Best Strategies Against Aggressive Betting?

[weldon12345]

:ciao:Hello, This is my first time posting! I was just wondering what everyone's best strats are against aggressive betters like when you got a person betting like crazy early in a table and you don't have room to really bet even tho you have a good hand and don't want to risk the pre flop to lose everything off the hop going all in or a person that's betting like crazy in general...

 

[Nintendo]

patience really, very trappable.

 

[57noona]

patience really, very trappable.

Yes being selective and trapping is what you want to do to them. Let them do the betting for you and you can try a check raise on the river if you feel you have the best hand.

 

[rvh85]

Be careful and cautious. Weigh your chances well and think about your actions.There are different types of players-your type is like a maniac. I think you know how to play against such opponents.But the most important thing at the right time to go to the end.Without fear.

 

[RocwX]

Wait for a monster hand and make them go broke.

 

[xOneCoolHandx]

:ciao:Hello, This is my first time posting! I was just wondering what everyone's best strats are against aggressive betters like when you got a person betting like crazy early in a table and you don't have room to really bet even tho you have a good hand and don't want to risk the pre flop to lose everything off the hop going all in or a person that's betting like crazy in general...

Your going to hear a lot of people telling you to trap that player. I handle it differently in differently in different situations. First of all, I am assuming you are talking about in tournament play although, there are players in cash games that play with reckless abandon. So, I will hit that first. In a cash game, you can always rebuy, so when someone is playing out of line, I tend to play right back at them. Everyone else at the table is waiting on big hands to trap him with, so the play becomes very slow. This makes the maniac even more aggressive, especially if you know that he is playing with marginal holdings. Son't be afraid of busting and having to buy back in to go back to battle with the maniac. The other option is to change tables and hope he doesn't show up at your new table.

For tournaments, my strategy is sometimes the same and sometimes different. In a freeroll, there are tons of maniacs who want to push every hand every time the action is on them. This is very frequent in the beginning levels and there are a few other points in a tournament that this happens. There are others who will always raise strong on every hand if no one has acted before them no matter what they hold, they also frequently CB every flop. I play pretty conservative against these players at the beginning of a freeroll. I do not believe in getting all in with anything but top 10 hands early in a tournament because every pot you enter, you are likely to be risking all of your chips against multiple opponents holding nearly any two cards. Although it is getting better these days, there are still those who think they need (and can) build a mountainous stack in the first few levels of a tourney and that it will propel them to the final table. This is not a good strategy but getting all in with them in the early levels is a mistake. They knock each other out pretty quickly and the ones that are left do have a nice stack. But, they rarely have another gear, they are the ones who overvalue top pair or will call big bets on boards even with just bottom pair, or chase draws. These players are easy to read and easy to beat, and most of them semi-bluff or bluff enough that they are actually very bluffable. The key is to learn to identify these players so that you can exploit them. If they are on your right, re-raise them pre-flop sometimes, flat call them pre-flop and the jam when they CB the flop (although follow your reads, this is a better strategy on dry boards, although I frequently do it on flops that have an ace because that is usually a big scare card for this type of player)...also, be very aware of the other players in the pot, especially what their position is.

In tournaments that are not freerolls, I judge the rest of the table o deciding how to play the maniac. If everyone is waiting to trap this guy, then he is picking up a lot of blinds. Those blinds are MINE... I am going to go after him. But, if there are a few other players who are playing back at him, then I am going to play more conservative and trap.

Keep in mind, that by going after a maniac, your table image is going to suffer a little bit, so, once he is eliminated, use that to your advantage to slow down and start playing more solid hands. That is, until another maniac arrives at your table. LOL.

 

[Chief talking bull]

Everyone got the answer on the test correct. Congratulations class, you get an A.

 

[mtmigmike]

I am waiting for a good hand and play all in.

 

[Transcendence]

Still have to bet type with AQ even go all in, poker is associated with risk, especially in tournaments, so once you have to join the battle just wait for the card.

 

[MrPokerVerse]

At some point you have to be aggressive back. Testing the waters with a re-raise and challenge the caller can provide some nice pots. If they are calling any raise, you need a little different approach. Isolating someone out of position can give you the upper hand and even calling stations will give up a hand.

 

[8bod8]

In terms of poker theory, you are forced to push-fold strategy, only with a 'normal' number of blinds.
You need to pick your spot to come out as winner, need to take starting hand and position and number of players in a hand into account.

 

[mulliongc]

Just lay in the weeds. Their over-aggressiveness will come back to bite them sooner or later.

 

[akufto]

here, of course, a lot of things are written, and I agree that there are a lot of options to play, but the best way is if you even catch your card and the enemy attacks, then the best way to play it with a check is a call !!! and check-raise on the river!

 

[Sobewan]

There are different levels of Maniac and it can be tricky to ID which kind you're playing. You need to be careful the 'maniac' you're going to trap isn't just a really good player catching cards... Some big betters are simply playing terribly and hoping to steal after every flop you miss but it can be super expensive to find out if you guess the player's caliber wrong! :deal:

 

[ghOst]

Check/raise! Or check/shove! I would usually do these after getting caught bluffing.

 

[Aremaz95]

I'm just more aggressive and patient to have a good hand to catch him and beat him

 

[John A]

Calling a lot

 

[Jdjakubisin]

Let them bet for you

When I'm at a table with people 3-betting everything like that my strategy is to sit back and let them bet for you. If they see you jump in and do the same, they back off because they'll see you've got a hand. Let yourself get in the position to call their bet with your superior hand.

 

[poker_bro]

I played against maniac yesterday and I lost a lot, but I also learned a lot (cash game).
There are a few types of maniacs and you have to adjust your strategy for each of them. That I played against was a very good maniac type player. And he won because he put me on the tilt. I think this is the main strategy of maniacs. My ego didn't just let them steal my blinds, also, I got all the time bad cards and wasn't patient enough.

There was a situation when maniac was on Button and I was on Small blind. Maniac bet 3x BB (as always), I did slight 3bet (minimum) with KJo, Big Blind involved (super fish, bad player), then maniac did 4bet (that was weird), I wasn't sure if he is bluffing, so I did 5bet and he folds. I won that hand (big pot).

That was one strategy that worked this time, not always of course. This type of maniac makes players easily to tilt because they need to think a lot of how to exploit them, aka needs a lot of brain power. You just can't follow some simple guideline. After all, he succeeded and I lost a lot of chips (I didn't play my A-game anyway and I tried to be too fancy).

There are people who say never bluff maniac, but I don't agree, sometimes you can bluff. But you have to do that by big bets and you need to have a good hand reading ability. And not playing against maniacs is not an option if you are playing on the small poker site like I am. And if you have big poker goals, you have to play against all kind of player types in order to get better.

And of course, you need an EGO at the poker table. It is your table image, but there are golden mean, having a too big ego will ruin your career. But you can't show your weakness to maniac or he will use that. I will continue with that strategy against a good maniac to slightly 3 and 4bet all the time and make light bluffs and play In Position as much as possible. Make a plan and follow that no matter what. And the most important thing, tilt control. Do not let them go under your skin.

So, I don't know if this a right strategy to beat a good maniac, but next time I will try this and adjust it to MY game.
1. Play In Position as much as possible
2. Make only slight 3 and 4bets (sometimes even with marginals)
3. Use their aggression against them.
4. When they raise PF, 3bet ALWAYS slightly if you want to involve
5, When they raise on the later streets, slightly 3bet almost always if they are very loose players (just making things harder to read your hand).
6. Change your playing style and make a plan ALWAYS beforehand how are you going to play your hand if you are going to involve. Just try to be as annoying as possible. Show him if he wants to steal your stack, it is not going to be easy.