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#1
04-16-2005, 11:55 PM
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How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
... if you yourself are not a maniac and are not good at playing the role of one.
This is about a housemate I play with every night. Just about almost every single time I check when I'm first to act he bets something totally unreasonable. I try to play worse hands within reason, but I can't bet if I don't have SOMETHING to go on. And of course, when I finally get a pair and call him down all the way, he flopped the nuts. When I get a nice hand pre-flop, I raise huge the same way he does, but he calls practically every time and then outplays me once my hand misses, which discourages me from trying to raise at all. He always seems to pick the right times to push all-in pre-flop which is shocking since he does it WAY too often. The more I fold, the more greddy he gets. I've tried to play his game right back at him but I just don't have the instinct for it. I've tried to pick up tells on when he's bluffing, but it's no use. The only way I ever beat him is in lucky pre-flop all-ins and by catching the nuts and slow playing (which doesn't happen often enough). His aggression dominates me. What can I do to combat the maniac? 
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#2
04-17-2005, 12:04 AM
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Re: How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
Don't play HU with him anymore.
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#3
04-17-2005, 12:16 AM
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Re: How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
I have a general idea of what you're doing... you should play a lot more passively against him until you think you can push back. You say 'all-in' so you're looking at a no limit situation.
Don't draw on him unless his bet sizes are way too small, but work at inducing bluffs and bets from him when you do have a hand. Thing is you have to start letting go of your risk aversion. You have to be willing to get all your chips in when you're only a reasonable favorite rather than dominating him. The volatility of playing heads up is going to be huge unless you manage to catch some good cards quickly, and you can probably expect to lose 30% or more if he can play well enough that he's not a stupid maniac.
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#4
04-17-2005, 01:38 AM
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Re: How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
Just how passive should I get? Should I start folding small blind over and stop raising pre-flop?
It'd be one thing if we had mountains of chips. Then I could easily wait him out and slowplay his chips away, but when we do heads up we usually only start with 15 big blinds, so the first few pots are critical. It's an ideal setup for him really, but it's too late to change our format now.
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#6
04-17-2005, 02:45 AM
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Re: How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
Very simple...go all in when you have ANYTHING that is ok...like mid pair. If you do start with 15 bb, you should probably be going all in preflop some too, much like the end of a sng. When I play a 10 handed ring game, I play very TAG but when I play HU 15/30 I am a total maniac. Also, when you have about 100 bb or so, you can just sit around and wait for a hand but if you have 15 bbs, you simply have to reraise all in sometimes. I hope this helps.
~Jc
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#7
04-17-2005, 05:16 AM
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Re: How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
headsup against a "maniac" or more appropriately called "very aggressive player" is one of the most complicated situations to beat in poker. Headsup limit holdem correct strategy is very aggressive, you have to be in there stealing your fair share of pots or you will get run over by an aggressive opponent. I would advice all but the best players to avoid playing a so called maniac headsup, you would be much better off playing against this opponent in a 5 handed + game, where you can play tigher than him and more easily take advantage of his loose aggressive play and post flop wild bluffs. To properly play against a maniac headsup you almost have to become a maniac yourself, the game truly becomes a battle when you play a maniac headsup, and your variance will be enormous.
Best of Luck! Shawn "Lightning" Keller
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#8
04-17-2005, 05:51 AM
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Re: How do you beat a maniac who bluffs often in heads up?
I'm not experienced enough to make a strong statement, but someone who'll call your all ins isn't the same as someone who'll go all in themselves. The goal is the same, to have all your chips in as the favorite. So it's up to the player to decide whether the opponent will a) push with hands weak enough that he's easy to trap with moderate hands, b) call with weak enough hands that anything decent can be pushed with and and expectation of busting him quickly, or c) be so much tighter on the defense that the player can raise big (probably not all in) with anything even worth considering playing with the expectation of stealing far more than you lose when you're called.
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