rate my play

[ripdog]

Two hands, UB $1/$2 PLO high:

1) I call from the small blind with a hand that contains 44. I'm thinking to myself 'be very cautious here!'. Flop comes K 4 6. UTG maniac bets the pot, UTG+1 calls, I call. Pot is now ~$40. Turn is a J and puts two spades on board (no spade draw for me). Maniac bets pot (just like I knew he would), UTG+1 calls, I pause for a second and raise to $160. Maniac folds immediately, UTG+1 thinks long and hard, then folds. Claims to have had KK, which I seriously doubt. The player seemed to be pretty good--not one to fold the nuts on the turn.

2) Against same maniac, I pick up 8 8 10 Q and call the maniac's standard pre-flop raise. Three of us see a flop of K 9 7 rainbow. Maniac bets pot, fold, I call. The turn is a J. Maniac bets pot, I raise pot, maniac immediately folds. I take down ~$80. Should I have risked just calling and seeing the river? Maniac would have certianly bet the pot again on the river, plus I knew that it was likely that he would dump his hand quickly if I raised the max. My thought at that moment was that I would really kick myself if the board paired because he would apply pressure no matter what he had in his hand. Does anybody risk it here?