Impossible to play a Maniac?

I don't know how to play against these types of players, yet at the same time there the ones I seek out to play because there the ones that do all the crazy stuff...I recently played a session .01/.02 6max where I was doing great I was up 3 buy ins with in 30 minutes (Nice so I was about to leave), when this maniac sat down...How do I know he/she was a maniac well, They played every hand with a raise, and if someone raised they RR, and If the player 3 bet they called and were willing to stack most flops, not to mention the hands they played were different K6o/73s/92s/A7o/ so forth and so on...So I mean table was nice no need to leave just yet...

Long story short I ended up losing the 3 buyins I was up+My initial buy-in..


So my question now is this A)Do I just tighten up my range to the point that I'm only playing AK/AQs/JJ/10s/QQ/KK/AA against this player? Or B)Loosen up to the point where I mean hell, I must hit something on sort sort of flops by playing 98s/87s/67s/9-10s/J10s/KQs+Any pairs...

Exactly how do you proceed against Maniacs, with extreme Caution or What? My last hand was Questionable but I mean hell at the point I was "FURIOUS" to be losing to this guy out flopping/Rivering/Turning...

I raised 89s Button into his Blind he calls I recall having like $2 (.06) he calls Flop came 67J(R), He Over bet (He over bet pot .30)? Pot was .06+.06+.01=.13...I seen him do this over and over and over and Usually ends up with him rivering ppl...So what would you do here? I choose to RR .90 He Calls...So Turn is an 8 and he shoves A.I (lol), I was like I have to see this (I did not think a set personally), so I called and he shows AA, how the **** was I supposed to know he had AA pre , I swear I was Chocked ...I ended up leaving the table personally..

So Just once again against these types of ppl how do you proceed

all i can say is buddy i fully understand how this can really bother a person. For me i have a bad habbit of trying to play higher limits when this happens, im trying to fix that from today although i have been fortunate at titan.

If you're on his right and he constantly re-raises you well you quite simply do not have the implied odds to play a hand like that. You say everytime someone raised they re-raised. They then flat your raise and OOP alarm bells should be going off right away.

If the oppotunity arises take a seat to maniacs left.

When you say maniac are you talking about pre flop and post flop? If he is betting anything and stacking with nothing then leave him to hang himself if you flop a mosnter.

No need to CB as much if he just calls/re-raises.

Don't bluff.

Sorry forgot to answer the main question lol . Loosen up slightly but not too much. I'd loosen up abit more if I was to the left of the maniac. Obviously all this is table dependant on what the others players are doing and if they are loosening up, if they are stay fairly tight.

lol I have no clue what you just said in here..ASJDSA?

Play tighter and be prepared to stack off lighter than you might normally (e.g. TPGK).

Do NOT try to out-maniac the maniac.

Sorry. I spilt on my keyboard so as I was wiping it up I didn't think and it pressed all the keys as I was wiping and ssent it somehow lol.

I've put it all in the edited post. Although I re-read and changed my mind about 89s as I realsied you were on the button so probably playable. If maniac loves re-raises though then just call/call pre instead of having to raise/call.

RR shove! muhahaha he calling light when you have a better hand or gana wimp out and fold

lol So true...Your right I just personally let this player get under my skin and I should really try to keep that aspect of my game under control

I re read it and thx for the input btw...Just to answer your question this guy was betting pot if not over betting pot, Didn't care who raised, how much, or how the betting went pre btw...He just either RR or called and then Donk over bet or called and then donk over bet on the turn and/or call on the turn and donk shove A.I on the river, lol...He by far was the craziest player I've ever seen

It is always tempting to try and bust these guys but i've found it can be very distracting to your good habits , thus expensive. Somebody is going to benefit from the maniacs bad play but it wont always be you (nice when it is though) so dont try to force it.
It is very easy to get caught up in the frenzy and forget that there are other players behind you , this has led me to losing my BI a time or two. Never let the desire to beat them make you forget your position.
I've noticed that the other players will open up their range dramaticaly and get in thin as can be, so your notes on them may not be accurate for a while . they may get caught up in the mele' though and pay you off when you hit (just an observation).
A maniac is also just as likely to be dealt a monster as anyone else , just no way to tell when he has as he plays 72os the same as AA.
I seem to profit the most by ABC poker against them , the main change to my style would be after the flop when I know i'm golden I change my bet size as they being the maniac they are will usually pay me off alot larger.
It can be quite the ride when your at that table !

i say for the most part just play tight, but is he maniac as in he raises 10x pre, because i had to deal with one of those today... well he would raise between 2x and 12x(clearly just messing with the slide bar lol). What i did was wait because i knew i could stack him and really really wanted to be the one to do it, so i played suited connectors in cases that i could see a flop for 6x or less...Why? had him covered he had over 150bbs steadily if not more. Anyway i had 89s against him flop came j107 and he decided he wantyed to have a min raise war-he bet the turn(pot) i min raised so he wouldnt fold and he reminraised lol, so i made a 3x raise and he flatted. Then on the blank river he bet 2bbs and i ****ed up....i raised halfpot(shouldve raised really small like 20 bbs or so instead of 80 so he could call with a pair or something). After this he went so very tilty and started raising even higher. Then the last hand of the day for him was kqo, he raised11x this time and i shoved(something i prety much never do with ak deep stacked unless of course complete fish will call with dominated hands such as kq kj and so on. So i would say tighten up your range, dont play any eaisily dominated hands, note the player, and if he gets stupid shove something like ak so you can pick up his dead money or better yet get called by something trashy like kq kj. If you lose well variance is the shitty part of poker but hey with ak your way ahead of his calling range most likely. However if he just raises small and just goes crazy with postflop play then call him off pre alot with any hand with equity, even like 89o or something along those lines as long as you feel your implied odds are really good. And furthermore dont do anything stupid such as getting it allin with a draw, they want to get to you like that. You want to have them dominated and your patience to do so will pay off.

I raised 89s Button into his Blind he calls I recall having like $2 (.06) he calls Flop came 67J(R), He Over bet (He over bet pot .30)? Pot was .06+.06+.01=.13...I seen him do this over and over and over and Usually ends up with him rivering ppl...So what would you do here? I choose to RR .90 He Calls...So Turn is an 8 and he shoves A.I (lol), I was like I have to see this (I did not think a set personally), so I called and he shows AA, how the **** was I supposed to know he had AA pre , I swear I was Chocked ...I ended up leaving the table personally..

This is what i meant by dont do anything stupid, i ahd the same exact thng happen to me with combo straight/flush draw with a pair. I hate getting it in with a draw, even a powerful one like str8tflsh draw w/ pair. I cant blame you for the call but still think about it. Rule #1: dont allow the maniac to get to you, there always there so you have to figure out how to play em. I bet once you learn how to deal with maniacs you will be up alot on this opponent over the long haul.

People who are aggressive are always going to be more difficult to play against.

Stack off lighter.

Raise them more often. 3-Bet wider for value. etc.

embrace the swings.

edit: That 98 hand is totally fine, you got coolered.

define loosen up slightly if 89s is out his range!!! you have great implied odds with suited connectors against fishy maniac players, unless he shoves every turn when your on a draw, so buddy play 89s, slightly risky as you only win with these types of hands 12.5%, however thats y implied odds play a great deal, these are some of my favorite and most profitable hands to play long run, just dont get carried away with them. With suioted connectors you want to be playing even stacked players also. when you hit your pretty much guranteed to take a good pot from a maniac(kinda like i did yesterday----150bbs-he had air) who tries to outplay the table, furthermore again note the guy look him up on pokertaberatings-theres a way you can get messages on that sight for when certain people play at certain tables so you can join them and when you see him just always have position on him. It would probably be really good practice to play maniacs more often for you also if it is one of your weaknesses. Or if you feel better with tightening right up, do that, just play the top of you range for the most part. Most maniacs are really dumb, i just got stacked by ones a5o and then 20 hands later the guy went from 35$ in 2c5c to busto, i won a 25 dollar pot off of him and im still down due to bad beats such as his a5o. only down 3 bucks but still i wanna move up in stakes lol, hard when you run bad every second day. Anyway suited connectors usually have great implied odds, you might spew off alot of chips trying to play them but whenever you hit a straight against a really bad player and theres an ace on board you have a good chance of a double up. So heres a good range for you AA KK QQ JJ 1010-22(play very carefully just like suited connectors)and suited connectors high and low and suited aces(play those as you would suited connectors and do your best not to pay to much to see flops) you shouldve told us his raise sizes, please share that info because i could just be completely wasting my time here lol.

dont listen to this guy. do not 3bet them widely because they are clearly very capable of 4betting and what are you going to do with say 1010 when you get 4bet? call see a flop see two overcards and fold?. I guess 98 is fine however, i would fold unless i was shortstacked with it tho.

If they are 4-betting light then obviously we 5-bet for value, ez game.

Think about your response and follow the logic through....aggressive player is more difficult to play against than the ez, depolarized fishes. So your suggestion is to respond to him is to play like ... a fish?

Also, we don't play shortstacked, this is a cash game forum.

Really what do you do with TT to a 4bet from someone who is clearly betting/raising ATCs? How about fist-pumping a little as you 5bet shove?

Are you saying if we 3-bet with 1010 we should close our eyes and pray that a maniac who will play ATC doesn't 4-bet us? Pretty bad advice.

I have acouple of questions but for now will only ask, why would we play 98s, short stacked? or you saying you'd fold 98s short-stacked?

What do you do, wet your pants and fold?