[Harv72b]

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(Newbie here, so what do I know, but...)

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How long you've been here doesn't matter; they don't start sending you poker vitamins through the mail after so many posts. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

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1. by waiting for the maniac to bet the flop, this might encourage the others to call the flop bet even with not much of a hand. Perhaps they also realize he's an insane maniac and have no respect for his bets and raises.

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This is pretty much a hit or miss flop for anyone in the hand. Either they have a pair, a flush draw, or they're willing to call with overcards or a gutshot or what have you. Nobody is folding a 7 on this flop (or anywhere in the hand once the other one comes on the turn), nobody is folding a flush draw on the flop, and if a guy is willing to call 1 bet from Hero with overcards, then he'll surely be willing to call 2 bets after a maniac raises. Besides which, on the off chance that one of Hero's opponents is a thinking player, he will intepret Hero's lead bet as some sort of a draw rather than a made hand.

Finally, nobody ever believes you flopped quads. Especially when you fastplay them.

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2. It seems to me that maniacs start salivating at any sign of weakness in their opponents. By checking, then calling the flop, the maniac will think, "Ha ha look at that pathetic weakling with no hand, I will crush him into the dirt!" and from then on out, raise and reraise every bet made to him, sure that one more raise will make you fold.

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The problem is that Hero never bet in this hand. He check/called both the flop and turn, and then check/raised a double-paired, 3-suited board on the river. He never gave the maniac a chance to try and bully him down.

You have to be able to get inside a maniac's mind here. When he's raising wildly postflop, it's to represent the best possible hand at that moment--he could care less what you have. If you bet the flop, he's going to raise representing the 3. If you bet the turn, he's raising to represent the 7. On the river you can take your pick between either of them or a flush. He will raise, but only if you give him the opportunity. And when Hero check/raises the river, all he does is scare the living bejeezus out of the maniac because that's what a maniac typically does when he does flop the nuts...and the maniac now knows that Hero is probably not going to fold, so what's the point in raising again?