ATs against a maniac trying to be fancy-tricksy. Party 3/6.

[nepenthe]

Note on the opponent here. Plays almost, but not quite, any two cards. Loves to raise preflop and reraise for isolation. Postflop, whenever a slightly dangerous card hits (i.e. flush, straight, paired board, the Ace, etc.), whether it be the flop, turn, or river, he has on more than one occasion bluffed/semibluffed at it. Very agressive with any kinds of draws - flush, OESD, gutshot, runner-runner flush. Capable of bluff-raising the river.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: nepenthe is UTG+1 with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
UTG folds, <font color="CC3333">nepenthe raises</font>, MP1 folds, <font color="CC3333">MP2 3-bets</font>, MP3 folds, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, <font color="CC3333">nepenthe caps</font>, MP2 calls.

Flop: (9.33 SB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">nepenthe bets</font>, MP2 calls.

Turn: (5.66 BB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">nepenthe bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">nepenthe 3-bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 caps</font>, nepenthe calls.

River: (13.66 BB) 2[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
nepenthe checks, <font color="CC3333">MP2 bets $5 (All-In)</font>, nepenthe calls.

Final Pot: 15.33 BB
<font color="green">Main Pot: 15.33 BB, between nepenthe and MP2.</font> [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

[Chris Daddy Cool]

On my less aggressive days I'm probably calling down after getting raised on the turn. But if you have a read on him as an utter maniac 3-betting is fine, but after you get capped, you check/call that river (if he had more money). In this case it doesn't matter because this dude's putting the rest of his money in the middle anyways.

[mikeyKay]

i think this is one of those cases where you are trying to punish a maniac with a marginal hand, these situations can lead to big time trouble. due to the nature of this player, i might think about limping to inspire other limpers..but that could be wrong. i dont know, maniacs are hard for me to handle, his cap on the turn is scary, but its a def call down. sorry im not much help on this one.

-mike

[Haupt_234]

[ QUOTE ]
due to the nature of this player, i might think about limping to inspire other limpers..

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no guarantee that MP2 will play the hand, and limping in EP with ATs is never good. It is best played against fewer opponents.

Haupt_234

[mikeyKay]

A 10s is a better heads up hand that multiway? i see the fact that it can be domiated, and i guess you want your high card to hold up or make top pair...but you really want to play this with as few people as possible? ive made my head spin a few times thinking about hands like AJ, and how raising it is sometimes a bad idea, because you will not get a better hand to fold, but you will knock out the aces with weaker kickers...i guess i felt that kind of applied to this situation aslo (maybe a stretch, and maybe even a bad concept). i just always thought suited hands that might have problems with kickers are better in multiway situations, and played looking for a big draw, and with big time caution if you make your pair. comments? what am i missing here?

-mike

[Haupt_234]

Well, the raise is better since it will knock a few players out with garbage hands they will normally limp with, including the blinds. AT, as higher cards, hold up more in a situation like this. Being suited is a bonus. I think the suitedness changes AT from a fold in EP to a raise, but never a call.

Also, using myself as an example, I fold AJo and usually AJs to any raise(AJs if there aren't many callers). I will sometimes toss away AQo to an EP raise as well. See where I am going with this?

Haupt_234

[mikeyKay]

i see where you are going...but you are a good poker player, the players at this level do not play as well as you do. i would imagine that there are players at this level that do not respect a PFR, and would call anyway, which kinda defeats my point of just calling to make people limp...poker is hard. i guess i just really dont like the idea of playing a maniac heads up (i think i used to get overly aggressive with them, screwed up a few times, and now to correct it ive become overly passive), and i was just trying to get around that, but that leads to not playing the hand correctly...i think. maniacs are a problem for me.

-mike

[Shawsy]

[ QUOTE ]
Note on the opponent here. Plays almost, but not quite, any two cards. Loves to raise preflop and reraise for isolation. Postflop, whenever a slightly dangerous card hits (i.e. flush, straight, paired board, the Ace, etc.), whether it be the flop, turn, or river, he has on more than one occasion bluffed/semibluffed at it. Very agressive with any kinds of draws - flush, OESD, gutshot, runner-runner flush. Capable of bluff-raising the river.


[/ QUOTE ]

I kind of like your line here, and have tried a similar approach with a maniac two to my left. (Unfortunately, even maniacs are dealt big pairs from time to time, and I lost a bundle making a flush when the maniac held KK and make kings full on the river. But that's my problem.) The maniac could have a lot of holdings based on your read of him. An overpair is possible, but his flop call leads me to think this is not the case. He might have made trip threes, but could just as easily be bluffing on the turn. I suppose A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] is a logical holding, but I would have expected a flop raise with that - bottom pair, overcard kicker and a nut flush draw.
I may not have 3-bet the turn, but the maniac is almost down to the felt in chips, so in this hand there is not much practical difference. He can't cap the river on you since he is out of chips.
Middle pair with a flush draw, or an open ended straight draw - both of which missed, are believable holdings for this type of player in my opinion. I expect your TPTK (actually 2-pair with the paired board) hand to be good much of the time.

As an aside, I really hate being at a full table with a maniac two to my left. I am out of position except from CO or Button. I am not sure how to handle maniacal-aggressive players when I am out of position like that.
I would much rather have the maniac immediately on my right so I can isolate him with my better holdings, and have position advantage and likely the better starting hand.
It is pretty early in my poker career, so maybe this is just lack of experience for me, but I move tables rather than stick around in these situations.

[nepenthe]

The guy had KJ offsuit. Two overcards + gutshot + headsup + chance I may be bluffing + paired board on turn = SEMIBLUFF CITY. [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Um, and he left shortly afterwards.

[TripleH68]

I like this play against this opponent because he is short stacked. Otherwise, I would surely slow down on the turn?