How to deal with someone who PFR 100%. Cold Call?

[JacksonTens]

I was at a game on the weekend and there was this guy who PFR every hand for four hours. He was the most aggressive player I've ever seen, also the loosest, because he always capped it if 3-bet, and always raised or folded, never called. He usually went to the river. Needless to say he lost around $700 or so playing $4-8 in that 4 hours. I was wondering if the way I dealt with him was the best. I have done a bit of reading on cold calling that it is not an optimum play in many situations, so I told myself that I would never do it. So every time I came in I three bet or completed my big blind. I once completed the BB with J9s. Too loose? Also I 3-bet with ATs. But overall I simply had to play only starting hands I would raise with, which led to even tighter play. Quite often we would get 3 or 4 to the flop. There was occasions where I lied to myself by limping and then simply called his raise so I could come in for the $8. As Cold calling does seem quite weak to me. Anyway, how would you deal with this maniac?

[AnyTwoCanLose]

If he's playing EVERYTHING... then you need to loosen up considerably.

Calling's not by definition weak... there are drawing hands and made hands.

When you say aggresive post flop... what do you mean? Raises everything... raises whenever there's no raise in front of him... or is more random?

Don't not cold call because you read in a book that it's a mistake. You need to understand WHY...

[pzhon]

Someone who raises with every hand is posting an extra blind.

Do you always open-raise against the usual blinds? It is correct to limp some of the time. That corresponds to cold-calling. That should be right with speculative hands that are not much of a favorite over a random hand, if at all, but could hit the flop hard.

When you would normally raise the blinds for value, you should reraise the maniac.

[Jeebus]

Ideally I sit to the guys right and try to three bet your good hands to keep as many others out when he caps. Then since his hands are random and your hands are good put the money in on decent to good flops and hope he doesnt suck out. Or try to just play the other players and let him be a wild card.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

It depends on how the rest of the table is adjusting.

If players are respecting you when you three-bet hands, then you try to isolate. If players are loosening up and calling even if you three-bet and many pots are five-way, then you play more drawing hands and bet and raise for value after the flop.

For example, you can isolate the maniac with KJ off (and if you get it heads up, you might be required to call a true maniac down with king-high on a non-scary board), but if your three-bet will often result in a capped five-way pot then you would be better off just calling if you are going to play the hand.

[danzasmack]

I was in the exact same situation at a 4/8 game as chance would have it. The guy was to my left and when he would miss a raise he would give someone across the table $4 to make the rasie for him (the dealer did nothing about it and i didn't care so i didn't say anything - the rest of the players seemed to know him)! I started only playing suited cards and every pocket pair. I ended up very much in the + when i flopped a flush with 6h2h and boated up with my 22. The table had a very high EV simply because nobdoy respected his raise at ALL, but would simply cold call. One guy tried to pay very tight but got so frustrated he would start saying things like "RAISE - Under the gun" as a way of trying to say he had a premium hand. Personally, I don't care if i win with 27o or AA, if i had odds and it holds up, im all about it.

(the 2h6h hand i was in BB...hahaha)

So my best advice is to account for the fact that the player will always raise and become more passive, as techinically you can win a smaller percentage of hands.

[smokingrobot]

got the same issue here at a 3/6.

maniac to my left etc. i tightened up a bit, took him with a solid hand, then played meekly and raised him on the river with a scare card (A). he folded and i showed him my 6,6, which was pretty much beat by 3 of the cards on the board...

i dont know. i played loose against him and wound up losing to his pocket A's twice. i guess i chose the wrong times to call his bs.

i like him in there, he builds pots to incredible amounts and 95% of the time, he has no hand whatsoever.

[Cerril]

It really depends on how most pots go to the flop, and how the play is postflop

If the loose guy is taking over the raising for the table, then you can have a strong grip by getting to decide whether a pot is capped or goes through for one bet. Your implied odds on every hand are great, but remember that they're cut in half from the beginning so don't get too crasy. Play solid hands that can make monsters and the upper hands you would normally play.

If the table isn't adjusting properly and treating his raises as loose but not automatic then be more careful about playing anything but heads-up with the guy. Anyone else in the hand has something better than a normal holding. Stick to normal CC standards when there are callers but loosen up on isolation 3-bets.

If the table is essentially ignoring his raises and 3-betting with raising hands and calling with calling hands, treat the entire game as normal but keep in mind that your implied odds are drastically reduced (think a game with .5/1BB blinds rather than .5/1SB), so think more in terms of equity and pot odds and reduce the implied odds (this means that it's probably not going to pay off to get involved in a capped preflop with small pairs, or hands involving small cards (34s, A2s) even though you know there will be a lot of action postflop).