Maniacs

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WarriorStoic

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Ok I am brand new to the site and am NOT a winning player, thats why I joined.
My first question:
How do you defeat a Maniac....I was told that the best way to do so is to tighten up and show them a hand when you finally get into a pot with them. In the tournament setting however, I have repeatedly attempted this, and in the most recent episode:
STRUCTURE:
stakes 5.50/360 maxplayers(and it was full) site: Stars Blinds: Every 10 min Starting Stack: 3000


Situation: Blinds were at 30 60
I had approx 3500 in chips had won a few small pots w/o showdowns

A guy gets moved to the table he has 1500, proceeds to go all in litterally 5 of every seven hands, even with action in front of him
he goes on a heater and goes form the 1500 to about 2300
all the while im telling myself to be patient and follow the above idea of showing him a hand

long story short i was eaten up by the blinds while this guy litterally crushed the table

and I need to add he was getting his money in bad about 80 percent of the time. some hands that come to memory are like A8 vs A9 A2 vs AK
K9 vs KT QQ vs AA 33 vs JJ K2 vs TT in every one of these examples He had the worst hand and the chips were all in PRE FLOP

so is there another way to combat this guy? or do i stay tight and patient and beleive that this type of run this guy had will NOT occur often
 
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lawd

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If I don't even significantly more chips than them, I just let someone else take them out. law of gambling ultimately takes care of them. Basically, the chances of getting head on 20 coin flips in a row is extremely low, the more flips, the lower the odds.

so it could have been a statistical anomaly.
 
cjatud2012

cjatud2012

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In cash games, maniacs are pretty easy to beat. Since the blinds stay the same, you can simply wait for an ideal situation to occur, and get your money in when it is sure to be good. In tournaments, it is not nearly as easy to do this. There is much more pressure to accumulate chips, and we cannot afford to wait for an ideal situation.

So what can we do? Against an all-in, I think we should be looking to widen our range from the blinds. The reason we should do this from the blinds and not from earlier positions is that the players still yet to act could wake up with a hand that can crush your marginal hand. If we're in the blinds, we are usually going to go heads-up with the villain, so we can call without fearing a multi-way pot.

Sometimes the maniac will get lucky, and that's just the way it is. But poker is about making the right decisions, and if we can catch our villain running wild, we should be very proud of ourselves, even if we don't win.
 
Steves22

Steves22

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When a "maniac" or jackal as I like to think of them is at your table you must play smart. They can go on win streaks that are hard to believe and they can really piss you off. In a tournament you have to pick a hand sooner or later to try and take this guy out or you can just try to avoid them for as long as possible. In a cash game you can wait as long as you want, study the player see if you can pick up any patterns and try to set a big trap. These types of players typically play very emotional so they can fall into some serious traps.
 
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WarriorStoic

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ok thanks for the input everyone, I can see that i came to the right place to learn and Improve
 
cjatud2012

cjatud2012

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ok thanks for the input everyone, I can see that i came to the right place to learn and Improve

Glad you could join us! imo the best way to learn around here is check out the Hand Analysis forums. Look at what the CC regs have to say, and post your own hands to get feedback from them on your own play (no rhyme intended).
 
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WarriorStoic

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ok i guess ill have to learn how to use the hand converter next
 
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