6s. Final board: KcKs4s2h6s


Maniac two ponders for a while and bets, I call.


He has 22 and takes the pot.


As usual I'd appreciate your thoughts on this one.

WOW. At first glance you are close to qualifying as maniac 3. But let's be less results oriented.


You made a judgement about your opponents and acted on it. Your judgement was right on you did have the best hand.....until.....the turn.


Now it comes down to what degree of maniac is he? I know some guys that are maniacs pre-flop and even post-flop, but actually play pretty well on the late streets. It's a pretty scary board to raise the turn on. He's saying he can beat 3 kings. He actually hasn't made a raise until this point. Unless you are sure he would play the same way with something like 99, you can muck it here.

i wouldve checked behind on the turn. use your position to save chips and cover your backend.

you lost 2 bets more than you shouldve. when i 1st read the turn play i saw check, check, call. i was like...who bet? i sometimes read a little too fast..then i saw it, and thought "uh oh"...

HU i may try to bet, but even then, idve checked it. this check may also induce a bluff on the end if he doesnt have it.


he also gave a subtle possible tell on the river with the 'ponder'. he knew he had the best. what could he put you on that you woudlnt 3 bet the turn, but now might raise? he beats a str8 or flush. and both beat you...id still call just to see it. does he think your reraising preflop with a low pkt pair? or K6? doubt it


the turn plays on these guys is where you can save alot of chips...


b

One thing I wouldn't have done is check along on the turn with the flush draw on the board. I like your bet here. The check raise is rather scary here though. With 13 BB in the pot I think you can call pretty easily here. I think your four outs, two tens and two Kings are still good. It seems unlikely that you are against a higher pair since your only opponent did not put in a raise pre-flop. If maniac two has a K, would he really check raise and risk giving a free card with only one player to act behind. It seems possible that he is on a draw himself since until now he hasn't raised himself. Check-raising a nut flush draw right after a player dropped to make it heads up seems like a typical maniac move. Otherwise its likely he has a pair smaller than yours. But could that two have helped him? If you told me he had a boat I'd have guessed 44 and K4 before 22. Having a boat does explain why he wasn't afraid of the free card though.


I would have folded the river. Is there even I seven percent chance you have the best hand (particularly after the flush comes). I doubt it.


Over all, based on the terrible play of your opponents, I think you made some money this hand.


OneTime

Jessica,


Well, you didn't win this hand, but you might have potentially got a wealth of information out of it. First, you learned that your opponent will cap it on the flop, with essentially nothing. This means that you probably can't lay down many hands against him.


Secondly, he showed that when he varies from his maniacal play, he might have something, which means that when he checks, you have to excersize some caution, and when he hesitates then bets, a little more caution might be advised.


You were ahead when he was blasting, but when he slowed down and got tricky you were behind. You might want to remember this if you play with him in the future and see if it holds up.


Good luck,

Play well,


Bob T.