How to Play Poker with a Maniac

The Loose Aggressive Maniac at the poker table can be a very profitable – yet very frustrating – opponent. This article will look at the key poker strategy adjustments required to beat this type of opponent.

We start with a definition of the loose aggressive maniac player – it is important to distinguish between the maniac and the skilled loose aggressive player. Next we work through several different counter-strategies when playing against these types of opponent. Finally we bring the strategies together with a look at how your position and the position at the table of other skilled players affect this.

The true loose aggressive maniac and the ‘skilled’ loose aggressive player are two completely different opponents. Mixing them up could prove to be a very expensive mistake indeed. Both the maniac and the skilled loose aggressive player will raise a large number of hands and bet (or raise) most streets throughout the hand.

The difference is that when the big money goes into the pot the skilled loose aggressive player will generally have a good hand – it will be you who has to make the difficult decision for all of your chips. Make sure you have the right kind of loose aggressive opponent by observing several hands. If the player is aggressive only when the pot is small (unless they have a hand) you are more likely to have found a skilled player. If the player keeps on betting and building big pots regardless of their holding or position you have found a maniac. This article is concerned only with the latter player type. 

Maniacs can have a big impact at the table, all of a sudden players who were formerly tight can be seen 3-betting with weak aces, formerly quiet players start calling with medium hands trying to flop a monster. There are actually several strategies that can be employed against this type of player. These include: Waiting for premium hands, calling more often, raising to isolate with medium strength hands and employing a ‘short stack’ strategy. 

Waiting for premium hands is the safe way to play a loose aggressive maniac. The idea is to wait for a monster and then ensure you build the pot to win your opponent’s entire stack. This strategy has two shortcomings. Firstly premiums do not come around too often – the maniac could lose his stack to someone else while you are waiting. The second shortcoming is that even the most unobservant maniac will notice if you fold 30 hands in a row then suddenly start to raise, you may not be paid off at all. 

Calling is a generally sound strategy against the maniac. Since their style is to keep betting at any pot with any holding then your risk reward by calling with a good (but not great) hand is usually positive. For example you have ten-ten and call a raise from the maniac pre-flop. The flop comes Ace-Two-Seven and the maniac bets, you should call here more often than raise. This has the advantage that you are not chasing the maniac away those times he does not have an ace – if you re-raise and get put all-in you will have a difficult decision to make. Calling makes the most when you are ahead and loses the least when behind. The danger with this strategy is that an over-card that does hit the maniacs hand could fall on the turn or river. 

Instead of calling another option is to raise pre-flop with those medium strength hands to isolate the maniac with position. Since at this point you are fairly sure to have the best hand then this should show a profit over time. There are a couple of dangers here. The first is that one of the other players could elect to enter the pot behind you. If they call you will be sandwiched between them and the maniac after the flop. If they re-raise your isolation bet you will have a difficult decision to make. This should not happen too often, isolating the maniac also has a potentially greater expectation than calling, since you are building the pot earlier in the hand.

Short-stacked strategy works best with position against a maniac. The concept here is to buy in for the minimum amount for your table and push all-in over the maniacs raise every time you believe your hand is better than his raising range. This will show a profit over time but has the disadvantage of only winning small amounts, there is also the risk that the other players at the table will figure your strategy and start to call you with lower values.

The final consideration is your position relative to the loose aggressive maniac and other skilled players at the table. If the maniac is on your immediate left then your strategy is limited. You will, however, have the advantage of seeing the other player’s reaction to the maniac’s bets before you act. This can be a great situation with a premium hand, let the maniac bet and several opponents call him – then stick in a healthy re-raise to build the pot. Other than premium hands your strategic options are few unless the maniac is on your right.

Other players may be raising with medium hands to isolate the maniac. If you spot someone who is doing this regularly then you may be in a situation to re-raise behind them as a semi-bluff, potentially trapping their money in the pot as well as that of the maniac.

To summarize, how to win against a loose aggressive maniac involves several adjustments. Firstly you need to be sure your opponent is a true maniac and not a skilled loose aggressive player. Secondly you need to choose a mixture of strategies to beat this player including playing premium hands aggressively, calling more often or raising to isolate. Finally your position at the table, and position relative to other players employing counter-maniac strategies will also affect your play.