Need advice on defeating a megalomaniac who has position.
 

Ok--I'll get straight to the point: 8 seated NL Hold 'Em tournament, $40 buy-in, $1-$2 blinds (we're college kids), a complete maniac seated directly to my left, and a table full of extremely tight players that hold on to their money like we're headed for another great depression. First of all, the guy to my left was consistently playing hands like J-3 offsuit, 6-2 suited, 8-5 offsuit (the hand he took out two players on) and so on. He made it nearly impossible for me to limp because of his constant re-raising, and he often stole the blinds sitting 2 or 3 seats off the button. I re-raised him a couple of times with pocket pairs, A-Q, or K-Q suited, and he would call and then promptly fold with my raise on the flop. I never really had a hand that I could sucker him in on unfortunately, and I didn't trust that the other kids were even competent or sober enough to slowplay this guy and take all his chips. Anyways--I'm wondering what the best way is to handle this frustrating situation. Wait for an incredible hand? Bluff the bluffer? What do I do? Thanks for any and all feedback.

Re: Need advice on defeating a megalomaniac who has position.
 

Unless you're "Lucky", incredible hands are hard to come by. Bluff the bluffer. Gus Hansen is a big bluffer. Most of the good Pro's are wise to hands, and call him. Show and tell should decide how to outplay the Bluffer.

"Luck Is God's Way of Blessing You." [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Need advice on defeating a megalomaniac who has position.
 

This guy may not be a total maniac, he has just adjusted to the game. If I were in a game with players throwing nickels around like man-hole covers, I would be pushing them around too.

If he is consistently in pots, and raising, drop your standards a bit and limp and when his raise gets back to you, reraise and isolate him unless there are other callers. If there are other callers, by your definition of the game, your hand is garbage. You might call if this is a small pair or suited connector, but big cards are now worth squat.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: Need advice on defeating a megalomaniac who has position.
 

Had one of these in our home game as well. I agree with Dogmeat completely. IMHO, once you take a couple of pots off him, he'll slow down, the rest of the table will see how to combat him (if they're sober enough) and then it's another adjustment on you to stay ahead of the table again.....

Re: Need advice on defeating a megalomaniac who has position.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I re-raised him a couple of times with pocket pairs, A-Q, or K-Q suited, and he would call and then promptly fold with my raise on the flop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Who claimed that you need a hand like AQ to do this? You play back at him a few times with other holdings and he will usually slowdown when you are in the pot.

Re: Need advice - Excellent point!
 

Excellent point by Nottom that is often forgotten when giving advice here!

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: Need advice on defeating a megalomaniac who has position.
 

There's one of these in my home game as well. I tend to just let him bet my hands for me. If I show aggression he gets out of the way, but as long as I'm passive he just keeps betting his junk hands. I make a lot of river raises/check-raises against him. I'm the only one in the game that has adjusted to his style of play.