[JJNJustin]

I would almost always fold. If you call and do manage to flop anything, it will most likely be a draw, either open-ended or gut shot 3-4 flush. You'll most likely be bet out of the pot on the flop by the raiser and the maniac, yet you'll be inclined to call, having just put 3-4 bets in preflop. You will get trapped in this hand, even if you catch a great flop.


Playing at a table with a maniac forces you to fold these very nice hands sometimes, which is one reason I hate to play with maniacs, but when you hold AA or KK or QQ you'll be loving it. Don't be tempted to call with non-top hands that cant handle 3-4 bets, thinking "the maniac is FOS. Therefore I can call." This type of thinking gets many a good player stuck for lots of $$ and on tilt, usually.
Dont be one of them.

One other piece of advice, is to walk away from the table and not watch the hand play. That way, if the cards fall in such a way that make you cringe and puke that you didnt call, you wont know about it and hence wont get on tilt because of it. The main thing to try to manage when playing with a maniac is to keep your tilt factor down as well as your SD. By walking away from the table, you wont know the results of the hand, and you wont be encouraged to call next time on the basis that last time you folded you would have won a big pot.

There is one situation where I might call- and that is when the original raiser fears me calling three bets cold and table is lose enough where I can expect a few calls behind me. But still, I would hate putting 3 and possibly 4 bets on this type of hand. Their main value comes in seeing the flop cheaply against many opponents with good position.

best of luck
-J

-J