How to take care of all the time raiser?

Ok well at 2nl tables, i see raises coming from one guy how should i take care of him???? And they tend to raise from UTG, BB, SB, cutoff and button....
How should i play with someone like that???

Generally when people are playing loose you tighten up, and when people are playing too tight you can loosen up a bit.

Is that right really? I mean is that what all the books/pros say? When I see someone playing like that, I lay in wait like a sleeping shark. And I will loosen up my own game. Their predictabily will bite them hard in the ass when I finally have something, almost anything. A good reraise or two usually sends them crawling back in their corner, especially if you win a hand (hopefully from them) that goes to showdown.

Depends a lot on what they do after the raise. If you raise do they fold? If you call do they keep betting? Usually you can call this type of player down a lot lighter though because what used to just be an average/ok hand is now much better than the hands he's playing.

The only thing you can do is pick your spots wisely, the last thing you want to do is get involved in a monster pot with a speculative hand where you are at the will of the deck...Playing against people like this can get frustrating, especially if you're card dead, but it's always better to lose a few small pots than make a mistake and drop a big one.

Is his raising consistent with a maniac? If so then the way to play against a maniac is to tighten up, wait for a monster, and allow him to bluff his way to doubling you up.

If he is a standard player who seems to always make a raise in late position, the reason is because he is getting paid off. Clearly he is viewing the table as overly tight and your constant folding does nothing but prove his suspicion right. Fire back at him a couple times or you can treat him the same way as a maniac. IMO, though, he's most likely going to fold to any pressure if he is intelligent. He is simply continually betting because he has yet to run into serious pressure.

Thanks a bunch guys/gals

I agree with most of the above. I'd play it like Nickmond said...wait and wait, then pounce hard. But, it can be expensive to chase a draw to a monster. One other option, if this raiser is clearly trying to bully the table, is to move to another table.

Though it is hard to move to tables when there in every game.... I will keep it in my mind next ring game i play.. thanks

3 bet him, have position, and play top pair like nuts and let him do the betting when you hit.

At 2nl it would be a common problem I think. Not much different than a freeroll, imo. Many raisers like that are there for the fun, entertainment and excitement - not the profit. They want a story they can tell to their buddies at the water cooler or the local bar later about 'how I took this monster hand down'. Their losses are never mentioned.

Maybe they simply read a book and followed selective memory priciples. "Be aggressive in those certain positions, the raiser always wins the pots."

You may also be playing the kings and queens of the lotto/bingo world. They really don't care what hand they are playing. ATC can win. Some advice above says to lay in wait for your own monster to take them down. Who says you WILL? The next post will be in the Bad Beat forum threads about "what was this #$%hole thinking...??"

If you're running pretty hot or above variance, you'll win some. If not, your br is suffering. If there are 'always' raisers like that at every 2nl table and you can't just keep moving, remember, you are playing penny ante poker with Uncle Fred and Aunt Martha who brought their jars of pennies with them for the weekend game.

The other day entered a ring game and the player to my right raised every hand. If someone raised entering the pot he would reraise. In fifteen minutes he tripled his buy in knocked two people out an pissed off almost everyone at the table. Took my original buy-in on what turned out to be the first showdown I'd seen him have. I had AK with a K on the flop so I shoved and he called and showed 5d3d and won with a flush on the river. In the past I would rant but this time I reloaded and did exactly what Skidmark and Divebitch mention above. Sat back waited until I had a monster, called his initial raise and his subsequent raises on the flop and turn and then reraised on the river all in . He called I won. Couple of hands later reraised him large and he folded. Keep an eye on how much these guys will fold to. Because they're bluffing most of the time they have a certain level of reraise that they will not call unless they have a good hand. A semi bluff can quiet them down for awhile. And when you have a LAG at your table, as has been stated many times in these threads, let them bet into you. It can be frustrating at first to play against players like this, but if you're patient it will pay off. Btw this guy lost everything in two hands betting heavy on middle pair.

I disagree slightly with the sit back and wait for a monster advice or maybe I just disagree on what a monster is against a guy who's like a 90/50 type. Against these players I'll play for stacks preflop with hands like AT+/KJ+. Yes it's high variance but long-term it's profitable. You really need to take these guys $$ while they still have it (because they never do for very long) and it never hurts your image if people see you shove 100BB over a 3bet with AJ.

My mistake. You are correct. I shouldn't have said monster because the hand I sat back with and let him bet into me until I shoved on the river was TT with a very weak board. And the hand that I reraised him with to get him to fold was indeed AJ and a rainbow 729 flop. So "monster' isn't the term I should have used. And yes get some while you can because you're right,they are not going to be around long. As stated,this player lost it all in two hands.

I agree with all this except the story telling part as it dont really pertain that much to your problem at hand.I would advise to tighten up and wait for your monster hand.Playing against guys like this is just like live poker.I have seen it too many times playing live as well.People play any two cards and may lose on average $15-35 a hand but when they win it will felt someone.These kinda people have more money they you and you know what they say "Big bank takes little Bank".I try to avoid tables like this.Sometimes the hands just never come and when it does show-up it gets sucked out on and like Nick said you will find a continuation thread in Bad Beats...

I have to go after them, they are coming after me at the tables now....
I have had some bad beats from not watching the cards .
Or i piss someone off at a table and they start, with raising... I did take notes on some, that some will raise with low cards and limp in with high cards, i only picked it up after some showdowns.

I will call with low PP on them

I'm not a pro or anything but I do alright in the tourneys with guys like this. I try not to worry about their game and stick to how I play my game. If your game is stable, you can wait these guys out till either they are out or til you hit the cards you need to build your stack. I never try to play someone elses game or even change my principles of play. I switch up my game a little at first to throw guys off but at the same time I try to stay persistent to my style of play. The all-inners really irritate me especially when their stack equals mine, but I don't challenge them until my stack is larger or I get dealt a monster, and never challenge with cards that are not premium.

Thats true, and after you hit a monster, it seams like they back off some like the full house i let him fall in to

Alot of sound advice here guys.

There's nothin worse than when one of those all-inners goes all-in with K-3 os the first hand of a tourney and doubles or triples up.

Nothing frustrates me more than putting up with their constant all-ins, then getting a hand like K-Q s and running into A-K. I know K-Q is not an all in hand but I have done it out of pure frustration.

IMO, the key to taking these A-holes down is P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E! And lets face it, poker is a game of patience and picking the right spots with a little splash of luck on top!!!

To let you know this is for a ring table 2nl .01/.02 and not a tourney... Though the ones in tourneys are easy to nail
I wait till i get a great hand and pounce on them Thanks guys/gals

Thanks a bunch, and it works I was calling raises and was hitting
Also going loose worked on a tight table, i was playing tight, and after losing some i went loose and won
Thanks for fixing a leak in my game.
Sorry for adding one more post, but i wanted you to know how it went.

You know... manics are a great source of income for solid players in the long run. You may lose a stack here or there against them, but if you keep you cool and stick to a good TAG game (in THEIR presence! when there is no maniac then it is sometimes good to be the perceived maniac. ), then you are going to make money over the long term.

Of course, the vast majority of maniacs are bad players, and even more so at 02nl. But now and then you will run into a gifted ultraLAG maniac even at 02nl.

There is an art to steamrolling a table, and there are those who can pull it off now and then. Look at Dwan or Ivey for example. They can go into this mode quite profitably when it is the right thing to do.

So this leads me to the bit of advice I waded in to give...

If you sense you are in the presence of a truly good ultraLAG player and/or the maniac has knocked you off your A game (even if he sucks he might get under your skin) it is always prudent to at least consider standing up and taking your chips off the table.

I'm not saying you shouldn't learn to play back at bad players...

I'm saying you should learn WHEN to walk away.

Sometimes this has as much to do with YOU as it does our lovable maniac.

Thanks cAPSLOCK, and thats true. It is nice to know i can semi bluff at 02nl, and it even nicer to know you can hit your hand and get payed for it, even if i was semi bluffing.
I am so glad i found CC, i would not have found some leaks if it was not to you guys and gals.

Well you know he is raising with nonpremium hands first of all, so you
need to exploit that fact to your advantage. You first have to see how
many people there are on each table. If there are a lot, well you have
more time to wait for your monster since the blinds wont be coming to
you any time soon. If there are less people at the table, you have to find
the right situation to reraise the raiser, even if its with a not so good hand.
If the person by any chances calls your raise, well this could be a big
advantage to you. If good cards come, perfect chance to bluff him out.
If bad cards come, its more than likely that you will pair with your bad
cards, and by you raising he will think your bluffing and youll win even
more money!! Nice isnt it! just dont use it against me hehe!

No matter what don't let them get to you.


Catch them when you can and let them drive the pot.
But be careful they catch hands at the worst moment.




Good Luck

i would say be patient and wait for a good hand then keep letting him bet and nail him big on the river it might require a few mins but this strategy should work for you gl!

Wait for your hand, and let him bet first. Check him to the river and then raise after. Do this a couple of times. Then Do it once with a hand you would typically throw away. Except, call him only after the flop. If he does not raise at the turn, call again. He may think you are doing the same thing and give you a look at the river without a bet. If you fold, you confirmed that you may stay in with loosing hands. This should throw him off and now you can play your good hands again, checking to river and then raising.

I he raising every hand? Or maybe just getting great hands and betting them? Not sure how many times per round hes raising. Also,how many people at the table? If he's just a maniac I would tighten up. If you get a reasonably good hand try a reraise and see if he's just an aggro/calling station.

They use to get to me and now they don't and now i just wait for a good hand, and call there raise now, and then check raise them on the river, and they call it
I would not call a raise before, and found out i just need to wait for a good hand and call them, and even fire out a bet on the flop to get a fold...

Thanks Guys/Gals you helped show me i should not be thrown off of a good hand by a raise.

The worst thing is that you can't read these people well .

If the maniac raises all the times preflop , he will make a continuation too if someone calls him ,often he will get a big amount of chips and loose it all in one or two hands.

Patience is very important against these players even if they get you very fast on tilt , try to get the right spots to get his chips.

I like check/raising a good hand vs an aggressive opponent. Typically if there is someone that active at your table you can wait for a good spot to take advantage of it. I prefer a really active table so I can sit back and pick good spots and I won't have to force the action.