[Groty]

I'm usually able to make decisions and act pretty quickly. But I agonized over this one. This guy was SOOOO loose. I was very tempted to push all in and put him to the test. Ultimately, I decided that with only $280 invested in the hand, and only 4 outs to improve if I was behind, I didn't want to gamble. Calling on the flop wasn't an option with decisions on two streets to come. It was either push or fold.

I finally said, "I'm pretty sure I'm mucking the best hand but go ahead and take it down. Nice hand. I fold." I mucked face up. He said, "sometimes I do have a hand" and showed me a monster. The 4c,5c for a made straight and an open ended straight flush draw. What a close call.

The guy really is a complete maniac though.

About 15 hands later, he got involved with a guy who flopped a straight. They managed to get all their money in on the flop. The maniac had the nut flush draw and hit the Kc he needed on the river to make his flush and bust his opponent for about $1000. The guy who lost slammed his hand on the table and made the "how could you call with that?" comment and stormed out.

Then, about a half hour later, maniac comes into a raised pot with Q8 and makes bottom pair on a rainbow, uncoordinated flop. The preflop raiser bets the pot and maniac calls. Turn comes another 8. PF raiser makes another pot size bet; maniac pushes; PF raiser makes a questionable call with AA. Maniac's overly loose play up to this point surely induced the call. Maniac's set holds up after the river is dealt and he took $1500 from that guy.

After watching my stack dwindle to about $2200 and manic's grow to nearly $6K, I decided it was time to leave.