Behind a playing maniac’s raise, regardless of your position, just as you would against any other player. What you are doing here is very profitable since you are consistently creating a large hand strength differential by pitting your good hands only against the maniac’s on average) weak hands.

Moreover, you do this by knocking other online poker players out, which you accomplish through the very act of investing more money (reraising) in that hand strength differential. Against maniacs who play and raise with nearly every hand, but then become more passive after the flop, you can begin to add more hands like the T♠ 9♠ and Q♦ T♦ mentioned above. But for the most part, unless you are an expert and are playing against a maniac who plays weakly after the flop, and are against an otherwise soft lineup, I suggest you add these hands only in later positions. Even then, you may want to restrict your play of such hands to those times when other players have limped in ahead of the maniac (and you do not expect them to reraise him) so that a multiway pot is guaranteed.

Also, in my experience only a minority of maniacs fit this description (loose and aggressive before the flop, more passive afterward). When you do play such hands, however, you should not necessarily reraise, particularly if anyone has come in ahead of the maniac. Such hands play well multiway, and by sometimes just calling the maniac you avoid punishing him so severely for his raising that he begins to play poker better. His excessive raising does, after all, present you with a profitable opportunity. Another reason to get the pot heads-up, overlooked by most players, is that the more skilled maniac can be quite adept at leveraging his hand on a later street by raising the thirds player’s bets. The effect can be to force you out when you hold the best hand. By playing him heads-up, you deprive him at least at of this method of taking the pot away from you.

As mentioned above there are times when conditions will be different from those I have assumed here. Little in poker is carved in stone. There are other occasions, for instance, when you hold the best hand. By playing him heads-up, you deprive him at least of this method of taking the pot away from you. As mentioned above there are times when conditions will be different from those I have assumed here. Little in poker is carved in stone. There are other occasions, for instance, when it makes sense not to reraise the maniac. Obviously, if you are several seats to his left and players come in between the two of you, you cannot make the same use of the reraise that I have described here.

Even on his immediate left, just calling is sometimes best, even with hands that play very well heads-up. You might be holding big suited cards, for example, in a game in which most of the players have been calling two bets with anything they would normally limp in with. Here just calling will allow you to pick up lots of players to pay you off if you hit a big draw. It also further mitigates the problem of punishing the maniac so often that he adjusts. Thought there is much more to consider, I have tried to provide a good sample of things you must think about in order to understand in any depth how to play before the flop against a maniac. A major reason for paying so much attention to proper hand selection against a maniac is that it goes a long way towards keeping you out of tough spots after the flop. In the next essay I will address playing against a maniac after the flop.

<< Previous

The Strategic Moment in Holdem / One Way Not to Fold /

Beating the Berserko: Preflop Against a Maniac /

On Into the Storm: Playing the maniac After the Flop

One Reason to Reraise a Maniac / A Simple Read / Countering a Good Reader

Thinking About What They’re Thinking / Out On the Edge

Considerations in Two Blind Stealing Defense situations

Easing the Transition to the middle Limits: Part I

Easing the Transition to the middle Limits: Part II / Multiple Changing Images