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Don't be intimidated by the hyper-aggression of a poker maniac. Nolan Dalla tells you how to tame these wild cards - and turn a tidy profit.

Picture this. A man brings a brown grocery sack to a game, takes a seat and then dumps the entire contents of the bag - $25,000 - onto the poker table into one big pile. Bundles of hundred-dollar bills tumble onto the green felt. The man has everyone in the game covered at least five times over.

The date is Winter 1996, the place Resorts International, Atlantic City, the game pot-limit Texas Hold'em. The man posts his $5 blind and is dealt a hand. What happens next defies the imagination. He becomes an instant legend in poker circles. He proceeds to raise on each successive round of betting. This wouldn't be unusual but for one crucial detail: he never looks at his cards.

The man is an eccentric, a gambler, a freak, a risk-taker, an oddball - and a godsend to any poker game. He is the quintessential maniac, playing without any fear of losing and seems to lack any regard for money. Incredibly, he wins a few hands early on and busts two players at the table before meeting his inevitable destiny. The $25,000 lasts 20 minutes. His fate sealed, the man toddles out of the casino, never to be seen nor heard from again.

While this was an extreme example of what a maniac does to a poker game, it epitomises the grave risk and tremendous upside potential of having a maniac sitting at the poker table. The maniac is certainly capable of breaking his opponent with a combination of good hands and reckless aggression. However, in the long run, the maniac always meets his doom when confronted with the appropriate counter-strategy - specifically designed to neutralise the maniac's hyper-aggressive tendencies. In fact, crafting a counter-strategy to deal with maniacs is the intent of this article.

Major impacts of a maniac in the game

A maniac presents a unique set of challenges for any poker player. In fact, the maniac is not always at a disadvantage. For instance, a maniac might fare well in heads-up play against a passive opponent. In short-handed games with multiple passive opponents the maniac likely enjoys a significant edge.

The maniac's demise usually comes in full ring games (with at least eight players), where he is up against just one or two opponents in each hand - at least one of which (or even both) holds a stronger hand. What happens is that all the players become more disciplined and tend to play technically correct poker. They wait for strong starting hands with which to confront the maniac. Hence, the maniac often faces the one or two best hands at the table, and is frequently at a disadvantage. Because opponents see that the maniac plays many hands and will pay the bets off with a flurry of raises, all that is necessary is to patiently wait for strong cards and let the odds work against the maniac.

Unfortunately, this poses a serious problem if you fail to get good starting hands. Some undisciplined players see chips flying around the table and can't contain themselves. They begin relaxing their own starting-hand requirements. These undisciplined players see the maniac occasionally win with garbage, and react by betting or raising with marginal cards. This plays right into the maniac's intent - to generate action, put opponents on tilt, and create a wild poker game with multiple players in every hand with huge pots.

Most games with a maniac usually fall into one of two categories - they are either very tight (two- or three-way action in most pots) or very wild (multiple opponents calling raises in every hand). The maniac's behaviour causes every single player at the table to adjust his strategy.

Basic strategy playing against a maniac

Keep in mind that in poker seating position is absolutely critical. It is almost always advantageous to sit to a maniac's immediate left. The worst seat at the table is usually to the maniac's immediate right. So, in such a situation your first goal should be to select a favourable seat. Request a seat-change if possible.

With a maniac in the game, the ultimate objective is to get in with the best hand, anticipating that the maniac will pay off on all bets and raises. In tight games, a tight-aggressive play is usually the optimal strategy. In other words, in Hold'em enter a pot with premium starting hands (pairs higher than 7-7 and non-pairs like A-K and A-Q), and bet them aggressively. The maniac will often try to intimidate you into folding by raising and re-raising. But since you are playing good cards more often than not, you will end up with the best hand and win more pots.

In wild games, a very different strategy is necessary. Since the maniac has created multi-way action and big pots, drawing hands increase significantly in value. Pre-flop hands like suited-connectors, small pairs, and ace-suited are often playable cards. If you have two-suited cards and flop two cards to your suit, a raise by the maniac actually increases your expected value in the hand, since you will win a much bigger pot when you make the flush (which happens about 37 percent of the time when you flop a flush draw).

Differences between limit and no-limit games with maniacs

So far, most of the strategic concepts discussed relate to limit Hold'em games. However, pot-limit and no-limit games present their own unique circumstances.

It's important to note that maniacs can dominate a big money game, especially when stoked with big bankrolls against timid opponents. Players who are afraid to lose their chips fall victim to the maniac's hyper-aggressive tendencies. In a sense, they get run over. Once the maniac discovers this weakness, he simply launches raise after raise at his helpless opponent, and more often than not will win pot after pot - even though he likely doesn't have the best hand. Such dynamics are simply not possible in limit Hold'em games, since the amount of betting is fixed on each round and opponents are less likely to be intimidated by the size of the wager.

This concept is important because it's essential to accept the reality that bankroll swings in pot-limit and no-limit Hold'em games will be much more severe with a maniac at the table. In pot-limit and no-limit games it is far more difficult to 'find out where you are at' - to use a common poker expression - with a bet or raise when facing a maniac. For example, with a strong but vulnerable hand such as Q-Q, it is probably best to throw your hand away when you bet out and are raised by an opponent after an ace flops. In a conventional game, the opponent is likely to have an ace, which means you are beat. But when a manic raises in this situation, you are forced to play a guessing game.

In short, it's tough to play against maniacs in pot-limit and no-limit games when contrasted with fixed-limit games.

Keep the maniac happy while you fleece him

Poker is just as much a game of psychology as card values. Accordingly, there are specific tactics which can be used to keep the maniac sitting in the game for longer periods of time, steadily contributing to your profits at the table.

Most maniacs are losing poker players. No amount of talent or experience can overcome playing way too many hands and putting one's money into the pot repeatedly with the worst hand. So, it's important to try and understand why the maniac plays so recklessly. Does he simply like to gamble? Is he a wealthy eccentric playing for insignificant stakes? Or does the attention he receives at the table stroke his ego? There are a myriad of reasons for maniacal behaviour, and identifying the underlying cause of such behaviour is the first step towards exploiting it for profit.

Whatever the root causes, most maniacs - indeed, most poker players - want to enjoy themselves at the table. Disparaging remarks and negative comments made by so-called pros towards these players are incredibly detrimental to both the short- and long-term winnings that might be gained from having maniacs in the game.

It might sound dubious, but the ultimate counter-strategy versus a maniac is to let the player think he can dominate a game, and that you - his opponent - can be manipulated at the table. Letting the maniac think he can run over you, while you are actually prepared to confront his aggressiveness with proper counter-strategies, effectively sets the perfect trap. In essence, the maniac has committed the very worst error of poker - underestimating his opponent.

Nolan Dalla is one of poker's premier writers, over the last decade contributing extensively to Card Player, Casino Player and Poker Digest.

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