playing against a maniac

[M.B.E.]

Yesterday I was playing in a great game with the biggest maniac in Vancouver (probably Canada). [Note for skp and other local players: it's the maniac who doesn't understand English and plays poorly throughout, not the maniac who talks constantly trying to psyche out his opponents and actually plays pretty well postflop.]

This guy, who was sitting three seats to my right, has a raise-limp-fold ratio preflop of about 60-30-10.

My question is, what do I do when there's one or two EP limpers, the maniac raises, and I'm on the button with something like KJo or KTo. Obviously these are clear folds against run-of-the-mill loose bad players, but against this particular raiser those hands seem too good to fold on the button. Three-betting is a reasonable option, but because everyone knows this guy is a maniac the isolation play doesn't really work. (If the maniac had open-raised and no one else were in except the blinds, then I would three-bet KJo or KTo on the button automatically. But I'm talking about situations with one or two limpers before the maniac's raise.)

This situation arose a few times yesterday. The first time I cold-called with KJo and proceeded to win a sizeable pot when I turned a straight. Another time I cold-called with K9o and proceeded to lose a fair bit when the flop came king-high. Two of my opponents (one in the SB, one an EP limper) had KQ and split the pot. The K9o should have been folded preflop obviously -- I admit that I misplayed it. But I think my preflop coldcall on the KJo hand was the optimal play. Comments?

[skp]

That's a toughie.

I have no idea what the correct play is. Perhaps, I draw the line at KJ i.e. play KJ, fold KT. Play AT, fold A9 etc.

BTW, what do you do with 76s and the like here?

[brad]

i dont know if your other opponents are tough then theyre going to start limping with like AJs, AQs, KQs , maybe even AKs from early position and let maniac be himself.

so i guess what im saying is that maybe these early positon players might have position on you since youre first to act after maniac.

something to think about anyway.

[M.B.E.]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
BTW, what do you do with 76s and the like here?

[/ QUOTE ]I tend to call, but I might rethink that. If there's two limpers and then the maniac raises, then calling on the button with 76s has to be correct. The pot's going to have either five- or six-way action. If there's one limper (or none) before the maniac raises, and nobody has coldcalled the raise, I'd say it should be folded. Maybe occasionally three-bet, attempting to knock out the blinds. The problem is that this guy is so hard to bluff out. He does fold sometimes postflop (including folding middle pair on the river -- I've seen it) but not enough. Probably a button three-bet with 76s would be worth while against a player who's a loose raiser preflop and never folds postflop -- because then you could often make money value-betting when you hit a small pair and he has nothing. That's just speculation.

"Reese" is the only word in English he knows. He has always played like that since I first met him a year ago. But he can afford it. Word is that he owns or partly owns Yao Han Shopping Centre in Richmond. In one game about a month ago, he was seated on my immediate left and when I thought I had an advantage, I checkraised him which happened more than a dozen times making for gigantic pots. I play tight against him and when he is in the game, I bring at least 2K to the 10-20 game at the HI.

[skp]

"Reese"..hehe...so true....but who are you???!

Skp, I think I may have spoken with you once or twice at the HI or in Richmond's GCC but then it may have been a case of mistaken identity. If I remember your photo (from the old 2+2 format) correctly, I am almost sure it was you. I think I have seen you play at the HI and I am really impressed with your game. I play at the HI maybe once or twice a month. I play mostly at private games and if I am not doing well at these games, I go down to the Richmond 4-8 game. I also play at the Loggers at Hastings and Carrall but seldom go there now because of the rough neighbourhood. After 6PM they have a dealer's choice 5-10-20 game of hi-lo including even HE hi-lo! But as I said, I am just too scared to walk outside after the game unless I am with some of my poker buddies. I am Asian, mid fifties with receding hairline but to be honest with you, I feel comfortable and would rather be incognito.

[skp]

Well, if you were impressed with this chap's play, it must be a case of mistaken identity :-)

Thanks for the response and I can understand your wish to remain incognito.

Ciao