Hand against a maniac with deep stacks (AK UI)

[Bukem_]

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He may be maniac, but why are you going out of your way to play a big pot vs him oop with ace high?

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I'm very open to suggestions for alternative lines....

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I'm playing at same time, so can't give long explanation, but wouldn't half pot vs him accomplish same thing on this type of hand? Seems like he is the type to not go anywhere, and trying to convince him he is drawing dead vs your overpair is spewing. Infact sometimes these types love to think they are clever and are more eager to call the big bets since everybody is trying to bluff them out.

I think a lot depends on both what he has been calling with, and how frequently he bluffs when he misses, you know answers to those better than us.

Are flop and turn value bets or bluffs? Kinda hard to play the river when it doesn't seem like you are too sure which one it is.

[yvesaint]

mmmm i dont like firing double barrels against maniacs/calling stations

check-call the turn, check-call the river unless its A or K, then bet out half pot

[KowCiller]

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Villain has been insane all night. Pushing with ridiculous hands like gutshots into obvious sets. He was at 2K when I sat. He went down to 200. He then got back up to his current stack without rebuying at all.

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So based on this, it sounds like check/call would be better than bet/fold. I'm not seeing any other flop/turn/river actions that are better.

KoW

[TheWorstPlayer]

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Infact sometimes these types love to think they are clever and are more eager to call the big bets since everybody is trying to bluff them out.

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I was thinking along these lines. That he would be happy to call even big bets with a flush or straight draw here because he wouldn't give credit for an overpair. But it seems we are drawing opposite conclusions. I think I have the best hand, he is drawing, and he will call big bets, so I made a big bet. You seem to have the same premises and then conclude that I should make a small bet. Maybe when you have more time you can explain why. Is it because you aren't convinced that I have the best hand?

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I think a lot depends on both what he has been calling with, and how frequently he bluffs when he misses, you know answers to those better than us.

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Basically normal maniac stuff. Calls with tons of random crap, bluffs all the time when he misses.

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Are flop and turn value bets or bluffs? Kinda hard to play the river when it doesn't seem like you are too sure which one it is.

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At the time I was quite certain that they were value bets. But now I'm not so sure.

[Bukem_]

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Is it because you aren't convinced that I have the best hand?



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I think you probably do you have best hand, board is actually pretty good for AK unimproved. Most of the time he has kt or something here.

But the problem with the protect your hand line is the horrible spot it leaves you with on the river. You now feel compelled to call any bet, and he can get huge value with a marginal hand if he is paying attention.

If he will bluff an amount you can figure out is most likely a bluff, then I like it better.

But with your stack I'm more inclined to avoid playing big pots oop vs him with marginal hands, and trying to get huge value with my good hands. I'd hate to have to work hard to double through again when there is a potential to win a hug pot when you have a near lock on a hand.

[wslee00]

will this maniac just call the flop and turn with that type of board? his smooth call with 3 7's on the board, tells me he has to have at least a 4 or PP. He has to know that any draw that he had before the 3rd 7 came out may now be drawing dead, so I don't think he would flat call on the turn. I don't think you can call a river bet here.

[AthenianStranger]

Well I posted a long reply which was subsequently lost in the void, so to summarize: I think betting the river is better than checking because you are showing aggression all the way, and you may get him to fold a flush draw containing a four or a six. By checking it is very likely that he will push and you will have a more difficult decision. I think a bet of 275 would be good. It's likely he has a missed flush draw with no pair, or even a missed straight draw with 56 and will fold his 6s on the river to what he thinks is an overpair.

Basically I think we've all been in such situations where we've called down with A-high and won, and been sure that we would win. It really depends on the maniac. Some will be passive postflop like this with missed overcards, and aggressive with small pairs. Many will call with missed cards in position when it's clear to them that you've missed, hoping to bluff the river. Many maniacs get like this in big-stack mode. That's why I think betting is better.

We have all bet/called with A-high on the river and lost, too.

[wtfsvi]

Does he really call the turn with anything you beat? Turn and river look like some serious spewing to me.

How would check call turn, check call river not be better? Not saying that would be optimal. He'd have to be extremely maniacal for it to be optimal.

[TheWorstPlayer]

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How would check call turn, check call river not be better? Not saying that would be optimal. He'd have to be extremely maniacal for it to be optimal.

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He was extremely maniacal. And check/call turn is not better if he is on a draw and will check behind.

[TheWorstPlayer]

OK, I hope people find this hand interesting. I think the discussion has been really good, thanks. So anyways, he bet $375 on the river into the $350 pot. Do you call or fold?